Glossary
fineness
Fineness indicates how much pure precious metal an alloy contains, expressed in parts per thousand.
Fineness describes the pure precious metal proportion in an alloy, expressed in parts per thousand. A 585 hallmark means 585 of 1,000 parts are pure gold, or 58.5%. The remainder consists of additional metals such as copper, silver or palladium, which determine colour and hardness.
In Germany, common gold finenesses are 333, 585, 750 and 999; for silver, 800, 835, 925 and 999; for platinum, usually 950. The number appears as a small hallmark on the item itself, often inside a ring, on a necklace clasp or on the back of a cutlery handle.
Fineness is the most important figure when selling. It determines how much pure metal your item contains and therefore its material value. Weight alone tells you little: two equally heavy rings can differ in value by more than double if one is marked 333 and the other 750.
Worked example: from fineness to euros
Assume a gold price of 120,00 € per gram of fine gold. One gram of 585 gold contains 0.585 grams of pure gold, giving a material value of 70,20 €. One gram of 750 gold comes to 90,00 €, and one gram of 333 gold to 39,96 €.
A 6 gram 585 ring therefore has a material value of 421,20 € in this example. We pay 90 to 95 % of spot for gold jewellery, giving approximately 379,08 to 400,14 € here. The daily price changes, but the calculation stays the same.
What fineness means when selling in Nordhorn
At our Nordhorn shop, we first read the hallmark and check whether it matches the material. Only then do we weigh and calculate. You can watch every step and see the price, fineness, weight and result clearly calculated before we discuss payment.
You do not need to sort anything beforehand. We separate 333, 585 and 750 in store because each alloy has its own price per gram. Mixed lots are calculated separately by fineness, which usually makes the biggest difference with a full jewellery box.