Philharmonic 1/4 oz or Philharmonic 1/10 oz: which is the better buy today?
Philharmonic 1/4 oz holds 7.78 g of fine gold and Philharmonic 1/10 oz 3.11 g: Philharmonic 1/4 oz holds 2.50 times the gold of Philharmonic 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 | Philharmonic 1/4 oz | Philharmonic 1/10 oz |
|---|---|---|
| fine gold | 7.78 g | 3.11 g |
| gross weight | 7.78 g | 3.11 g |
| purity | 999.9 ‰ · 24 kt | 999.9 ‰ · 24 kt |
| diameter | 22 mm | 16 mm |
| thickness | 1.20 mm | 1.20 mm |
| face value | 25 euro | 10 euro |
| struck | Austria · since 1989 | Austria · since 1991 |
The prices come from the feed, and the feed has not answered yet.
Philharmonic 1/4 oz — A quarter ounce of 999.9 gold at 22 mm, with the twenty-five-euro face value. The organ of the Musikverein is on every size, down to this one.
Philharmonic 1/10 oz — A tenth of an ounce with a ten-euro face value: Europe’s small gold coin, pure, 16 mm across, and legal tender in Austria whatever it is worth as metal.
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 — Philharmonic 1/4 oz since 1989, Philharmonic 1/10 oz since 1991 — 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 Philharmonic 1/10 oz is nearly always the dearer gold, and why it is bought anyway: it sells in smaller pieces, and sells everywhere.