Gold Bars or Coins – Which Is the Best?

How does gold bullion bars differ from gold bullion coins? Which is better to investment in?

As gold bullion is made from the highest quality gold .9999 gold, from an investment perspective it makes no difference one you invest in. It comes down to personal choice, what is more important is which mint produced the bars or coins and if that Mint is LBMA accredited. When people refer to gold bullion they usually mean gold bars or gold coins. Bars are simpler to create than coins because they don’t have to go through an extra process of design. Therefore they attract a lower premium. However, because of their simplicity bars tend to be easier to counterfeit. Mints put security features like serial number, holograms and certificates of authenticity. When you sell bullion bars to a gold dealer, these are the things that a dealer will check for when testing the gold. As gold bullion coins require more intricacy when making, they attract a higher premium. Because of there intricacy they are less susceptible to fraud.

Bullion bars and coins are usually purchased as a hedge against inflation or as an investment. The process of making bullion coins is more intricate. They have complex designs that make them harder to counterfeit. This is why they are expensive. However. The complex and intricate designs are what draws a bullion purchaser to spend slightly more on their investment.

What are the pros and cons of investing in bullion bars vs Coins?

Gold Bars:

They are produced with a fineness of .999.
They are sometimes issued with certificates of authenticity.
They have a lower premium to gold coins so you get better bang for your buck.
They don’t look as nice as gold coins.

Gold Coins:

Gold coins come in a variety of designs and sizes. They are definitely nice to have from an aesthetic point of view.
Some coins have currency denominations which could mean you won’t have to pay capital gains tax for them.
Coins offer greater flexibility. You can sell small amounts at a time to get the money you need.
They are easy to store and to carry around. You could literarily slip them in your pocket and take them around to different dealers go find one that will pay you the best price without drawing attention to yourself.
Certain gold coins have a small collectible value which means when you do sell bullion coins, the dealer will not consider this and the dealer will only be buying the gold bullion value.
Not all gold coins can be called bullion coins because they don’t all have the purity of 99.9% or 24k. This means you will be paid less as they have to be refined in some country’s.
Gold coins aren’t always sold with certificates of authenticity unless they are coin sets or proof coins. This could be tricky because some dealers and collectors always insist on proof of remittance authenticity. You may not get the price you hoped for if your coins don’t have certificates.