It helps to contextualize gold as an investment when you know what the average gold bar is worth.
If you’re looking for information around a gold bar’s value to guide your investment strategy, this is the place!
How much is a gold bar worth? A lot! This is why smart investors advocate that you get on board and invest in gold, as its future has never looked quite this shiny!
Read on below to find out what a gold bar is worth, how many size options you have, and the most workable size bullion to buy.
Although gold is legitimately rated a “volatile asset”, that has more to do with people’s annual time frames than its long-term value.
All that can be said about the latter, is that it’s just about the only asset that has steadily risen in value for thousands of years.
Of course, there are many other things－other precious metals, gems, real estate, sundry other goods－that can say the same, but they’re either highly speculative (property) or simply cheaper than gold as a commodity.
There’s nothing quite as precious as gold for us humans, it seems.
We based our currencies on it for thousands of years after all, and notwithstanding the digitization of life as a whole that we’re experiencing right now, gold is holding its own.
So, how much is a gold bar worth?
That shiny ingot, stacked in piles, the picture we’re so used to seeing on TV whenever they’re talking about trading or the national currency－what’s it worth?
What size bar for you, Sir?
The first thing to know is that gold bars come in different sizes.
Rather, they do and don’t. You can buy smaller almost “sliver” bars nowadays, and that’s a product of the retail investment desire to own physical gold (without investing your entire life savings in a single block!).
And they don’t, because there is a standard gold bar size (the bars held in reserve by central banks and traded by dealers), and it’s the 400-troy ounce (12.4kg or 438.9oz) bar.
A gold bar is worth whatever the spot price of gold is on the day, but a happy current medium pegs the price of the 400 troy ounce bar at $750,000.
Those who trade or actually buy physical gold, tend towards a preference for the kilobar, which measures 1,000 grams (32.15 troy ounces) in weight.
Since the current gold price is sitting around $1,900 per ounce, smaller bars are far more popular with investors, as there’s no real way to buy fractional shares in a “standard” gold bar.
The only way to allow more investors on board－and especially those who want to purchase actual gold－is to mint a variety of smaller gold bars, to make investing, handling, and storage easier.
Some might have a preference for the classic, chunky gold bar, but then investment asks a mighty big chunk of your savings if that’s to be the unit of purchase!
Gold bars will be stamped with either a gram or troy ounce weight, the purity (typically 24 karat－unadulterated, “soft” gold), and their minter, refiner, or assayer.
Gold comes in a variety of purity levels when employed in the commercial world (jewelry and tech hardware), but “buying gold” bars means you’re buying 24 karat gold or should be.
Gold of anything less than 24 karats will always be an alloy containing other metals like silver, copper, or platinum.
That’s all good for the commercial world, but when you “buy gold”, you want to be buying 24 karat gold.
Why some gold is worth a bit more than other gold
While you’re not wrong to imagine that gold is gold, assuming it’s of the same (24kt) purity, some bullion refiners have a reputation for accuracy and final finish.
Among those who trade gold, there exists mild snobbishness about the source of gold bars.
It’s mild because it’s justified. When gold costs so much per ounce, a refiner who casts variable bars (even if invisible to the naked eye) can cost investors hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Accuracy in rendering gold bars of any size is thus essential, and the most reputable refineries’ bars are the equivalent of blue-chip stocks－they typically carry a small premium or at least the most trust.
This reality presents as an important consideration for many investors, just like brand names count with other consumer goods purchase considerations too.
Size also counts with gold bars, and smaller gold bars will carry a higher premium relative to the spot price than bigger bars, very much like smaller packs of consumer goods are often pro-rata slightly more expensive than bulk packs.
Gold’s value is by most accounts set to hit record new highs as the world’s fiats limp along under Quantitative Easing, and Basel III has virtually mandated a new currency for the precious metal.
Also Check Out: How to Clean & Polish Gold?