50 Pesos or Panda 30 g: which is the better buy today?
50 Pesos holds 37.50 g of fine gold and Panda 30 g 30.00 g — close enough to be the same purchase in metal, and far enough apart in everything else not to be the same coin to own.
| coin | 50 Pesos | Panda 30 g |
|---|---|---|
| fine gold | 37.50 g | 30.00 g |
| gross weight | 41.67 g | 30.00 g |
| purity | 900 ‰ · 21.6 kt | 999 ‰ · 24 kt |
| diameter | 37 mm | 32 mm |
| thickness | 2.69 mm | 2.00 mm |
| face value | 50 pesos | 500 yuan |
| struck | Mexico · 1921–1947 | China · since 2016 |
The prices come from the feed, and the feed has not answered yet.
50 Pesos — The Centenario: 37.5 g of fine gold, more than an ounce, struck for the centenary of independence and restruck ever since with the 1947 date.
Panda 30 g — Metric rather than imperial — 30 g, not an ounce — and the only one of these whose design changes every year.
50 Pesos is 900 ‰ · 21.6 kt, so it weighs 41.67 g for its 37.50 g of gold; Panda 30 g is 999 ‰ · 24 kt, 30.00 g on the scale. Neither holds more gold for the difference: the alloy is hardness, which is why 50 Pesos can be handled and Panda 30 g travels in a capsule.
50 Pesos was money before it was an investment — struck from 1921 to 1947 — and is bought today as a bullion coin on the strength of being recognised everywhere; Panda 30 g has been struck for investors since 2016, and its price is the metal plus the mint’s and the dealer’s margin, nothing else.
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.