Bought by the piece. Sold by the gram.

Look at the two objects. On the left, a bangle covered in carved flowers. On the right, a small bead of gold. They are the same thing, before and after a buyer gets hold of it.

Two prices, two units

When you buy jewelry, you pay by the piece. The price includes the gold, the design, the hours of carving, the brand, the rent on a shop in a good street, and the shop’s margin.

When you sell it, you are paid by the gram. A buyer weighs it, tests the purity, multiplies by the gold price, then takes a discount. The carving that made you choose that bangle earns nothing. Neither does the brand.

The purity cut

Most jewelry is not pure gold. Fourteen-karat gold is 58.3% gold; ten-karat is 41.7%. The buyer pays only for the gold content, so a 20-gram 14k bracelet is really about 11.7 grams of gold.

Then comes the discount. Buyers need a margin too, so their offer sits below the melt value of the metal. How far below depends on who you sell to, which is why two shops can quote very different numbers for the same piece.

What the price hides

None of this is a scam. It is two different businesses: one sells objects, one buys metal. The hidden cost is the distance between them, and you only see it when you try to cross it.

Wear what you love. Just do not file it under savings.