Britannia 1/2 oz or Kangaroo 1/2 oz: which is the better buy today?
Britannia 1/2 oz and Kangaroo 1/2 oz hold the same gold — 15.55 g of fine metal each — and differ in everything else: Britannia 1/2 oz is struck in 999.9 ‰ · 24 kt by The Royal Mint, Kangaroo 1/2 oz in 999.9 ‰ · 24 kt by The Perth Mint. With the metal identical, the only thing left to compare is what each dealer charges above it.
| coin | Britannia 1/2 oz | Kangaroo 1/2 oz |
|---|---|---|
| fine gold | 15.55 g | 15.55 g |
| gross weight | 15.55 g | 15.55 g |
| purity | 999.9 ‰ · 24 kt | 999.9 ‰ · 24 kt |
| diameter | 27 mm | 25.6 mm |
| thickness | 2.10 mm | 2.40 mm |
| face value | 50 pounds | 50 dollars |
| struck | United Kingdom · since 1987 | Australia · since 1986 |
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.
Kangaroo 1/2 oz — Half an ounce of pure gold at 25.6 mm with a fifty-dollar face value, and the same yearly change of kangaroo as the ounce.
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, Kangaroo 1/2 oz since 1986 — and priced on their metal and the margins above it.
So the comparison is the premium. Whichever of the two a dealer asks less for above its metal is the cheaper gold that day — and that changes shop by shop and day by day, which is what the numbers above are for.