It can get confusing trying to convert between Standards and Goldbacks, two of the most prominent Aurums out there. We’ve built this calculator to make it simple, whether you just want to see how much your stack of Goldbacks or Standards is worth today, or you want to use the transaction tool to simulate a real-world transaction with Aurums, complete with making change out of dollars.

The Aurum® is a registered trademark for hyperfractional gold bills which are made using an internationally-patented process by Valaurum, Inc. Goldbacks are Aurums, and MetalMark Standards are Aurums, and all bills we sell on our site are also Aurums.

This technology is not just gold foil: Aurums are made via atomic deposition of precious metal atoms into a substrate, which is then layered with full-color art and a myriad of anti-counterfeiting features found in the world’s most secure fiat currencies. In fact, the last leg of an Aurum’s journey when manufactured is to be run through hyper-regulated, real currency-making printers that produce polymer-substrate currencies like the Swiss Franc.

This means Aurums can always be assayed (or melted) to return the gold back to its raw, bullion form. Gold foil is not recoverable.

For both Goldback and Standard Aurums, the exchange rate is calculated as 2x the spot value by their gold weight. For example, if the Aurum contains $10 worth of gold today, it is sold at $20.

1 Goldback is 1/1000th a troy ounce of gold, and 1 Standard is 1mg of gold. Goldback uses the imperial system of measurement, which is the classic unit for measuring precious metals like gold, and MetalMark uses the metric system for simplicity and because gold continues to rapidly appreciate over the dollar.

Put simply, the cost to produce an Aurum begins at the spot price of gold — and then there’s the manufacturing overhead. There is no margin to allow an Aurum business to exist if the products are sold below the cost to make them.

The security protections in place within each Aurum makes them far less likely to be successfully counterfeited. In fact, this has never happened. To make an Aurum, you must use technology adapted from the semi-conductor industries, and get access to highly-regulated, actual currency-printing machinery.

As gold continues to appreciate, it’s potentially more successful than ever for bad actors to attempt forgeries and fakes. And in gold rounds, bars, and coins, creating fakes is substantially less effort and investment.