Kangaroo 1 oz or Kangaroo 1/4 oz: which is the better buy today?
Kangaroo 1 oz holds 31.10 g of fine gold and Kangaroo 1/4 oz 7.78 g: Kangaroo 1 oz holds 4.00 times the gold of Kangaroo 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 | Kangaroo 1 oz | Kangaroo 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 | 32.1 mm | 20.6 mm |
| thickness | 2.60 mm | 2.00 mm |
| face value | 100 dollars | 25 dollars |
| struck | Australia · since 1986 | Australia · since 1986 |
The prices come from the feed, and the feed has not answered yet.
Kangaroo 1 oz — Perth’s one-ounce coin, struck in pure gold since 1986 and redesigned every year — the reverse is a different kangaroo each time.
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.
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 oz since 1986, Kangaroo 1/4 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 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 Kangaroo 1/4 oz is nearly always the dearer gold, and why it is bought anyway: it sells in smaller pieces, and sells everywhere.