Britannia 1/2 oz or Britannia 1/10 oz: which is the better buy today?
Britannia 1/2 oz holds 15.55 g of fine gold and Britannia 1/10 oz 3.11 g: Britannia 1/2 oz holds 5.00 times the gold of Britannia 1/10 oz. The metal costs the same per gram in both; what differs is how much of the price is the coin rather than the gold — and the small one always carries more of it.
| coin | Britannia 1/2 oz | Britannia 1/10 oz |
|---|---|---|
| fine gold | 15.55 g | 3.11 g |
| gross weight | 15.55 g | 3.11 g |
| purity | 999.9 ‰ · 24 kt | 999.9 ‰ · 24 kt |
| diameter | 27 mm | 16.5 mm |
| thickness | 2.10 mm | 1.20 mm |
| face value | 50 pounds | 10 pounds |
| struck | United Kingdom · since 1987 | United Kingdom · since 1987 |
The prices come from the feed, and the feed has not answered yet.
Britannia 1/2 oz — Half an ounce of 999.9 gold at 27 mm, fifty pounds on its face — and, like every Britannia, legal tender in the United Kingdom and free of capital gains tax there.
Britannia 1/10 oz — A tenth of an ounce of pure gold at 16.5 mm, ten pounds on its face. The smallest coin in the family, and the one the Mint sells most of to first-time buyers.
Both are struck in 999.9 ‰ · 24 kt: the same alloy, the same feel in the hand, and any difference on the scale is a difference in gold.
Both are modern bullion coins, struck for investors — Britannia 1/2 oz since 1987, Britannia 1/10 oz since 1987 — and priced on their metal and the margins above it.
What decides between them is not the gold, which costs the same per gram in both, but everything charged per coin: striking, distribution, the shop’s margin. Spread over 3.11 g the small coin carries far more of it per gram than the big one does over 15.55 g — which is why Britannia 1/10 oz is nearly always the dearer gold, and why it is bought anyway: it sells in smaller pieces, and sells everywhere.