Gold on this site: the ounce and the mithqal
Why the same gold has two prices here, and which unit a jeweller in Baghdad is quoting.
Gold1,119,283+1.20% and silver appear twice each on our board, at two very different-looking prices. It is the same metal at the same moment — only the unit changes.
The world quotes the troy ounce
A troy ounce is about 31.1 grams, and it is the unit international markets price precious metals in. It is heavier than the ordinary ounce used for groceries, which is a common source of confusion. Every metal figure on this site starts life as a troy ounce, because that is what the source publishes.
Iraq quotes the mithqal
Walk into a shop in Baghdad or Erbil and the price will be per mithqal — a traditional weight taken here as 5 grams. It is the unit that matters if you are actually buying, so we publish it alongside.
How we get from one to the other
By weight, and nothing else: the mithqal price is the troy ounce price divided by 31.1035 and multiplied by 5. There is no second source and no separate collection, so the two figures can never disagree about the market — they are the same reading in different units, carrying the same timestamp.
What this does not include
A shop price also carries workmanship, purity and margin. Our figure is the metal alone. Expect to pay more than it, in the same way you should expect to pay slightly more than a currency market rate at a counter.