What does this tool calculate?

For a completed day you choose, the tool shows a calculated buy and sell reference for an amount of gold (or silver, platinum, palladium), or the amount a sum of money could have bought that day. It works in two directions: “Gold to money” finds the value of a quantity on that day, and “Money to gold” finds the quantity an amount could have bought.

• 24, 22, 21, 19, 18, 14, 10, 9 and 8 karat gold: TRY per gram; for 24K only, also USD per gram and USD per troy ounce
• Turkish Republic gold coins (Cumhuriyet altını): quarter, half, full, 2½ and 5 sizes of the sikke (Ata Lira) and ziynet groups, in TRY per piece
• Silver, platinum and palladium: TRY per gram, USD per gram and USD per troy ounce

What is the historical reference and how is it built?

The historical reference is the day’s value of one troy ounce of pure metal in US dollars; one value per day is used, with no separate buy or sell price. The tool converts it to your product in this order:

1. Grams: the ounce value is divided by 31.1034768 (1 troy ounce = 31.1034768 grams).
2. Currency: for TRY results the ounce value is multiplied by the USD/TRY rate of the observation day actually used. USD results need no lira conversion.
3. Product characteristics: for karat gold the 24K reference is multiplied by karat / 24 (22 / 24 for 22K); for Republic gold coins the official Turkish Mint (Darphane) weight is multiplied by 22 / 24 to get the pure-gold content; for silver, platinum and palladium the reference is used directly. The result is the historical reference (mid) value.
4. Buy and sell: the mid value is multiplied by a fixed buy coefficient and a fixed sell coefficient.

In short: mid value = ounce value (USD) × exchange rate ÷ 31.1034768 × purity; buy reference = mid × buy coefficient; sell reference = mid × sell coefficient.

The Source row of each result shows what kind of reference was used: a historical market reference (daily close), daily market reference data and/or an official central-bank exchange rate. Older periods rely on daily-close data and more recent periods on daily market reference data; the result names the kind of reference, not the data provider.

Buy and sell references: what the model coefficients mean

The buy and sell references are not observed jeweller or bank prices; they are two values obtained by applying fixed model coefficients to the mid value. The buy coefficient sits slightly below the mid value and the sell coefficient slightly above it; the gap between them (the spread, makas in Turkish) is part of the model and is not that day’s real market spread. The coefficient pair applied is shown in every result, in the “Model buy / sell coefficient” row of the “Calculation details” section.

• 24K gold per gram: 0.998687 buy / 1.001313 sell
• Per-ounce prices (all metals): 0.999807 / 1.000193
• Silver per gram: 0.998735 / 1.001265
• Karat gold below 24K: buy and sell deviate from the mid value by the same percentage in opposite directions (a ± deviation): about ±0.46% at 22K and about ±0.76% at 8K. That is each side’s deviation from the mid value, not the full gap between buy and sell; the gap between them is twice that
• Republic gold coins: buy 0.998687, sell 1.036742; the sell side is about 3.7% above the pure-gold value

Republic gold coins: weight, fineness and the Ata Lira

According to the Turkish Mint (Darphane and Damga Matbaası Genel Müdürlüğü), every Republic gold coin is 22 karat. The sikke (Ata Lira) group weighs 1.804 g (quarter), 3.608 g (half), 7.216 g (full), 18.04 g (2½) and 36.08 g (5); the ziynet group, a separate official group, weighs 1.754 g, 3.508 g, 7.016 g, 17.54 g and 35.08 g. Because the weights differ, the results differ too.

A coin’s pure-gold content is its weight multiplied by 22 / 24; for a quarter sikke that is 1.804 g × 22 / 24 = 1.653667 g. The tool multiplies that quantity by the 24K gram reference of the day.

How to use the calculator

1. Choose the operation: “Gold to money” or “Money to gold”.
2. Enter the date as day, month and a four-digit year; it must be a completed day.
3. Choose the gold / metal type. For 24K gold and the metals, also choose the price unit (TRY per gram, USD per gram, USD per ounce).
4. Enter the quantity (grams, ounces or pieces) or the amount.
5. Press “Calculate” and read the result: buy and sell references, unit prices, the comparison with the latest completed day and the date rows; the model coefficients are in “Calculation details”.
6. Check the “Requested date”, “Source date used” and, if shown, “FX source date” rows next to the calculated result.

Comparison with the latest completed day

Under every successful result, the sell reference of the date you selected is compared with the sell reference of the latest completed UTC day (yesterday UTC). The percentage change is the ratio of the latest completed day’s sell unit reference to the selected date’s sell unit reference, minus one, shown as a percentage. Because a single anchor is used, the comparison is based on the sell reference in both directions.

• Gold to money: the value of the quantity you entered at the latest completed day’s sell reference is shown.
• Money to gold: the quantity obtainable on the selected date at the sell reference is found, and the value of that quantity at the latest completed day’s sell reference is shown.
• For a date before 2005 in the money-to-gold direction, it is not known whether the amount is in today’s lira or old lira, so this value is shown separately for both readings; the percentage change is the same for both.
• If the selected date is already the latest completed day, no additional percentage or value comparison is calculated; the result notes that the selected date is already the latest completed day. If the comparison cannot be retrieved, the historical result is still shown in full.

