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 an instant 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 | 91.7% |
| 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
Carat alone does not determine hardness or resistance to wear. The alloy composition, manufacturing process, shape and use of the piece also matter. Do not assume a 9ct band will always resist scratching or denting better than an 18ct one; ask a jeweller about the particular designs being compared.
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.
Its selling value also depends on the current market, the payable metal weight and the inspection of the actual item. The dated figure for every carat, with the working, is on the 9ct (375) gold value per gram page.
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).
- A kitchen-scale reading can give an approximate gross weight, but weight or heft alone does not identify gold or establish payable metal weight.
- If nothing readable is left, send it in. Inspection and suitable XRF readings help assess the metal; a single surface reading does not establish the contents of a plated or filled piece.
Read a 375 mark in the context of the whole piece
Start with an overall photograph before taking the close-up. On a chain, show where the marked clasp joins the links; on a charm bracelet, show the bracelet and the separate charms; on a ring, show the setting as well as the inside of the band. This keeps the number attached to the object it describes. A clear photograph of one component should not become an assumption that every attached part has the same composition.
Record any other marks beside 375 without trying to force them into a complete identification. The sponsor’s mark, fineness mark and assay-office mark perform different jobs in a UK hallmark. The number concerns fineness; it does not name the jeweller, establish an exact age or explain a repair. The UK hallmark guide helps separate those marks before you interpret their combination.
If the mark looks like 373, 575 or another uncertain number, describe what is visible and keep the uncertainty. Changing light or camera angle may make a photograph clearer, but do not file or aggressively polish a mark to make it fit an expected reading. An assessor can consider the object and appropriate tests without pretending to recover a number that is no longer legible.
A bare 375 stamp and a full UK hallmark are not equivalent evidence. Equally, an unfamiliar arrangement of marks is a reason to investigate, not an automatic finding that the item is fake. Photograph the complete group. Keep any receipt or earlier description with it, while treating the current object rather than the paperwork alone as the subject of the assessment.
For a repaired or assembled piece, keep the repair history if you know it. A replaced clasp, added charm or resized band may make the item more complicated than its easiest-to-read mark suggests. Describe the history without assuming that every repair changes the fineness. The useful request is for the assessor to explain the basis used for the actual object in front of them.
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.
Use the 37.5% calculation without counting stones as gold
The multiplication is useful only when the starting weight is appropriate. If 12 grams is the confirmed weight of a uniform 375 gold alloy, its nominal gold content is 12 × 0.375 = 4.5 grams. This is an illustrative calculation, not an offer or an assay result. If 12 grams is instead the gross weight of a stone-set ring, the same calculation would incorrectly treat its stones and other components as 9ct gold.
| What you know | What it does and does not establish |
|---|---|
| A kitchen-scale weight | A useful approximate gross weight; it does not separate stones, springs or other components. |
| A readable 375 mark | The stated fineness; its context and the item still need assessment. |
| A surface XRF reading | Evidence about the area tested; it does not by itself establish a plated or filled interior. |
| An itemised offer | The buyer’s assessed basis and proposed amount; ask how payable weight was determined. |
This also explains why a light 18ct item need not outvalue a heavy 9ct one. Compare the actual pieces and their payable metal rather than ranking the numbers alone. Keep the metal-content calculation separate from any possible intact-jewellery value. A maker, design or personal history can make a different selling or keeping decision sensible even where the metal arithmetic is straightforward.
For a dated price discussion, use the existing 9ct value-per-gram page and read its basis. Do not multiply a fine-gold benchmark by the gross weight of a 9ct piece. If two quotations appear different, first check that both use 9ct, the same weight basis, the same units and a comparable date. Only then compare the proposed proceeds.
With a bracelet carrying several charms, ask for enough itemisation to understand the assessment of the bracelet and attachments. One charm may have a different mark or an uncertain construction. Keep an agreed return or retention instruction against the relevant photograph rather than describing it only as “the little gold charm”. This is particularly useful when the collection contains pieces you want to keep alongside pieces you may sell.
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.