Guide
What is a gold nugget worth?
A gold nugget is worth its pure gold content at today's price, unless it's a fine specimen, which collectors may pay more for. Natural gold is never pure, so purity matters as much as weight.
Updated October 28, 2026 · Prices as of November 2, 2026, 6:20 p.m. Pacific
How a nugget's gold is valued
Gold is trading at $3,942 per troy ounce (the Kitco bid). Natural gold is alloyed with silver and traces of other metals, so nuggets are usually somewhere between about 70% and 95% gold depending on where they formed. The only way to know exactly is to melt and assay it.
A nugget's gold value = weight in grams × purity × the gold price per gram. For example, 10 grams of 85% gold holds 8.5 grams of pure gold.
Nuggets we melt are paid like scrap gold, at 94% of the pure gold the assay finds.
When a nugget is worth more than its gold
- Shape and character: a large, solid, well-formed nugget, especially one with a striking shape, is a specimen that collectors and jewelers will pay more for.
- Gold in quartz: attractive gold-in-quartz pieces sell as specimens. The quartz has no gold value, so they aren't priced by weight.
- Where it was found: a nugget with a documented find location can be worth more to a collector.
We never melt a nugget without your go-ahead. If yours might be a specimen, send photos and we'll tell you before you decide.
Weigh it carefully
Prospectors often weigh in pennyweight or troy ounces, and nuggets are often small. See troy ounces, grams, and pennyweight for the conversions, and how to check a buyer's scale.
Gold guides: Scrap gold per gram · Is my gold real? · How much gold buyers pay
The highest payouts for your gold, at a published percentage of the live Kitco bid.
Your nuggets
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