14k gold jewelry price per gram

Retail jewellery prices cover the metal, the labour to make the piece, the wholesaler, the shop's rent and staff, and any stones. Metal is often the smallest line in that list. A chain selling for four times its melt value is normal rather than exploitative.

Handmade and designer pieces go further still, because you are buying the design. That value is real while you own the piece and disappears the moment you sell it for scrap.

In much of Asia and the Middle East, jewellers quote the day's gold rate plus a separate making charge, often expressed as a percentage or as a fixed amount per gram. This is a more transparent version of what western retailers bundle into one price, and it makes it obvious that a heavily worked piece costs more to produce than a plain band.

It also makes the resale maths visible. The making charge is labour, and labour is not recoverable. Two chains of identical weight, one plain and one elaborately worked, cost very different amounts new and fetch exactly the same at a scrap counter.

Most do not, so it is worth knowing the exceptions before you weigh a box in. Signed work from a recognised house is the clearest case: a marked Cartier, Tiffany or Bulgari piece routinely sells second hand for multiples of its metal.

Period jewellery is the second. Victorian, Art Deco and mid century pieces with good workmanship have a collector market that pays for the design. Anything with a certificated stone above about a carat is the third, and the stone should be sold separately through a jeweller rather than bundled into a scrap weight.

Everything else, which is to say most of what people bring in, is worth its metal. Broken chains, odd earrings, worn bands and unmarked modern pieces are scrap, and there is no hidden value being missed.

Look inside a band, on the back of a clasp, and on the reverse of any pendant. A maker's mark is usually small and often needs a loupe. A serial number alongside it is a strong signal that the piece is worth appraising rather than weighing.

Scrapping a signed piece is the most expensive mistake available at a gold counter, and it is irreversible. A gold buyer will weigh it and offer you scrap value because that is their business, not because they are hiding anything from you. The responsibility to check is yours.

Sort into three piles before you go anywhere: signed or antique, stone set, and plain metal. Take the first pile to a jeweller or an auction house, the second to someone who can value stones, and only the third to a gold buyer.

Doing it in one trip to one counter is how good pieces get melted. It costs an extra afternoon to do it properly and it is regularly the difference between a few hundred and a few thousand.