Napoléon 20 Fr or Philharmonic 1 oz: which is the better buy today?
Napoléon 20 Fr holds 5.81 g of fine gold and Philharmonic 1 oz 31.10 g: Philharmonic 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 | Philharmonic 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 | 37 mm |
| thickness | 1.30 mm | 2.00 mm |
| face value | 20 francs | 100 euro |
| struck | France · 1803–1914 | Austria · since 1989 |
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.
Philharmonic 1 oz — Europe’s own one-ounce coin, and the only one with a euro face value. Wide and thin: 37 mm across for the same ounce of gold.
Napoléon 20 Fr is 900 ‰ · 21.6 kt, so it weighs 6.45 g for its 5.81 g of gold; Philharmonic 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 Philharmonic 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; Philharmonic 1 oz has been struck for investors since 1989, 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.