You’ve probably heard of the expression, “worth your weight in gold,” which metaphorically suggests that you have great value – like that of gold. If you were to take this literally and attempt to determine your value by the price of gold, you would simply take your weight, convert pounds to ounces, and multiply the ounces times today’s gold price per ounce, right? Applying this formula, my value would be calculated as follows: 160 pounds X 16 ounces = 2560 ounces X $1666 per ounce of gold = $4,264,960. (Wishful thinking!)
The logic is accurate, but the calculation doesn’t quite work simply because an ounce of gold doesn’t equal an ounce of my body weight or just about anything else in our weight system. The weight of gold is uniquely referenced in Troy ounces – a weight measure that was created in 14th century France. Just about everything else is categorized in ordinary ounces under the avoirdupoir weight system. A Troy ounce equals 1,097 ordinary ounces. In metric weight, a Troy ounce equals 31.10 grams, while an ordinary ounce equals 28.35 grams. So a Troy ounce weighs about 10% more than an ordinary ounce.
The value of gold fluctuates from day to day. Like stocks on the New York Stock Exchange, precious metals have their own exchanges, and their prices, also like stocks, are determined by supply and demand factors.It’s no secret that gold values have risen dramatically over the past five years, making it one of the greatest investments of our time. Today, Jan. 24th, the price of gold is $1666 per ounce, and last August it topped $1900 per ounce to set an all time record high. Ten years ago, it’s value was under $400 per ounce!
Gold prices are officially quoted in Troy ounces of pure gold. The purity or fineness of gold, not to be confused with weight, is represented in karats. Gold with 100% fineness equals 24 karats. At this level of purity, gold has a rich yellow color and a soft malleable texture. While 24 karat gold is molded into bars for investors who can afford them, jewelry is rarely made from 24 karat gold.
Most gold jewelry is crafted from 18, 14 and 10 karat gold, with a fineness of 75%, 58.5% and 41.6% respectively. This means that at each karat level, the gold contains a portion of alloys, such as nickel and palladium, in order to give it greater hardness. An 18 karat gold ring, for example, contains 25% alloy, 75% gold. Both karats and weight impact the weight of gold jewelry.
While we may envision gold in its pristine yellow color, white gold and rose gold jewelry has become quite popular in recent years. White gold consists of yellow gold combined with manganese, nickel or palladium; whereas, rose gold is yellow gold combined with copper.
Lastly, gold nuggets represent the yellow metal in its native form and color, and fine jewelry designs with gold nuggets are not easy to find. All too often, nugget jewelry has an overly 
rough and unrefined appearance by which aesthetics are sacrificed. One designer that has transcended this challenge and elevated nugget jewelry with a mark of distinction is Goldcraft West – one of our niche affiliate companies.
Gold & Gems is an authority on converting your personal gold items into cash. We buy hundreds of thousands of dollars of gold, platinum and diamonds from people across the country. We will advise you upfront on how to protect yourself when sending your valuables. Get free advice by sending us an email at info@goldandgems.com or calling us at 541-488-2753.
