Gold rate today in Edinburgh

What gold costs in Edinburgh today

Converted at today's rates, pure 24k gold costs about 96.79 GBP per gram in Edinburgh, and 22k about 88.73 GBP. Per 10 grams, a common size for small bars and rate boards, that is about 967.92 GBP for 24k. These are spot-based figures, before any tax, premium or making charge.

The Edinburgh Assay Office

The Edinburgh Assay Office, at Goldsmiths Hall, 24a Broughton Street, has been hallmarking since 1457. It is Scotland's assay office and a self-funding statutory body.

Its town mark is a castle, so a gold piece hallmarked in Edinburgh can be told apart from one marked in London, Birmingham or Sheffield.

What moves the gold price in Edinburgh

The British pound gold price is simply the dollar price of gold multiplied by the exchange rate. Today that means about $4,042.7 per ounce times 0.7447 GBP per dollar. Sterling floats freely, and its moves against the dollar are often as large as gold's own daily moves. On days when the pound falls, the sterling gold price can rise while the dollar price is flat, and the reverse is just as common.

The dollar price itself responds to US interest-rate expectations, the strength of the dollar, inflation data, central-bank buying and geopolitical risk. Our guide to what moves gold prices covers each in turn.

Premiums, making charges and tax in Edinburgh

The shelf price in Edinburgh is higher than the converted figure above. A shop adds 20% VAT on jewellery (investment gold is VAT-exempt), the dealer's premium on bars and coins and the jeweller's margin. On jewellery, making charges are built into the retail price of jewellery rather than shown separately, so two pieces of the same weight and purity can carry very different prices. UK law allows six gold standards, 375 (9ct), 585 (14ct), 750 (18ct), 916 (22ct), 990 and 999, and pieces of 1 gram or more must be hallmarked; the Britannia is 999.9 fine and the Sovereign 22 carat.

Gold market hours in Edinburgh

The international gold market trades almost around the clock on weekdays. In Edinburgh the London–New York overlap, usually the busiest and most volatile part of the day, runs today from about 13:00–17:00 local time. The two LBMA Gold Price auctions in London, at 10:30 and 15:00 London time, fall at 10:30 and 15:00 in Edinburgh, and major US data released at 08:30 New York time, such as payrolls and inflation, lands at 13:30 local time. The week's trading closes at 22:00 on Friday and reopens at 23:00 on Sunday, Edinburgh time; over the weekend the price on this page is the last close. London is the centre of the global wholesale gold market: the LBMA Gold Price is set in two auctions a day, and the Bank of England holds one of the largest gold vaults in the world. Our gold market hours tool shows the sessions in any time zone.

Edinburgh compared with London

Edinburgh and London both price gold in GBP off the same international price and the same exchange rate, so the converted figure is identical: about 96.79 GBP per gram of 24k in both. Any difference at the counter comes from making charges, dealer premiums and how hard the shops compete.

How this GBP gold price is calculated

Three numbers decide everything on this page. First, the international gold price in US dollars per troy ounce: $4,042.7 at the last update. Second, the exchange rate: 1 USD = 0.7447 GBP. Third, the weight: one troy ounce is 31.1035 grams, and one tola is 11.6638 grams.

1. Price per gram in USD = $4,042.7 ÷ 31.1035 = $129.98.
2. Price per gram in GBP = $129.98 × 0.7447 = 96.79 GBP (24k, pure gold).
3. Price per 10 grams = 96.79 × 10 = 967.92 GBP.
4. For a lower purity, multiply by the fineness: 22k = 0.9167, 21k = 0.875, 18k = 0.75.

The gold price is the spot price of gold (XAUUSD) from a public real-time feed, refreshed every few seconds while the page is open; the 7-day table and the 30-session chart use COMEX gold futures closes, which usually sit a few dollars above spot. The exchange rate is a mid-market rate; the rate your bank or money changer gives you will be slightly different. If you want to do the maths yourself, our guide to converting the gold price per gram, tola and kilo walks through every step with worked examples.

What this price does not include

The figures above are the international spot price converted into local currency. They are the starting point for every retail price in Edinburgh, but they are not the price you will pay or receive at a shop. The shop price adds some or all of these on top:

• Import duty or customs charges, where gold or jewellery is imported.
• Sales tax or VAT, where the country charges one. Many countries tax jewellery but not investment bars; the sections above say what applies here.
• Dealer premium: the margin a bullion dealer or bank adds to the spot price for bars and coins, usually larger on small pieces.
• Making charges (labour) on jewellery, often a percentage of the gold value or a fixed amount per gram.
• Local supply and demand, which can push the physical price to a premium or a discount against the international price for weeks at a time.

When you sell, the buyer usually quotes below the spot-based number and deducts for purity testing, wear and sometimes stones. The gap between the buying and the selling price is the real cost of owning physical gold, and it varies a lot between shops, so it is worth asking several.

Frequently asked questions