Pick a coin, type the spot price you see on a live quote, and get the coin’s melt value: the value of the gold or silver inside it, before any collector or dealer premium. The calculator knows how much pure metal each coin holds (from statutes and mint specifications), so you do not need to look up weights or purities.
Melt value = fine troy ounces × spot price × number of coins. It is not what a dealer will pay or charge.
Why a melt-value calculator, and what it leaves out
Gold and silver coins are priced from two layers. The first is the metal: how many troy ounces of pure gold or silver the coin contains. The second is everything else: rarity, condition, demand, and the dealer’s margin. This tool does only the first layer, and it does it from the legal and mint-published specifications rather than from rules of thumb.
Two points trip people up. A 22-karat American Gold Eagle weighs more than one troy ounce (33.931 g) but contains exactly one troy ounce of gold, because the rest is silver and copper alloy. And pre-1965 U.S. dimes, quarters and halves hold 90% silver while the 1965–1970 Kennedy half holds about 40%. Each coin in the list is mapped to its true fine-metal content, with the source on the content chart.
How to use it with a live price
- Find the current spot price per troy ounce from a live quote (your coin dealer, a bullion exchange or a financial data service). Spot prices change by the minute, so do not use a price from an article.
- Choose the coin, enter how many you have, and paste the price in.
- Compare the result with any offer you get. If an offer for a bullion coin is well below melt value, ask why; if a dealer will pay only melt for a scarce date, get a second opinion before you sell.
Selling high-pressure “limited time” coin deals to anyone who calls is a common tactic in this market. A calculator will not stop a determined salesperson, but it gives you a baseline in about ten seconds. See also our guide on the precious metals buying and selling basics.
Other tools
- Gold and silver coin content chart — every figure used here, with sources.
- Gold karat and weight calculator — for jewelry and scrap.
Coin-by-coin answers
How much gold is in a particular coin, worked out from the sources:
- How Much Gold Is in a $20 Double Eagle?
- How Much Gold Is in a Gold Britannia?
- How Much Gold Is in a Gold Maple Leaf?
- How Much Gold Is in a Krugerrand?
- How Much Gold Is in a Vienna Philharmonic?
- How Much Gold Is in an American Gold Eagle?
Sources
- U.S. Code, Title 31, §5112(a)(7)-(11) and (e) — statutory specifications for the American Eagle gold coins, the one-ounce $50 99.99% gold coin and the one-ounce silver coin — https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/31/5112
- United States Mint, American Eagle Gold Proof Coin page: composition 91.67% gold, 3% silver, balance copper; weights and diameters by size — https://www.usmint.gov/learn/coins-and-medals/collectible-coins/american-eagle/gold-proof
- Coinage Act of January 18, 1837 (5 Stat. 136), §§8-10: .900 fine standard; silver dollar 412½ grains; eagle 258, half-eagle 129, quarter-eagle 64½ grains (as printed in the Mint-law appendix at Econlib) — https://www.econlib.org/book-chapters/chapter-appendix-iv-coinage-laws/
- Coinage Act of 1873 (17 Stat. 424): half dollar 12½ grams; quarter dollar and dime one-half and one-fifth of that weight — https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/STATUTE-17/pdf/STATUTE-17-Pg424.pdf
- Coinage Act of 1965, Public Law 89-81 (79 Stat. 254), §101: clad half dollar of 11.5 g containing 4.6 g of silver — https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/STATUTE-79/pdf/STATUTE-79-Pg254.pdf
- United States Mint, “One Hundred Years of Silver Dollar Coinage (1878-1978)”: Morgan dollar 26.73 g, .900 silver, .100 copper — https://www.usmint.gov/news/inside-the-mint/one-hundred-years-of-silver-dollar-coinage-1878-1978
- Royal Canadian Mint, 2023 Gold Maple Leaf 1 oz bullion coin: 99.99% pure gold, 31.11 g, 30 mm — https://www.mint.ca/en/shop/coins/2023/2023-50-1-oz-9999-pure-gold-coin-gml-bullion
- Royal Mint (UK), Britannia 2025 1 oz Gold Bullion Coin: 999.9 fine, 32.69 mm, 1 troy oz of gold — https://www.royalmint.com/invest/bullion/bullion-coins/gold-coins/britannia-2025-1oz-gold-bullion-coin/
- Royal Mint (UK), South African Krugerrand 2024 1 oz Gold Bullion Coin: 916.7 fineness, 32.77 mm, 1 troy oz of gold — https://www.royalmint.com/invest/bullion-ranges/world-coins/krugerrand–2024-1oz-gold-bullion-coin/
- Münze Österreich (Austrian Mint), Vienna Philharmonic in gold: weights, fineness 999.9 and diameters by size — https://muenzeoesterreich.at/eng/vienna-philharmonic/good-to-know/the-vienna-philharmonic-a-success-story
- 16 CFR §23.3 (FTC Jewelry Guides): fine gold is 24 karat; lower karat figures describe alloys — https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/16/23.3