Britannia 1 oz or Britannia 1/4 oz: which is the better buy today?
Britannia 1 oz holds 31.10 g of fine gold and Britannia 1/4 oz 7.78 g: Britannia 1 oz holds 4.00 times the gold of Britannia 1/4 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 oz | Britannia 1/4 oz |
|---|---|---|
| fine gold | 31.10 g | 7.78 g |
| gross weight | 31.10 g | 7.78 g |
| purity | 999.9 ‰ · 24 kt | 999.9 ‰ · 24 kt |
| diameter | 32.69 mm | 22 mm |
| thickness | 2.79 mm | 1.63 mm |
| face value | 100 pounds | 25 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 oz — Struck in 999.9 gold since 2013 — earlier ones are 22 carat. Legal tender in the United Kingdom, which is what exempts it from capital gains tax there.
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.
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 oz since 1987, Britannia 1/4 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 7.78 g the small coin carries far more of it per gram than the big one does over 31.10 g — which is why Britannia 1/4 oz is nearly always the dearer gold, and why it is bought anyway: it sells in smaller pieces, and sells everywhere.