By Rocco Clayfield, trading as GoldPaid; the business incorporated as GOLDPAID LTD (company 17382540) on 5 August 2026 · Published · updated
Found 375 on your piece? Send us a photo of it
Photograph the number stamped inside the ring or on the clasp, then the whole piece, and send both on WhatsApp. We will reply with what the mark means and a rough estimate of what we would pay. No obligation, and nothing needs posting.
No WhatsApp? Call 07944 014111, 8am to 9pm.
Not sure what the mark says? Use the hallmark lookup. Final offers depend on inspection, item weight, purity, hallmarks, stones, non-gold components, condition and the live precious-metal market.
How pure is 375 gold?
375 is parts per thousand. Out of every 1000 units of the alloy by weight, 375 units are pure gold. That works out to 9 parts of gold in a 24-part system, which is where the "9 carat" name comes from. The other 625 parts are partner metals that give the alloy its colour, hardness and machinability.
| Mark | Carat | Pure gold |
|---|---|---|
| 375 | 9ct | 37.5% |
| 585 | 14ct | 58.5% |
| 750 | 18ct | 75.0% |
| 916 | 22ct | 91.6% |
| 990 | 990 gold | 99.0% |
| 999 | 24ct | 99.9% |
A common 9ct yellow alloy is 37.5% gold with the rest mostly copper and silver and a little zinc. A 9ct white alloy uses palladium or nickel in place of some of the silver and copper to take out the yellow tone.
Why 9ct is so common in the UK
That matters when you sell. A British jewellery box can hold several standards at once, so every piece is XRF-assayed and weighed on its own. Items that test at 375 are priced at 375, and anything that tests higher is priced at what it tests, not averaged down to the commonest mark.
Hardness and wear
9ct is harder than 18ct or 22ct because the partner metals (copper, silver, zinc, sometimes palladium) make the alloy stiffer. A 9ct band will resist denting and scratching better than a high-carat band of the same shape. That is why working hands often prefer 9ct for everyday rings.
The trade-off is colour. 9ct yellow is a paler, slightly cooler shade than 18ct yellow. Some buyers prefer the deeper warmth of higher carats. The colour preference is personal. The scrap economics are decided by the carat number, not the shade.
How 9ct sells at scrap
9ct is valued the same way as every other carat. The offer starts from the gold we measure, 0.375 of the weight for 9ct, valued against the live fine-gold market. The value per gram is lower than for higher carats only because there is less gold in each gram. How a tested weight and purity become an offer sets out the method.
Final offers depend on inspection, item weight, purity, hallmarks, stones, non-gold components, condition and the live precious-metal market.
Identifying 9ct quickly
- Find the inside of the shank or the clasp.
- Look for 375 in a small punch with cut corners, or 9 and .375 side by side on older British pieces.
- Check that the standard mark sits beside an assay office mark (leopard, anchor, rose or castle).
- Weigh the piece on a kitchen scale. Even a thin 9ct chain has noticeable heft for its size.
- If nothing readable is left, send it in. XRF says whether the alloy is genuinely 375 or something else.
When 9ct surprises you
A heavy 9ct curb chain or rope chain can hold more grams of gold than a small 18ct ring, because the weight matters as much as the purity. A 30 gram 9ct chain has 11.25 grams of pure gold. A 5 gram 18ct ring has 3.75 grams. The recovered yield difference is significant in favour of the chain. People are sometimes surprised that the "bigger but lower carat" piece outvalues the "smaller but higher carat" piece. Mass times purity is what matters.
Sending 9ct by post
9ct posts the same way as any other UK gold. WhatsApp 07944 014111 to start, request the prepaid Royal Mail Special Delivery label, and send any 9ct items in a padded envelope or small box. The XRF report shows the standard. Bank transfer follows acceptance. Decline is free return by tracked post. Your parcel travels on Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed, tracked and signed for. Royal Mail cover may be available up to £2,500 depending on the postal method and cover level used. GoldPaid can confirm the appropriate postal option before you post. If the lot may be worth more than £2,500, tell us first and we can split it across more than one prepaid label at no charge. The full method is on the sell gold by post page.
What 9ct means for the offer you get
375 is the British workhorse. It is not glamorous on a carat-vanity scale, and the method of pricing it is no different: weight, tested purity, the live market. Nine carat is 37.5 per cent gold, so a 9ct piece holds roughly half the gold of an 18ct piece of the same weight. That is arithmetic rather than a judgement on the jewellery, and each item is set out on its own line in the written offer so you can see how the figure was reached. The method that turns a tested 9ct weight into an offer is written out in full.