Kangaroo 1/4 oz or Kangaroo 1/10 oz: which is the better buy today?
Kangaroo 1/4 oz holds 7.78 g of fine gold and Kangaroo 1/10 oz 3.11 g: Kangaroo 1/4 oz holds 2.50 times the gold of Kangaroo 1/10 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 | Kangaroo 1/4 oz | Kangaroo 1/10 oz |
|---|---|---|
| fine gold | 7.78 g | 3.11 g |
| gross weight | 7.78 g | 3.11 g |
| purity | 999.9 ‰ · 24 kt | 999.9 ‰ · 24 kt |
| diameter | 20.6 mm | 16.6 mm |
| thickness | 2.00 mm | 1.50 mm |
| face value | 25 dollars | 15 dollars |
| struck | Australia · since 1986 | Australia · since 1986 |
The prices come from the feed, and the feed has not answered yet.
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.
Kangaroo 1/10 oz — A tenth of an ounce of pure gold with a fifteen-dollar face value — the odd number is Perth’s own — and the smallest Kangaroo most dealers stock.
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 — Kangaroo 1/4 oz since 1986, Kangaroo 1/10 oz since 1986 — 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 3.11 g the small coin carries far more of it per gram than the big one does over 7.78 g — which is why Kangaroo 1/10 oz is nearly always the dearer gold, and why it is bought anyway: it sells in smaller pieces, and sells everywhere.