Things to Understand About Gold Pricing

Gold Pricing by Biltmore Loan and JewelryGold price has been on an upswing. It has been since 2001 when it used to sell in the market for around $270 per ounce. But now the price of gold hovers somewhere around $ 1800 *****and although it has fluctuated through the years, it always bounces back and steadily rises. That’s more than 600% *****increase since its last popularity in the seventies.

Because of this a lot of people are tempted to cash in on their jewelry by selling them. There are the broken necklaces that have been forgotten in the locked drawer, your husband’s heavy gold chain that was so hip in the eighties, your great-grandmother’s old style brooch.

It’s also because of this that people are being encouraged to put their faith in gold by buying them, whether as bullions, coins, jewelry or stock market shares. Gold has the safest investment portfolio there is since the economy crashed compared to real estate, dollar currency and even insurances.

What the Prices Mean

But while gold is being lauded as having booming prices, a lot of people don’t really know how to sell gold. Most of the time they don’t know what their worth is and they ended up selling them at below than normal range. For the most part, they don’t really understand what a $1800 ***per ounce gold really means.

The August 2012 current price of just over $1800** is the price of 24 karat gold, which is the purest form of this yellow metal. When it is mixed with some other metals like bronze or silver, the karat of the gold goes down from 22k to as low as 10k. Most gold jewelries are not pure gold as they are too soft. The only 24karat gold jewelry is in the form of rings.

To get the exact value of your gold, you need to know its karat and its precise weight. Example, your 24karat gold ring weighs 24 grams or .84 ounce. The price of gold at that time is $1800***. Multiplying .84 with $1800 ****, the price of your gold ring is $1,512****.

But this equation becomes tricky when it’s not 24 karat. While the price of 24karat gold is available on the business section of the newspaper or the net the lesser karats aren’t.

MSNBC’s Today Experiment

A few years ago the MSNBC’s Today did an experiment on how companies that buy and sell jewelry differ in their prices of gold. This came about when a woman mailed in her gold jewelry to sell. She was expecting at least $100 for it but was surprised when she only got $26.

Using just one piece of 14karat gold weighing 21 grams or .74 ounce, they sent out this information to 10 different companies. The actual price of that gold is $450 but the highest price offered for it was $393.36 while the lowest was $38.25, which is about 8% of its real market value.

For people who are unfamiliar with the way gold is priced, they could easily have been sucked in with that 8% price range.

Good enough

Usually because what are being sold are scraps of jewelry, like the broken half of a locket or the remaining pair of an earring, people are just happy with what they get for their gold. Not knowing that these junks they’re selling actually have investment value.

How to Properly Sell Your Gold

  • Have your gold appraised by an independent gold expert just to know the specifications of your jewelry.
  • Don’t sell at the first bid. Canvass on the price of jewelry.
  • If you mail in your gold and don’t like the price they bought it for, you can ask for a refund. Just make sure it’s within the return policy agreement.
  • If you feel like you’ve been scammed, contact the Better Business Bureau or even your State Attorney General.

So there, while you think that golden brush you got from your grandma is excess baggage and just gathering dust on your dresser, it could already pay for your children’s college tuition.

Img c/o Pixabay.