Napoléon 20 Fr or Britannia 1 oz: which is the better buy today?
Napoléon 20 Fr holds 5.81 g of fine gold and Britannia 1 oz 31.10 g: Britannia 1 oz holds 5.36 times the gold of Napoléon 20 Fr. 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 | Napoléon 20 Fr | Britannia 1 oz |
|---|---|---|
| fine gold | 5.81 g | 31.10 g |
| gross weight | 6.45 g | 31.10 g |
| purity | 900 ‰ · 21.6 kt | 999.9 ‰ · 24 kt |
| diameter | 21 mm | 32.69 mm |
| thickness | 1.30 mm | 2.79 mm |
| face value | 20 francs | 100 pounds |
| struck | France · 1803–1914 | United Kingdom · since 1987 |
The prices come from the feed, and the feed has not answered yet.
Napoléon 20 Fr — The French 20 francs, from Bonaparte to the Great War: the most widely held of the small European gold coins.
Britannia 1 oz — Struck in 999.9 gold since 2013 — earlier ones are 22 carat. Legal tender in the United Kingdom, which is what exempts it from capital gains tax there.
Napoléon 20 Fr is 900 ‰ · 21.6 kt, so it weighs 6.45 g for its 5.81 g of gold; Britannia 1 oz is 999.9 ‰ · 24 kt, 31.10 g on the scale. Neither holds more gold for the difference: the alloy is hardness, which is why Napoléon 20 Fr can be handled and Britannia 1 oz travels in a capsule.
Napoléon 20 Fr was money before it was an investment — struck from 1803 to 1914 — and is bought today as a bullion coin on the strength of being recognised everywhere; Britannia 1 oz has been struck for investors since 1987, and its price is the metal plus the mint’s and the dealer’s margin, nothing else.
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 5.81 g the small coin carries far more of it per gram than the big one does over 31.10 g — which is why Napoléon 20 Fr is nearly always the dearer gold, and why it is bought anyway: it sells in smaller pieces, and sells everywhere.