1. Price per gram
One of the first factors that might come to your mind is the price. When you want to buy either gold coins or bars, remember that all gold prices are different. Even if you compare gold of the same weight, the costs could deviate from each other. But despite such differences, they have one thing in common – the price per gram usually goes down if you decide to buy large gold bars rather than gold coins.
Gold bullion coins are often more expensive per gram than larger gold bars because they carry a design and higher relative production costs. Historical, commemorative or collectable gold coins will also possess a higher value due to their scarcity and appeal. But due to their size, they might be more affordable than most gold bars and be an ideal buy for investors on a tighter budget. We offer some of the most popular gold coins, including Gold Britannias, Gold Sovereign Coins and South African Krugerrand.
Generally gold bars represent the lower cost per gram option. Rather than mimicking the intricate designs of many gold coins, gold bars tend to be produced as simple blocks of gold with the manufacturer’s stamp and a serial number. Bars are either ‘minted’, whereby they’re cut to size from large sheets of gold, or ‘cast’ by pouring molten pure gold into a cast. Either method is generally cheaper to produce than gold coins.
The most significant cost factor comes with economies of scale. Quite simply, the overall cost of producing one bar of gold worth £30k, £40k, or £50k is far lower as a percentage of cost than producing lots of small coins to the same value. The interesting caveat which most novice investors miss is that small gold bars up to 10g or 20g in weight tend to actually cost more per gram to buy than the equivalent weight in bullion coins. At this tiny size, they lose the cost advantage of size and due to them being made in lovely laminated packets are actually more costly to produce than a simple coin.
