American Eagle 1/10 oz or Britannia 1/10 oz: which is the better buy today?
American Eagle 1/10 oz and Britannia 1/10 oz hold the same gold — 3.11 g of fine metal each — and differ in everything else: American Eagle 1/10 oz is struck in 916.7 ‰ · 22 kt by United States Mint, Britannia 1/10 oz in 999.9 ‰ · 24 kt by The Royal Mint. With the metal identical, the only thing left to compare is what each dealer charges above it.
| coin | American Eagle 1/10 oz | Britannia 1/10 oz |
|---|---|---|
| fine gold | 3.11 g | 3.11 g |
| gross weight | 3.39 g | 3.11 g |
| purity | 916.7 ‰ · 22 kt | 999.9 ‰ · 24 kt |
| diameter | 16.5 mm | 16.5 mm |
| thickness | 1.19 mm | 1.20 mm |
| face value | 5 dollars | 10 pounds |
| struck | United States · since 1986 | United Kingdom · since 1987 |
The prices come from the feed, and the feed has not answered yet.
American Eagle 1/10 oz — The most minted of the small American coins: 3.11 g of gold in a 16.5 mm 22 carat disc, with a five-dollar face value and the highest premium in the family.
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.
American Eagle 1/10 oz is 916.7 ‰ · 22 kt, so it weighs 3.39 g for its 3.11 g of gold; Britannia 1/10 oz is 999.9 ‰ · 24 kt, 3.11 g on the scale. Neither holds more gold for the difference: the alloy is hardness, which is why American Eagle 1/10 oz can be handled and Britannia 1/10 oz travels in a capsule.
Both are modern bullion coins, struck for investors — American Eagle 1/10 oz since 1986, Britannia 1/10 oz since 1987 — 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.