How much A Forrest Hay pays for your unwanted gold depends on the quality and weight of the items you send in.
Some countries require jewellers to hallmark their gold jewellery. This means that an independent assaying office determines the quality of the piece and stamps it with an official seal. However, nowadays a lot of jewellery comes from countries that do not require any hallmarking. The quality of these pieces can only be determined by scientific tests such as an Acid or a X-Ray Fluorescence test.
There are two grading systems to reflect the quality of gold: Carat and Fineness. Please find below an overview of how the two measures compare:
| Carat |
Fineness |
Percentage of pure gold |
| 9k |
375 |
37.50% |
| 14k |
583 |
58.33% |
| 18k |
750 |
75.00% |
| 22k |
917 |
91.66% |
| 24k |
999 |
99.90% |
Please note that there exists no 100% pure gold. The highest possible grade is 99.99%, which is however only found in very few special items. For common jewellery the highest grade is 24k which equals a fineness of 999 or 99.90% of pure gold.
