California placer gold runs among the higher fineness in the United States, commonly 85 to 94 percent gold. The Mother Lode belt and the Sierra Nevada drainages that started the 1849 rush are still worked by small operations and recreational prospectors today.
We price against tested gold content rather than an assumed purity, and the tested figure appears in your written offer alongside the weight and the rate. The calculator below is preset to California’s typical band.
Preset for California. No email, no phone number.
A troy ounce is 31.1 g, a pennyweight is 1.56 g.
Based on typical purity for California (85–94% gold). Drag the slider if you know yours and this tightens up.
Estimate only, at $4,101/oz gold. Your firm offer comes after we weigh and test the actual lot, and you are free to decline it.
Material from Feather, Yuba, American and Merced river drainages passes through regularly. What matters for your payout is not the district name but three measurable things: how much you have, what it assays, and how big the pieces are.
The third one is where sellers lose the most. A lot of coarse pickers and a lot of flour gold can weigh the same and assay the same, and still be worth substantially different amounts — because coarse gold sells whole to collectors while fines get melted.
How placer gold is valued — weight, purity and grade explained →
What we pay
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.
California placer gold commonly falls between % and % gold, with silver making up most of the balance. That is a regional pattern rather than a guarantee — fineness varies creek by creek, so your lot is tested and the figure appears in your written offer.
Yes. A vial from a weekend of prospecting goes through exactly the same process as a commercial clean-up. There is a minimum below which insured shipping costs more than the gold is worth, but it is lower than most people expect.
Send it anyway and mention it. Many mail-in buyers refuse concentrates outright; we handle the separation on camera as part of intake, so nothing happens to your material off screen.
Yes. Prepaid insured shipping is free in both directions, including the return if you decline the offer.
Alaska · California · Arizona · Nevada
Free insured shipping both ways, graded on camera, and no obligation to accept.
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