What Is Gold Melt Value?

Melt value is what the gold in a piece is worth as raw metal: weight times purity times the gold price.

It is a floor, not a ceiling. It ignores the making, the design, the stones and the name on the box. Plenty of pieces are worth more than their melt value and should not be melted at all.

Knowing the melt value is still useful, because it tells you the least the piece should ever fetch.