Krugerrand 1/2 oz or American Eagle 1/2 oz: which is the better buy today?
Krugerrand 1/2 oz and American Eagle 1/2 oz hold the same gold — 15.55 g of fine metal each — and differ in everything else: Krugerrand 1/2 oz is struck in 916.7 ‰ · 22 kt by South African Mint, American Eagle 1/2 oz in 916.7 ‰ · 22 kt by United States Mint. With the metal identical, the only thing left to compare is what each dealer charges above it.
| coin | Krugerrand 1/2 oz | American Eagle 1/2 oz |
|---|---|---|
| fine gold | 15.55 g | 15.55 g |
| gross weight | 16.96 g | 16.96 g |
| purity | 916.7 ‰ · 22 kt | 916.7 ‰ · 22 kt |
| diameter | 27.07 mm | 27 mm |
| thickness | 2.21 mm | 2.24 mm |
| face value | no denomination | 25 dollars |
| struck | South Africa · since 1980 | United States · since 1986 |
The prices come from the feed, and the feed has not answered yet.
Krugerrand 1/2 oz — The half ounce, struck since 1980: the same red alloy as the full coin at 27 mm, and the first of the sizes where the premium starts to climb.
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 — Krugerrand 1/2 oz since 1980, 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.