Krugerrand 1/10 oz or Britannia 1/10 oz: which is the better buy today?
Krugerrand 1/10 oz and Britannia 1/10 oz hold the same gold — 3.11 g of fine metal each — and differ in everything else: Krugerrand 1/10 oz is struck in 916.7 ‰ · 22 kt by South African 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 | Krugerrand 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 | 16.55 mm | 16.5 mm |
| thickness | 1.35 mm | 1.20 mm |
| face value | no denomination | 10 pounds |
| struck | South Africa · since 1980 | United Kingdom · since 1987 |
The prices come from the feed, and the feed has not answered yet.
Krugerrand 1/10 oz — The smallest Krugerrand: 3.11 g of gold at 16.5 mm. The dearest gold in the family per gram, and the easiest coin in it to buy, give or carry.
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.
Krugerrand 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 Krugerrand 1/10 oz can be handled and Britannia 1/10 oz travels in a capsule.
Both are modern bullion coins, struck for investors — Krugerrand 1/10 oz since 1980, 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.