Half, quarter and tenth: the small sizes of the big coins
Every one-ounce coin on this site is also struck in half, quarter and tenth-ounce sizes, and the sovereign has its half. Same design, same alloy, same mint — a smaller disc, and a different kind of purchase: the gold inside costs the same per gram as in the ounce, and everything paid per coin on top of it weighs more.
| coin | fine gold | purity | struck | typical price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Half Sovereign | 3.66 g | 916.7 ‰ · 22 kt | United Kingdom · since 1817 | — |
| Krugerrand 1/2 oz | 15.55 g | 916.7 ‰ · 22 kt | South Africa · since 1980 | — |
| Krugerrand 1/4 oz | 7.78 g | 916.7 ‰ · 22 kt | South Africa · since 1980 | — |
| Krugerrand 1/10 oz | 3.11 g | 916.7 ‰ · 22 kt | South Africa · since 1980 | — |
| Maple Leaf 1/2 oz | 15.55 g | 999.9 ‰ · 24 kt | Canada · since 1986 | — |
| Maple Leaf 1/4 oz | 7.78 g | 999.9 ‰ · 24 kt | Canada · since 1982 | — |
| Maple Leaf 1/10 oz | 3.11 g | 999.9 ‰ · 24 kt | Canada · since 1982 | — |
| American Eagle 1/2 oz | 15.55 g | 916.7 ‰ · 22 kt | United States · since 1986 | — |
| American Eagle 1/4 oz | 7.78 g | 916.7 ‰ · 22 kt | United States · since 1986 | — |
| American Eagle 1/10 oz | 3.11 g | 916.7 ‰ · 22 kt | United States · since 1986 | — |
| Philharmonic 1/2 oz | 15.55 g | 999.9 ‰ · 24 kt | Austria · since 1994 | — |
| Philharmonic 1/4 oz | 7.78 g | 999.9 ‰ · 24 kt | Austria · since 1989 | — |
| Philharmonic 1/10 oz | 3.11 g | 999.9 ‰ · 24 kt | Austria · since 1991 | — |
| Britannia 1/2 oz | 15.55 g | 999.9 ‰ · 24 kt | United Kingdom · since 1987 | — |
| Britannia 1/4 oz | 7.78 g | 999.9 ‰ · 24 kt | United Kingdom · since 1987 | — |
| Britannia 1/10 oz | 3.11 g | 999.9 ‰ · 24 kt | United Kingdom · since 1987 | — |
| Kangaroo 1/2 oz | 15.55 g | 999.9 ‰ · 24 kt | Australia · since 1986 | — |
| Kangaroo 1/4 oz | 7.78 g | 999.9 ‰ · 24 kt | Australia · since 1986 | — |
| Kangaroo 1/10 oz | 3.11 g | 999.9 ‰ · 24 kt | Australia · since 1986 | — |
Striking a coin, packing it, insuring it and selling it over a counter cost about the same whether it holds an ounce of gold or a tenth of one. Spread over 31.1 grams those costs are a few percent; spread over 3.11 grams they are ten times the share. That is the whole arithmetic of the fractions, and it is why a tenth-ounce coin typically trades 12–15 % over spot where the ounce trades around 4 % — and why the half sits between the two, and the quarter between the half and the tenth.
So the small sizes are never the cheapest way to buy gold, and they are not bought as one. They are bought because a tenth of an ounce is a sum a household can put aside in a month; because a stack of quarters can be sold one at a time, which an ounce cannot; because a small coin is a gift, and an ounce is a transfer. The premium is the price of that divisibility, and the question this page helps with is not whether to pay it but how much of it each dealer is asking.
Within one design the sizes are the same coin: the Krugerrand’s copper-red 22 carat alloy and its springbok are on the tenth as on the ounce, the Maple Leaf is 999.9 gold at every size and travels in a capsule at every size, the Philharmonic keeps its wide, thin proportions down to 16 mm. What changes is the diameter, which the sheet on each coin’s page draws edge-on and to scale, and the face value, which every mint but South Africa strikes in proportion.
Across designs the same size is the same gold, and that is where the comparison is worth making: a quarter Krugerrand and a quarter Maple Leaf hold the same 7.78 grams, so whichever a dealer asks less for above the metal is the cheaper gold that day. Not every dealer stocks every size — the sizes a shop carries are a fair picture of the buyers it serves — and a size nobody on the map quotes today says so on its page rather than showing a number.