What 14K gold actually is
Karat is a ratio out of twenty-four. 14K means fourteen parts gold to ten parts other metal — 58.33% gold by weight. The remainder is usually some blend of copper, silver, zinc and occasionally nickel, and the mix determines the colour: more copper gives rose gold, more silver and zinc gives a paler yellow, and a palladium or nickel-heavy alloy plated in rhodium gives white gold.
That alloy is not a compromise. Pure gold is soft enough to deform against a car door handle. 14K is hard enough to survive daily wear while still holding a good colour, which is exactly why it dominates the American market — roughly seven in ten gold jewelry sales here.
What 14K is worth right now
At the spot price this page loaded with, $4,099.10 per troy ounce, 14K works out to:
Swipe the table sideways to see every column
| Weight | Melt value | Roughly |
|---|---|---|
| 1 gram | $76.88 | A thin ring band |
| 5 grams | $384.38 | A plain wedding band |
| 10 grams | $768.77 | A light chain or a signet ring |
| 1 pennyweight | $119.56 | The unit a pawn shop will quote |
| 1 troy ounce | $2,391.14 | A substantial chain or bracelet |
These are melt figures — the metal only, at 100% of spot, before any buyer's margin and before deducting stones.
14K against the other karats
Swipe the table sideways to see every column
| Karat | Gold content | Value vs 14K | Where you see it |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10K | 41.67% | −28.6% | Class rings, budget chains |
| 14K | 58.33% | — | Most US jewelry |
| 18K | 75.00% | +28.6% | Fine jewelry, watch cases |
| 22K | 91.67% | +57.1% | South Asian jewelry, Gold Eagles |
| 24K | 99.9% | +71.4% | Bars and investment coins |
Note that a piece stamped 14K and a piece stamped 585 are the same alloy — one is marked in karats, the other in fineness. Older American work is sometimes stamped 583, which is the same thing under a different rounding convention.
Spotting plated and filled pieces
These marks look like 14K at a glance and are worth close to nothing as scrap:
- 14K GP — gold plated. A microscopically thin layer.
- 14K GF or 1/20 14K GF — gold filled. A bonded layer, typically 5% of total weight, and rarely worth refining in small quantities.
- 14K HGE — heavy gold electroplate. Still plating.
- 14K RGP — rolled gold plate.
- 925 with a gold colour — vermeil: gold-plated sterling silver. The silver has value; the gold layer does not.
Solid 14K is simply stamped 14K, 14KT, 585 or 583, with nothing else appended.
Before you sell 14K
- Weigh it yourself first, on a scale that reads to 0.01 g, and note the number.
- Separate 14K from 10K and 18K. A mixed pile gets priced at the lowest karat in it.
- Pull out stones if they are worth anything, or accept that you are giving them away with the metal.
- Ask for the quote as a rate per gram or per pennyweight at 14K, not as a lump sum, so you can check it against the melt figure above.
- Get three quotes. The spread between a pawn shop and a refiner on the same chain is routinely double.
14K gold questions
How much is 14K gold worth per gram?
14K is 58.33% gold, so a gram is worth 0.5833 times the 24K per-gram rate. At the spot price this page loaded with, that is roughly $76.88 per gram of melt value before any buyer margin.
Is 14K gold real gold?
Yes. 14K means fourteen parts in twenty-four are gold and the rest is alloy, usually copper, silver, zinc or nickel. It is legally gold in the US, where the minimum for the label is 10K. The alloy is what makes it hard enough to wear daily — pure gold is too soft for most jewelry.
What does 585 mean on my jewelry?
585 is the fineness stamp for 14K: 585 parts gold per thousand. European and imported pieces use this instead of a karat mark. You may also see 583, an older rounding of the same alloy.
Is 14K worth more than 18K?
Per gram, no — 18K is 75% gold against 14K's 58.33%, so it is worth about 29% more for the same weight. But a heavy 14K chain can easily be worth more in total than a light 18K ring. Weight and purity both count.
How can I tell if it is really 14K?
Look for a 14K, 14KT, 585 or 583 stamp inside a ring shank or on a clasp. Marks like 14K GP, 14K GF, 14K HGE or "1/20 14K" mean plated or filled, not solid, and have almost no scrap value. A stamp is a claim rather than proof, so anything valuable should be acid or XRF tested.
What will a pawn shop pay for 14K gold?
Typically 40–60% of the melt value shown here. Jewelers and coin shops usually pay 65–80%, mail-in buyers 75–85% and refiners 90–98% before fees. Use the payout section on this page to see the cash figure at any percentage.