When is this calculation useful?

• Understanding the approximate value on that day of gold that was bought or given as a gift in the past
• Comparing what the same amount of gold was worth in different years, in TRY and USD
• Getting a sensible idea of how many grams or quarter coins a sum bought on a given day
• Quickly looking up past values of silver, platinum and palladium

The result is an informational comparison value. If you need a value for tax, inheritance, court or accounting purposes, use the source the relevant authority specifies.

Worked examples

The figures below were calculated from the references the tool actually produces for 2 January 2020 and 14 March 2003; the product and date choices are only for illustration.

Example 1: 22K gold, 10 grams, 2 January 2020 (gold to money)

Reference for that day: USD 1,528.94 per ounce and USD/TRY 5.9574.

1. 24K gram reference: 1,528.94 × 5.9574 ÷ 31.1034768 ≈ 292.84 TRY
2. 22K mid value: 292.84 × 22 / 24 ≈ 268.44 TRY per gram
3. Coefficients (22K): 0.995375 / 1.004625 → buy 267.20 TRY per gram, sell 269.68 TRY per gram
4. For 10 grams: buy reference 2,671.99 TRY, sell reference 2,696.82 TRY

Example 2: quarter sikke (Ata Lira) coin, 1 piece, same day

Pure-gold content is 1.804 g × 22 / 24 = 1.653667 g. Mid value: 292.84 × 1.653667 ≈ 484.27 TRY. With the Republic-coin coefficients the buy reference is 483.63 TRY and the sell reference 502.06 TRY; for this product the sell side is clearly higher because the model uses a larger sell coefficient.

Example 3: how much 24K gold did 5,000 TRY buy on 15 March 2003? (money to gold)

15 March 2003 was a Saturday and has no direct observation, so the data of 14 March 2003 is used and both the requested and the used date appear in the result. Reference for 14 March 2003: USD 335.20 per ounce and USD/TRY 1.639512 (today’s lira). The 24K gram mid value is about 17.67 TRY; buy 17.65 TRY, sell 17.69 TRY.

Because the date is before 2005, it is not known which lira the 5,000 TRY is in, so both readings are shown side by side:

• If 5,000 TRY is today’s lira (new TL): about 283.355 grams at the buy reference, about 282.6119 grams at the sell reference
• If 5,000 TRY is old lira (six zeros restored): about 0.0002834 grams and 0.0002826 grams; the two readings differ by exactly 1,000,000×

Date coverage and the completed-day rule

Results start on 2 January 1980 for gold (karat gold and Republic gold coins included), 4 January 1982 for silver and 2 April 1990 for platinum and palladium. No result is produced for earlier dates and no nearby date is substituted; the tool shows a notice stating where coverage begins.

Only completed days can be calculated: today (UTC) and future dates are not accepted, and the latest selectable day is yesterday (UTC). This is a historical reference tool; the value of a day that has not ended is not presented as a past price.

Requested date, source date used and the nearest observation

If the day you select has its own observation, it is used; if not, the data of the nearest observation date is used and both the requested and the used date are shown in the result.

• The nearest observation can be before or after the requested day; if it is more than 7 days away, no result is produced.
• Weekend and holiday behaviour depends on the period: in older periods daily-close data exists only for trading days, so a Saturday or Sunday moves to the nearest trading day and a date notice appears; in more recent periods the daily market reference data also has values for calendar days, so a weekend day can be found directly.
• TRY conversion uses the exchange rate of the observation day actually used, not necessarily the day you requested. If the exchange-rate source falls on yet another day, an “FX source date” row is shown as well (TRY units only).

Before 2005: old lira and new lira

Six zeros were removed from the Turkish lira on 1 January 2005 (1 new TL = 1,000,000 old TL). The tool shows pre-2005 TRY values in today’s lira (new TL) and lists the old-lira equivalent separately. Which lira regime applies is decided by the date you select; USD units carry no lira note.

• Gold to money: the result is given in today’s lira, with the old-lira equivalent listed below it.
• Money to gold: because it is not known which lira your amount is in, both readings are shown side by side; which one applies depends on the lira you had in mind.

Why a real jeweller transaction can differ

Because the tool gives a comparison value calculated from a historical reference, not a transaction price. In a real purchase or sale the following can make a difference:

• Workmanship and product premium
• The jeweller’s, bank’s or exchange office’s own spread and commission
• Intraday price movement (the tool uses one reference value per day)
• The condition of the item, local demand and the payment method; the gap can be larger for ziynet-type coins in particular

Common mistakes

• Treating the result as that day’s jeweller shop price
• Trying to select today’s date; only completed days are calculated
• Mixing up grams, pieces and ounces: the unit is pieces for a quarter coin, and grams or ounces for 24K gold
• Reading the sell reference of a Republic gold coin as if it were the pure-gold value; for this product the model sell coefficient is clearly higher
• Not deciding whether an amount before 2005 is in old or new lira
• Overlooking that the requested date and the source date used can differ
• Assuming a quarter sikke and a quarter ziynet weigh the same (1.804 g and 1.754 g)