American Eagle 1 oz or Panda 30 g: which is the better buy today?
American Eagle 1 oz holds 31.10 g of fine gold and Panda 30 g 30.00 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 | Panda 30 g |
|---|---|---|
| fine gold | 31.10 g | 30.00 g |
| gross weight | 33.93 g | 30.00 g |
| purity | 916.7 ‰ · 22 kt | 999 ‰ · 24 kt |
| diameter | 32.7 mm | 32 mm |
| thickness | 2.87 mm | 2.00 mm |
| face value | 50 dollars | 500 yuan |
| struck | United States · since 1986 | China · since 2016 |
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.
Panda 30 g — Metric rather than imperial — 30 g, not an ounce — and the only one of these whose design changes every year.
American Eagle 1 oz is 916.7 ‰ · 22 kt, so it weighs 33.93 g for its 31.10 g of gold; Panda 30 g is 999 ‰ · 24 kt, 30.00 g on the scale. Neither holds more gold for the difference: the alloy is hardness, which is why American Eagle 1 oz can be handled and Panda 30 g travels in a capsule.
Both are modern bullion coins, struck for investors — American Eagle 1 oz since 1986, Panda 30 g since 2016 — 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.