How many pennyweights are in one troy ounce?

There are exactly 20 pennyweights in one troy ounce. This is a definitional relationship, not an approximation. The troy ounce is defined as 20 pennyweights or 480 grains.

How do I calculate gold price per pennyweight from the spot price?

Divide the troy ounce spot price by 20 to get the price per pennyweight. For example, if gold is $2,200 per troy ounce, one pennyweight of pure gold is worth $110. For karat gold, multiply by the karat fraction (e.g., 14K = 14/24 = 0.583 of the pure gold price).

Why are there exactly 20 pennyweights per troy ounce?

The troy ounce was defined as 20 pennies' weight because 20 was a common counting base in medieval English commerce (similar to how 20 shillings made one pound sterling). This made the troy ounce easy to subdivide for everyday precious metals transactions.

Pennyweights to Troy Ounces (dwt to oz t) Converter

1 dwt = 0.05 oz t

1 Pennyweight equals 0.05 Troy Ounces (1 dwt = 0.05 oz t). Convert Pennyweights to Troy Ounces with formula, table, and examples.

One pennyweight equals exactly 0.05 troy ounces, or equivalently, there are exactly 20 pennyweights in one troy ounce. This is one of the cleanest conversions in the troy weight system, reflecting the system's deliberate design around highly divisible numbers. Jewelers and gold dealers use this relationship constantly when translating between the two most common troy units.

How to Convert Pennyweights to Troy Ounces

oz t = dwt ÷ 20

Divide the value in Pennyweights by 20

Take your value in Pennyweights
Divide by 20
Read the result in Troy Ounces

Common Pennyweights to Troy Ounces Conversions

Pennyweights (dwt)	Troy Ounces (oz t)	Status
0.5 dwt	0.025 oz t
1 dwt	0.05 oz t
2 dwt	0.1 oz t
5 dwt	0.25 oz t
10 dwt	0.5 oz t
20 dwt	1 oz t
40 dwt	2 oz t
50 dwt	2.5 oz t
100 dwt	5 oz t
200 dwt	10 oz t
240 dwt	12 oz t
500 dwt	25 oz t
1,000 dwt	50 oz t
5,000 dwt	250 oz t

Good to Know About Pennyweights to Troy Ounces Conversion

The 20-pennyweight troy ounce is one of the most enduring measurement definitions in Western commerce. It has remained unchanged since its standardization in medieval Troyes, surviving the rise and fall of empires, the invention of the metric system, and the digitization of global markets. Gold dealers in 2024 quote the same 20-pennyweight troy ounce that French merchants used 800 years ago.

Pennyweights to Troy Ounces: What You Need to Know

Every gold buyer and jeweler knows that 20 pennyweights equal one troy ounce. When gold spot prices are quoted per troy ounce, dividing by 20 gives the approximate price per pennyweight. This mental shortcut is performed thousands of times daily across gold shops, pawn stores, and precious metals exchanges throughout North America.

What is a Pennyweight? dwt

A pennyweight is a unit of mass equal to 24 grains or 1/20 of a troy ounce (1.55517384 grams). Used in the jewelry trade for weighing precious metals.

Troy jewelry manufacturing precious metal trade goldsmithing

Learn more about Pennyweight →

What is a Troy Ounce? oz t

A troy ounce is a unit of mass used for precious metals such as gold, silver, and platinum. It equals exactly 31.1034768 grams, about 10% heavier than the common avoirdupois ounce.

Troy gold trading silver pricing platinum markets

Learn more about Troy Ounce →

Going the other way? Use our Troy Ounces to Pennyweights converter.

Pennyweights to Troy Ounces FAQ

There are exactly 20 pennyweights in one troy ounce. This is a definitional relationship, not an approximation. The troy ounce is defined as 20 pennyweights or 480 grains.
Divide the troy ounce spot price by 20 to get the price per pennyweight. For example, if gold is $2,200 per troy ounce, one pennyweight of pure gold is worth $110. For karat gold, multiply by the karat fraction (e.g., 14K = 14/24 = 0.583 of the pure gold price).
The troy ounce was defined as 20 pennies' weight because 20 was a common counting base in medieval English commerce (similar to how 20 shillings made one pound sterling). This made the troy ounce easy to subdivide for everyday precious metals transactions.

Non-Frequently Asked Questions About Pennyweights to Troy Ounces

Questions nobody should ask - but someone did.

It competes with 24 grains per pennyweight and 12 troy ounces per troy pound for the title. All three are clean, highly divisible numbers chosen by medieval merchants who valued mental arithmetic. The number 20 is especially appealing because it allows easy division into halves, quarters, fifths, and tenths, covering most practical transaction fractions.
A typical gold dental filling contains about 1 to 3 pennyweights of gold. At $2,200 per troy ounce ($110 per pennyweight), your filling contains about $110 to $330 worth of gold. This is why some enterprising dentists offer to buy back old fillings, and why patients occasionally joke about their mouths being more valuable than their wallets.
Physically, yes, but you would destroy the coin's numismatic value, which is typically far more than its gold content. A one-troy-ounce Gold Eagle coin is worth $2,200+ in gold but can sell for more as a collectible. Cutting it into 20 pennyweight pieces would give you 20 oddly-shaped gold fragments worth less together than the intact coin.