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Gold carats and fineness
Carats measure purity in twenty-fourths. 24ct is pure gold. 18ct is 18 parts gold out of 24, which is 75 percent. 9ct, the most common standard in Ireland, is 37.5 percent. The hallmark states the same thing in parts per thousand: 375, 585, 750, 916 and 999. If you can find that number on your item, you know exactly what it is; our hallmark guide shows where to look.
Why price is per gram of the item
We publish one price per gram for each standard, already adjusted for its gold content. That means you can weigh your item on any scale and multiply, and different buyers can be compared with a single number. Ask any buyer the same question: euro per gram, for my carat, after all deductions.
A worked example: 10g of 9ct
Take a 9ct chain weighing 10 grams. It contains 3.75 grams of pure gold (10 g at 37.5 percent). Whatever the live gold price is, our 9ct rate per gram reflects that content and our payout rate, so your estimate is simply 10 times the published 9ct figure on the prices page. The calculator on the sell page does this arithmetic for you with live numbers.