About MeltCheck
Melt value is public math: weight, purity, spot price. Yet most people selling an old chain or a jar of coins walk in without that number, and the price they get reflects it. MeltCheck exists to put the number in your hand first.
What this site is
A set of free calculators for gold, silver, platinum, and US coin metal content, priced from a live spot feed, with every formula and constant documented on the methodology page. Each calculator shows its own math line, so you can verify any result with a phone calculator.
What it isn't
We don't buy metal, don't sell it, and don't appraise collectibles. Where an item might be worth more than melt (a better-date coin, a signed piece), our pages say so plainly and tell you what to check, because sending you to a price guide is more useful than pretending a formula covers it.
Who runs this
MeltCheck is built and maintained by an independent publisher of reference and calculator sites. There's no metals dealer behind it and no buyer paying for placement: nobody can pay to appear on a page, to rank above a competitor, or to move a number. Some outbound links to buyers and dealers may earn a commission; those are labeled where they appear and listed in full on the disclosure page, which also states what is active right now. The incentive here is simple: a reference that's provably right gets used and linked; one that shades numbers doesn't.
Accuracy and corrections
Constants come from U.S. Mint historical specifications and standard purity marks; spot data from gold-api.com. If you find an error, we want it fixed. The methodology page lists every number we rely on, which makes checking us straightforward.