American Eagle 1 oz or American Eagle 1/2 oz: which is the better buy today?
American Eagle 1 oz holds 31.10 g of fine gold and American Eagle 1/2 oz 15.55 g — close enough to be the same purchase in metal, and far enough apart in everything else not to be the same coin to own.
| coin | American Eagle 1 oz | American Eagle 1/2 oz |
|---|---|---|
| fine gold | 31.10 g | 15.55 g |
| gross weight | 33.93 g | 16.96 g |
| purity | 916.7 ‰ · 22 kt | 916.7 ‰ · 22 kt |
| diameter | 32.7 mm | 27 mm |
| thickness | 2.87 mm | 2.24 mm |
| face value | 50 dollars | 25 dollars |
| struck | United States · since 1986 | United States · since 1986 |
The prices come from the feed, and the feed has not answered yet.
American Eagle 1 oz — One ounce of gold in a 22 carat alloy, so it weighs more than an ounce on the scale. The most traded bullion coin in the United States.
American Eagle 1/2 oz — Half an ounce of gold in the Eagle’s 22 carat alloy, so 16.97 g on the scale, with the twenty-five-dollar face value. Struck in smaller numbers than the ounce or the tenth, which shows in its premium.
Both are struck in 916.7 ‰ · 22 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 — American Eagle 1 oz since 1986, American Eagle 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.