Krugerrand 1/4 oz or Krugerrand 1/10 oz: which is the better buy today?
Krugerrand 1/4 oz holds 7.78 g of fine gold and Krugerrand 1/10 oz 3.11 g: Krugerrand 1/4 oz holds 2.50 times the gold of Krugerrand 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 | Krugerrand 1/4 oz | Krugerrand 1/10 oz |
|---|---|---|
| fine gold | 7.78 g | 3.11 g |
| gross weight | 8.48 g | 3.39 g |
| purity | 916.7 ‰ · 22 kt | 916.7 ‰ · 22 kt |
| diameter | 22.06 mm | 16.55 mm |
| thickness | 1.89 mm | 1.35 mm |
| face value | no denomination | no denomination |
| struck | South Africa · since 1980 | South Africa · since 1980 |
The prices come from the feed, and the feed has not answered yet.
Krugerrand 1/4 oz — A quarter ounce of gold in a 22 mm coin — about the size of a Sovereign, and bought for the same reason: a piece small enough to sell one at a time.
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.
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 1/4 oz since 1980, Krugerrand 1/10 oz since 1980 — 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 Krugerrand 1/10 oz is nearly always the dearer gold, and why it is bought anyway: it sells in smaller pieces, and sells everywhere.