{"id":20240,"date":"2026-10-05T05:42:01","date_gmt":"2026-10-05T04:42:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/glossary\/troy-ounce\/"},"modified":"2026-10-05T07:44:53","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T06:44:53","slug":"troy-ounce","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/en\/glossary\/troy-ounce\/","title":{"rendered":"Troy Ounce"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mrf-gl\"><p class=\"gl-def\">A troy ounce is the unit used to weigh and price precious metals. It equals 31.1035 grams, about 10% more than the 28.35 gram avoirdupois ounce used for groceries in the US.<\/p><aside class=\"panel gl-live\"><p class=\"gl-live-h\">\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 Today in the US<\/p><div class=\"gl-row\"><span>Gold, 1 troy ounce (spot)<\/span><b>$4,160<\/b><\/div><div class=\"gl-row\"><span>Cheapest 1 oz gold coin: <a href=\"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/en\/product\/1oz-krugerrand-gold-coin\/\">1oz Krugerrand Gold Coin<\/a><\/span><b>$4,189.93<\/b> <small>+0.7% premium<\/small><\/div><p class=\"gl-src\">Data as of 05.10.2026, updated daily.<\/p><a class=\"btn primary\" href=\"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/en\/cheapest-gold-coins\/\">Compare gold coin prices \u203a<\/a><\/aside><div class=\"gl-body\"><p>For the full conversion table and the history of the unit, read our <a href=\"\/en\/blog\/troy-ounce-definition\/\">troy ounce guide<\/a>. This entry covers what the troy ounce means on a price list: fine weight, gross weight and the cost per ounce of pure gold.<\/p><h2>Fine weight vs gross weight on US coins<\/h2><p>Dealer listings show \"1 oz\", but that number usually means fine weight: the amount of pure metal. Gross weight includes any alloy. The 1 oz American Gold Eagle is the classic US example. It is struck in 22 karat gold (91.67%) with silver and copper added on top of one full troy ounce of gold, so the coin weighs about 33.93 grams in total (31.1035 \/ 0.9167). The 1 oz American Gold Buffalo is .9999 fine, so its gross and fine weights are almost the same.<\/p><p>Both coins carry exactly one troy ounce of gold, which is why their prices are compared against the same <a href=\"spot-price}}\">spot price<\/a>. Only the <a href=\"fineness}}\">fineness<\/a>, durability and premium differ. Compare the <a href=\"\/en\/product\/1oz-american-eagle-gold-coin\/\">lowest delivered price for a 1 oz Gold Eagle<\/a> with the <a href=\"\/en\/product\/1oz-american-buffalo-gold-coin\/\">1 oz Gold Buffalo offers from US dealers<\/a> to see which one costs less per ounce today.<\/p><h3>Junk silver is priced by troy ounce too<\/h3><p>Pre-1965 US dimes, quarters and half dollars are 90% silver. A dime weighs 2.50 g, so it holds 2.25 g of silver, or 0.0723 troy oz. Ten dimes ($1 face value) contain about 0.723 troy oz of silver when unworn. Dealers quote \"junk silver\" per dollar of face value for this reason. Our <a href=\"\/en\/silver-melt-value\/\">silver melt value calculator<\/a> does the conversion for you.<\/p><h2>How to use troy ounces when you shop<\/h2><ul><li>Always compare price per troy ounce of fine metal, not price per item.<\/li><li>Check gram-denominated bars against the <a href=\"\/en\/charts\/gold-price\/gold-price-per-gram\/\">gold price per gram<\/a>: a 1 oz bar is not the same as a 30 g bar.<\/li><li>For fractional coins (1\/10 oz, 1\/4 oz) divide the price by the fraction to get the cost per ounce, then compare the <a href=\"premium}}\">premium<\/a>.<\/li><\/ul><\/div><h2>Related terms<\/h2><p class=\"gl-chips\"><a class=\"gl-chip\" href=\"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/en\/glossary\/spot-price\/\">Spot Price<\/a> <a class=\"gl-chip\" href=\"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/en\/glossary\/fineness\/\">Fineness<\/a> <a class=\"gl-chip\" href=\"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/en\/glossary\/bullion\/\">Bullion<\/a> <a class=\"gl-chip\" href=\"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/en\/glossary\/karat\/\">Karat<\/a><\/p><section class=\"mrf-faq\"><h2>FAQ<\/h2><div class=\"faq-list\"><details open><summary><h3>Where can I find a troy ounce conversion table?<\/h3><\/summary><div class=\"a\"><p>Our troy ounce guide on the blog has the full conversion table and the history of the unit. This glossary entry focuses on fine weight when you compare coin prices.<\/p><\/div><\/details><details><summary><h3>Is a troy ounce heavier than a regular ounce?<\/h3><\/summary><div class=\"a\"><p>Yes, a troy ounce is about 9.7% heavier than the ounce used for food and postage in the US.<\/p><\/div><\/details><details><summary><h3>Does a 1 oz American Gold Eagle contain a full ounce of gold?<\/h3><\/summary><div class=\"a\"><p>Yes, it contains one troy ounce of pure gold, and the added silver and copper bring its total weight to about 33.93 grams.<\/p><\/div><\/details><\/div><\/section><details class=\"gl-src-list\"><summary>Sources<\/summary><ul><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nist.gov\/pml\/owm\/publications\/nist-handbooks\/handbook-44\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NIST Handbook 44, Appendix C: General tables of units of measurement<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.usmint.gov\/coins-precious-metal-coins\/bullion-coin-programs\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">United States Mint: bullion coin programs<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/details><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"parent":20232,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","_glsr_average":0,"_glsr_ranking":0,"_glsr_reviews":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-20240","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"taxonomy_info":[],"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":{"display_name":"","author_link":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/en\/"},"comment_info":0,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/20240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20240"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/20240\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20328,"href":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/20240\/revisions\/20328"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/20232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}