Dubai quotes gold by weight, and the tola is still on the ticket

A Dubai counter quotes gold by weight, and the tola sits on the ticket beside the gram. The tola is three-eighths of a troy ounce, a unit that predates the metric system and survives because it is the traditional weight for gold in the subcontinent and the Gulf. A buyer who thinks in grams misses the unit that many counters still lead with, and a buyer who thinks in percentages misses the money entirely.

Priced by the weight on the ticket

The same shelf price, multiplied out across the weights a counter quotes.

The two weights on the ticket

A Dubai counter quotes gold in grams and in tolas, and the two are not the same. A gram is a metric unit, small enough for a pair of earrings; a tola is three-eighths of a troy ounce, the traditional unit for a bangle or a bar. The tola survives because it is the weight that families in the Gulf and the subcontinent have always bought, and a shop that dropped it would lose the customer who asks for a tola by name.

The same percentage is a different sum of money on a gram and on a tola. A percentage tells a buyer nothing about the money they are paying, because the same percentage is a different number of dirhams on a small weight and on a large one. What matters is the dirham total at the till, and that total is the weight times the price per gram, plus the making charge.

The karat ladder and the lighter karat

The table above this page shows the suggested retail price per gram for each karat, and the last column shows what it costs to end up with the same amount of gold in the lighter karat. That column is the trade nobody prices out loud: taking a lower karat lowers the till total and lowers the gold delivered at the same time. A buyer who chooses a lighter karat to save money is also buying less metal, and the table makes that plain.

The karat ladder must fall with purity: a higher karat is more gold and therefore more money per gram. If the ladder does not fall, the reading is refused, because a price that does not fall with purity is not a real price. The table is built from the Dubai Jewellery Group suggested retail price, read fresh on every reading of ours, with the London metal taken independently from two other sources. The group republishes its page through the day; the price itself often holds for the whole of it.

Why a percentage is the wrong tool down this column

A percentage is the wrong tool down the last column because the same percentage is a different sum of money on a gram and on a tola. The column shows dirhams, not percentages, because a buyer needs to see the money they would save by taking a lighter karat, and the money they would lose in gold. A percentage hides that trade in a single number that means nothing until it is multiplied by a weight.

The table therefore shows the dirham cost of ending up with the same amount of gold in the lighter karat. That cost is not a percentage; it is a number of dirhams, and it is different for every weight. A buyer who thinks in percentages will mistake the size of the trade, and a buyer who thinks in dirhams will see it plainly.

What the tola means for a buyer

The tola is not a relic; it is the unit that many Dubai counters still lead with, and a buyer who ignores it is negotiating in the wrong weight. A shop may quote a price per gram, but the customer who asks for a tola is asking for a specific weight, and the shop knows what that weight means. The tola is also the unit that makes the gap between the counter and the metal price visible, because a tola is a large enough weight that the gap is a meaningful sum of money.

A buyer who wants to compare prices should compare the dirham cost of the same weight, not the percentage above the metal. The table makes that comparison possible by showing the tola and the troy ounce beside the gram, and by showing the dirham gap for each weight. That is the honest unit for this market.

The karat you choose changes the metal you get

Taking a lower karat lowers the till total and lowers the gold delivered at the same time. That is the trade the table's last column makes plain, and it is a trade that a percentage cannot show. A buyer who chooses a lower karat to save money is buying less gold, and the table shows the dirham cost of that choice.

The karat is the purity of the metal, and a lower karat means more alloy and less gold. The price per gram falls with the karat, but so does the gold content, and the two move together. A buyer who wants a certain amount of gold must buy a higher karat or a larger weight, and the table shows what that costs.

The tola in the till total

The till total is the weight times the price per gram, plus the making charge. The tola is a weight, and the price per tola is simply the price per gram times the number of grams in a tola. The making charge is added on top, and it is the part of the total that a buyer can negotiate.

The table shows the suggested retail price per gram, not the till total, because the making charge is set by each shop and published nowhere. A buyer who wants the till total must ask the shop to itemise the making charge, and that is the subject of another page on this site.