Britannia 1/4 oz or Kangaroo 1/4 oz: which is the better buy today?
Britannia 1/4 oz and Kangaroo 1/4 oz hold the same gold — 7.78 g of fine metal each — and differ in everything else: Britannia 1/4 oz is struck in 999.9 ‰ · 24 kt by The Royal Mint, Kangaroo 1/4 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 1/4 oz | Kangaroo 1/4 oz |
|---|---|---|
| fine gold | 7.78 g | 7.78 g |
| gross weight | 7.78 g | 7.78 g |
| purity | 999.9 ‰ · 24 kt | 999.9 ‰ · 24 kt |
| diameter | 22 mm | 20.6 mm |
| thickness | 1.63 mm | 2.00 mm |
| face value | 25 pounds | 25 dollars |
| struck | United Kingdom · since 1987 | Australia · since 1986 |
The prices come from the feed, and the feed has not answered yet.
Britannia 1/4 oz — The quarter-ounce Britannia: 22 mm of pure gold with the twenty-five-pound face value, and the same trident, in a coin about the size of a Sovereign that holds a little more gold than one.
Kangaroo 1/4 oz — The quarter ounce: 20.6 mm of 999.9 gold, twenty-five Australian dollars on its face, a different kangaroo each year.
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 1/4 oz since 1987, Kangaroo 1/4 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.