Mesh is how the trade measures the size of your gold — and size, at identical weight and purity, is worth real money.
A higher mesh number means smaller gold. Mesh counts screen openings per inch, so 50 mesh is a fine screen and 4 mesh is a coarse one. It runs backwards from how everyone expects.
The clearest way to feel the difference. Every row below is one gram of gold:
| Mesh | Pieces per gram | What it looks like |
|---|---|---|
| #50 | 400–500 | Flour gold, barely individual specks |
| #30 | 325–400 | Fine flake |
| #25 | 200–250 | Fine flake |
| #20 | 120–150 | Medium flake, clearly visible |
| #18 | 50–60 | Coarse flake |
| #14 | 35–45 | Coarse flake |
| #10 | 11–18 | Chunky, picks up easily |
| #8 | 6–10 | Pickers |
| #6 | 2–3 | Large pickers |
| #4 | ~1 or fewer | Small nuggets |
Approximate. Flat, plated gold runs more pieces per gram than chunky gold at the same screen size.
One gram of #50 might be 450 specks. One gram of #6 might be two nuggets. Same gold, same weight — very different value.
Why it matters
Screening does not create gold. It sorts what nature already made — and nature makes far more fine gold than coarse. That is the whole reason the rate climbs with size.
Fine material that sifts straight through a 40 mesh screen. It sells by weight, so the rate tracks refinery pricing closely.
The classic panning result. Jewelers and hobbyists both want it, which lifts the rate above plain melt value.
Big enough to pick up one at a time. Collectors buy these by the piece, so they earn very close to full metal value.
Sold whole to collectors and never melted. That is exactly why the rate clears 100% of the gold content.
Which is why it pays to screen your own material before selling. A lot sold as one undifferentiated pile gets priced near its average; the same lot screened into grades gets coarse-gold rates on the coarse fraction.
Mesh is the number of screen openings per linear inch. A higher mesh number means a finer screen and therefore smaller gold, which is the opposite of what most people assume. Number 50 mesh gold is tiny; number 4 mesh gold is nugget-sized.
Anything finer than about 40 mesh is generally called dust or flour gold. At 50 mesh you are looking at roughly 400 to 500 pieces per gram.
Rarity. A creek producing a kilogram of gold might yield hundreds of grams of fines, tens of grams of coarse flakes and only a few grams of pickers. The gold is identical; the larger pieces are simply much scarcer, and they sell whole rather than melted.
A set of classifier screens does it in minutes. Stack them coarse to fine, work dry material through, and you have your lot separated by grade — which lets you sell the coarse fraction at coarse-gold rates instead of averaging everything down.
How placer gold is valued → · Cleaning gold before you sell →
We screen every lot on camera and show you the split by size.
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