Orange County · Costa Mesa
Sell Gold in OC
Before you accept a gold offer, find out the weight unit, karat, spot price and share of melt behind it. Then set it beside an offer from our Costa Mesa counter, where your gold is weighed and tested in front of you.
- 4.7★ from 89+ reviews
- Licensed CA pawnbroker
- Family-owned since 2007
Before you accept an offer
Questions to ask any buyer
- Weight unit
- Grams, pennyweight or troy ounces?
- Karat assumed
- Tested, or read off the stamp?
- Spot price used
- What figure, and from what time?
- Share of melt
- What percent of melt is offered?
Ask for these numbers with any quote, including ours.
No-obligation quote
Get a number to compare
Tell us what you have and we’ll come back with a number. The firm offer is made once your gold is weighed and tested in front of you.
Same day
payment available
Mon–Fri
after-hours by appointment
4.7★
89+ reviews
Selling in person, step by step
At a counter, each step happens where you can see it, and nothing is final until you accept an offer.
- 01
Describe it before you drive
Use the form, call or text, and say roughly what you have. Karat stamps and a rough weight in grams help.
- 02
Bring the gold and a photo ID
California law requires a valid government-issued photo ID to sell gold jewelry. Bring every piece you might sell, and the numbers from any other quote.
- 03
See it weighed and tested
Your gold is weighed and tested in front of you. Ask what it weighed in grams and what karat it tested at — the numbers you’d ask any buyer for.
- 04
Accept, or take it home
Hear the offer and decide. If you accept, same-day payment is available; if you’d rather compare first, your gold goes home with you.
Selling at the counter
In person
How your gold is checked and priced before you decide
- Weighing
- In front of you
- Testing
- Acid or electronic
- Pricing
- Tied to the day’s spot
- Stones
- Priced separately
Visit the shop
1860 Newport Blvd, Costa Mesa, CA 92627
Mon–Fri 10:00am – 4:30pm
After-hours appointments available
Text us: (714) 679-8591
Before you head to the counter
A valid photo ID
Government-issued. California law requires one to sell gold jewelry.
A rough weight, in grams
A kitchen-scale ounce is 28.35 g; a troy ounce is 31.1 g. Write down grams.
The karat stamps
Marks like 14K (585) or 18K (750) are a start; the counter test checks them.
Numbers from other quotes
Weight and unit, karat, spot price used and the offer, for each one.
Mail-in or in person
Mail-in kits and local counters: what to ask
Mail-in services and local counters both buy gold, and either can suit you. The practical difference is what you can see for yourself. With a kit, the weighing and testing happen after your package arrives, so the useful questions come before you seal it. At a counter, the same steps happen in front of you, before you decide anything.
The questions below cover both routes. Write the answers down, so you can set two offers side by side afterward.
- Before you ship
- How is the package insured, and up to what value? What happens if it is lost on the way?
- Weight and karat
- Will you tell me the weight in grams, and the karat each piece tested at, before I accept?
- Spot price
- Is the offer based on spot on the day my gold arrives, the day it is tested, or the day I accept?
- If I say no
- How long do I have to decide, how is my gold sent back, and who pays for the return?
- At a counter
- Can I watch the weighing and the test, and read the scale myself?
Comparing offers
How to compare two gold offers on the same basis
Two totals tell you which offer is larger, not why. To see where a gap comes from, break each quote into its parts: the weight and the unit it was measured in, the karat assumed, the spot price used and the share of melt offered. Ask for those numbers with any quote, ours included.
Melt value is the market value of the pure gold in a piece: weight in grams, times purity, divided by 31.1, times the spot price per troy ounce. Divide an offer by melt value and you have its share of melt. Put both offers over one melt value, worked out from the same weight, karat and spot price, and any gap left is the difference in the share each buyer is offering.
- Weight unit
- Convert everything to grams. One pennyweight (dwt) is 1.555 g and one troy ounce is 31.1 g, so 20 dwt make a troy ounce.
- Karat assumed
- Was each piece tested, or priced from its stamp? 14K is 58.3% gold and 18K is 75%, so the karat used moves melt value directly.
- Spot price used
- Which figure, and from what time? Spot moves during the trading day, so quotes from different days may rest on different prices.
- Share of melt
- The offer as a percentage of melt value. Line this up last, once weight, karat and spot match.
From anywhere in OC
Coming to Costa Mesa from elsewhere in Orange County
The counter is on Newport Blvd in Costa Mesa. Whether you are starting from Anaheim, Irvine, Huntington Beach or San Clemente, selling in person comes down to one trip, so it is worth planning: know the hours, and arrive with everything you need to decide on the day.
The shop is open on weekdays, with the hours listed on this page. If a weekday does not fit around work or a longer drive, after-hours appointments are available. Call or text the shop to ask about one.
A call or text first lets you describe what you have and ask anything you want to know before the drive. On the day, check the spot price as you leave, so you can measure the offer you hear at the counter against that day’s market.
Common questions
Is a quote I get before coming in final?
Treat it as a guide. Anything discussed before your visit rests on your description. The firm offer comes after your gold is weighed and tested at the counter and priced on that day’s spot rate, so a figure from one day can change on another.
How do you work out your offer?
Gold bought for its metal is priced from melt value: the weight of pure gold in your pieces, times the day’s spot price, and the offer is a percentage of that. Pieces with collector value or genuine craftsmanship can be valued for that, not just metal weight. Ask how any offer was reached before you decide.
What about pieces with diamonds or other stones?
Stones are priced separately from the metal. When you compare quotes on jewelry with stones, ask each buyer whether the stones were valued at all, and whether their weight was counted as gold.
Are there fees, and do I have to accept?
There are no fees and no obligation. If you accept, same-day payment is available. If you would rather think it over or compare it with another quote, you can say no and keep your gold.
Do I need ID if I only want to compare offers?
Bring it anyway. California law requires a valid government-issued photo ID to sell gold jewelry, so without one you could not accept an offer that day, even one you like.