Most Americans Don’t Know What Their Gold Jewelry Is Worth

By JCK News Desk | August 24, 2026

The gold chain tucked away in a dresser drawer, the inherited bracelet that hasn’t been worn in years, the ring forgotten in a safe deposit box: Collectively, pieces like this may represent one of America’s largest overlooked pools of household wealth, according to a new report from appraisal platform Unvault.

The company’s inaugural Jewelry Drawer Index estimates Americans are holding an estimated $750 billion worth of gold jewelry in their homes. That’s counting just the gold itself—excluding the value of diamonds, colored gemstones, silver, and jewelry craftsmanship in these forgotten treasures.

The estimate is based on 7,050 metric tons of gold jewelry consumed in the United States between 1995 and 2025, as reported by the World Gold Council. Unvault applied what it describes as a conservative 75% household retention rate and valued the remaining gold at a spot price of $4,400 per ounce, arriving at a total of approximately $750 billion. Using those metrics, the average U.S. household would hold gold worth about $5,700.

“Even by this conservative measure, gold jewelry is one of the largest untracked asset classes in the United States,” the Unvault report argued.

The report highlights what it calls a gap between jewelry ownership and awareness. Unvault argues that many consumers continue to think about jewelry based on its original purchase price rather than its current metal value. For example, the metal in a bracelet purchased 25 years ago, when gold averaged about $275 per ounce, is worth much more today, when prices are running about $4,700 per ounce.

“Pieces bought before 2008, when gold averaged under $900 per ounce, have at least quintupled in metal value. Their owners almost certainly have not updated their mental model of what those pieces are worth,” the report said.

Citing data from more than 50,000 evaluations conducted on its platform, Unvault says owners typically underestimate the gold value of their pieces by a factor of three or more. The company says nearly two-thirds of U.S. jewelry owners carry no insurance on their fine jewelry due to a lack of updated appraisals, and that household jewelry is rarely tracked by financial advisors.

Unvault’s state-by-state index ranks New Jersey, Connecticut, California, Maryland, and Massachusetts among the states with the highest estimated per-household gold jewelry values, while Mississippi, Arkansas, North Dakota, Louisiana, and South Dakota rank among the lowest.

The study’s methodology values jewelry solely on the basis of gold content at current spot prices. Unvault emphasized that the figures do not represent resale value, retail replacement value, or insurance value.

The JCK News Desk uses AI to help research and produce the first draft of articles. This story was then reviewed by staff writer David Blomquist.

(Photo: Getty Images)