Gold Is Weighed in Five Different Units — This Tool Converts Between All of Them

Gold’s weight units are a historical pile-up. Jewelers in the US still quote in pennyweights, a unit from the old troy system. Bullion dealers trade in troy ounces. South Asian markets use the tola. Your kitchen scale uses grams. One wrong assumption about which unit you’re looking at, and your valuation is off by 10% or more.

The converter above translates any weight into grams, troy ounces, regular ounces, pennyweights, tolas, and kilograms instantly. Here’s what each unit is and where you’ll actually encounter it.

The Units, One by One

Gram (g). The practical everyday unit. Jeweler’s scales read in grams, postal scales read in grams, and most online price-per-gram figures use it. If you’re weighing a chain or a ring at home, you’re working in grams. One gram is a small amount — a typical men’s wedding band weighs 5–8 grams.

Troy ounce (ozt). The unit of the global gold market. Every spot price you see quoted — on the news, on trading screens — is dollars per troy ounce. One troy ounce equals 31.1035 grams. Bullion coins like the American Gold Eagle are denominated in troy ounces, and refineries settle in them.

Avoirdupois ounce (oz). The regular everyday ounce — 28.3495 grams, the one on food packaging. This is the trap: it’s about 10% lighter than a troy ounce. If a buyer quotes you a “price per ounce” without specifying, ask which ounce. Quoting in regular ounces while you assume troy ounces silently shaves roughly a tenth off your price.

Pennyweight (dwt). Twenty pennyweights make one troy ounce; one pennyweight equals 1.5552 grams. Still widely used by jewelers, pawn shops, and scrap buyers across the United States — you’ll see “dwt” on buy quotes and assay reports. If a buyer offers you “$95 per dwt,” that’s about $61 per gram; the converter above does that math for you. Our pennyweight-to-grams guide goes deeper on how buyers use this unit.

Tola. The traditional unit of South Asian gold markets: 11.6638 grams (about 0.375 troy ounces). Common on 22K jewelry from India and Pakistan, and you’ll see tola pricing at ethnic jewelers in the US. If you inherited South Asian gold, this is probably the unit its weight was originally measured in.

Kilogram (kg). The wholesale unit — 1,000 grams, or 32.1507 troy ounces. Refineries and large dealers work in kilos. You won’t weigh a bracelet in kilograms, but if you’re ever comparing a refinery’s kilo-denominated quote against a per-gram offer, convert first.

Quick Conversion Reference

From	To grams	Notes
1 troy ounce	31.1035 g	Spot price unit
1 regular ounce	28.3495 g	~10% lighter than troy
1 pennyweight	1.5552 g	20 dwt = 1 troy oz
1 tola	11.6638 g	South Asian markets
1 kilogram	1,000 g	32.15 troy oz

How to Use the Converter

Enter your weight, pick the unit it’s in, and the tool shows the equivalent in every other unit. There’s no spot price involved — this is pure unit math, so the result never goes stale. Use it before any valuation: convert whatever unit your scale or your buyer is using into grams, then run the number through the main gold calculator or the gold price converter to see what it’s worth at today’s price.

One practical tip: when a buyer quotes in pennyweights, convert their per-dwt price to per-gram before comparing it against other offers. Per-dwt quotes look bigger and feel better; per-gram keeps every offer on the same ruler.

Weighing Accurately at Home

The converter is only as useful as the number you feed it. A few practical points on getting a trustworthy weight:

Use the right scale. Kitchen scales typically resolve to 1 gram — useless for a 4-gram earring, where rounding alone swings the value by 25%. A pocket jeweler’s scale (0.01 g resolution, ~$15–20) is the correct tool. Calibrate it with the included test weight before each session.

Weigh pieces individually. A chain, its pendant, and the clasp may be different karats — and the pendant might have a stone. Individual weights let you value each part at its own karat instead of blending everything into one wrong number.

Watch for the tare trap. If you weigh in a dish or on a cloth, tare (zero) the scale with the container on it first. Weighing a ring in a plastic tray without taring adds the tray’s weight to your gold.

Drafts and vibrations matter. Jeweler’s scales are sensitive enough that an air-conditioning vent or an unsteady table shifts the reading. Weigh on a hard, still surface, away from vents.

Reading Buy Slips and Assay Reports

When a buyer or refinery hands you paperwork, it’ll be in their units — usually pennyweights or troy ounces, with the karat and a per-unit price. Convert every figure to per-gram before comparing against other offers or against the live price strip. The two numbers that matter on any slip: the net gold weight (after their assay) and the price per gram derived from their offer. If the slip only shows a lump sum, divide by the weight yourself — a buyer who won’t show weight and unit price separately is a buyer to leave.

Frequently Asked Questions

What’s the difference between a troy ounce and a regular ounce?

A troy ounce (31.1035 g) is the precious-metals unit; a regular avoirdupois ounce (28.3495 g) is the everyday unit. The troy ounce is about 10% heavier. Gold is always priced per troy ounce, so if anyone quotes you per “ounce” without specifying, confirm which one — the ambiguity has cost sellers real money.

Why do US gold buyers still use pennyweights?

Inertia and precision. The pennyweight is a convenient size for jewelry-scale transactions — quoting “$120 per dwt” is more granular than per-ounce pricing for a 6-gram ring. Most American jewelers, pawnbrokers, and refiners learned the trade in dwt and never switched. Expect it on buy quotes and assay slips.

How many grams is a tola of gold?

One tola is 11.6638 grams. It’s the standard unit in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, and you’ll encounter it at South Asian jewelers in the US and on 22K pieces made for those markets. Ten tolas is roughly 3.75 troy ounces.

My scale only reads in grams — do I need any other unit?

For weighing, no. Grams are the most precise practical unit for jewelry. You need the other units for reading quotes: buyers, refiners, and market prices will come at you in dwt, troy ounces, and sometimes tolas. Convert their numbers to per-gram and compare apples to apples.

Is a “carat” a weight unit for gold?

Careful — “carat” means two different things. As a weight it’s 0.2 grams, used for diamonds, not gold. For gold purity, the word is “karat” with a K (14K, 18K). Mixing them up is a classic beginner error; our gold purity calculator covers the karat side.