Maple Leaf 1/2 oz or Britannia 1/2 oz: which is the better buy today?
Maple Leaf 1/2 oz and Britannia 1/2 oz hold the same gold — 15.55 g of fine metal each — and differ in everything else: Maple Leaf 1/2 oz is struck in 999.9 ‰ · 24 kt by Royal Canadian Mint, Britannia 1/2 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 | Maple Leaf 1/2 oz | Britannia 1/2 oz |
|---|---|---|
| fine gold | 15.55 g | 15.55 g |
| gross weight | 15.55 g | 15.55 g |
| purity | 999.9 ‰ · 24 kt | 999.9 ‰ · 24 kt |
| diameter | 25 mm | 27 mm |
| thickness | 2.23 mm | 2.10 mm |
| face value | 20 dollars | 50 pounds |
| struck | Canada · since 1986 | United Kingdom · since 1987 |
The prices come from the feed, and the feed has not answered yet.
Maple Leaf 1/2 oz — Half an ounce of pure gold, 25 mm across, and as soft as the full coin: it travels in its capsule for the same reason.
Britannia 1/2 oz — Half an ounce of 999.9 gold at 27 mm, fifty pounds on its face — and, like every Britannia, legal tender in the United Kingdom and free of capital gains tax there.
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 — Maple Leaf 1/2 oz since 1986, Britannia 1/2 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.