1g gold bars

[Blockhead]

I'm wondering about whether it's worth me getting the 1g gold bars you can buy - either second hand authenticated loose in a plastic bag, or sealed in original cards. Pamp bars I like in particular and they seem to command quite a premium in silver and gold guises, looking at ebay sales. 

I want to get a bit of gold each month but my budget can't really stretch to a sovereign, or a half, or a tenth of an ounce (at least temporarily - for the next year as far as I can foresee). I know that in price per gram terms 1g is going to be poor, but some of the carded bars seem desirable due to their brand and bar and packaging designs, which seem to maintain or appreciate value (even if only a little) when I come to sell. Some sellers are on a budget too and want to get in on gold.  

I could save for a few months to buy a quarter or half sovereign, and I'm aware that to authenticate bars they often have to be removed from their packaging, so I'm wondering if its worth considering - even if there are other options out there, is it still a good one? 

I also like to get my 'fix' regularly but that might not always work in my favour... 

[Xander]

I would save for the sovereign. They are much more interesting than bars, also extremely easy to liquidate.

[richatthecroft]

I would agree with @Xander save for the coins. 

[Goldhooked]

I got quite a cheap deal on a 1g IGR bar on a necklace which also came with a 1/25th oz gold coin and some other random gold brooch thing. Only bought it because it was such a low price (although I need to find out if the brooch is real gold as not convinced).  I wouldn’t bother otherwise and just grab sovereigns when I can.

[Money2Metal]

If you got 1oz in 1g gold bars it comes to around £1120. You would need gold to go up by 20% just to get your initial investment back when you sell. 

[NRSovereign]

Premiums one 1g bars is awful just save up for a sovereign or even a half much better value for money

[Cornishfarmer]

Premiums are high on buying 1g bars but they are high on selling also.    If that’s the way you want to go buy them, I’ve Gove a small collection and they are nice to look at carded.    Regularly used to get £10 vouchers on eBay so picked them all up below spot.   Lot of fakes on eBay so watch for them. Not sure how close you are to HGM or alike but if you can buy without the shipping will sale a high % of price.   Good luck and look out for fakes especially pamp  

[mr-dead]

I would also save little while and get 1/2 sovs.

1g bars do occasionally crop up in Hatton Garden without the huge premium but at the size of a sim card they are pretty underwhelming.

 

[ilovesilverireallydo]

When I started - I couldnt afford much either - so I bought small "scrap gold" lots off ebay from sellers with good reviews etc - between £10-£40 a go. Overtime I amassed a fair bit of 9-18K scrap - luckily I traded the lot in for half sovs at a scrap dealers once i had enough. 

[dicker]

I agree - start with what you can get at a good price. I started by rendering down old electronics and keeping the gold bits. The stuff from the 80s had good amounts of gold components. 

[HawkHybrid]

I'm thinking for the price there may be other better investments.

eg bulk buy canned foods that you would normally eat, led

lighting. if you need to sell quickly then the high premiums that

you paid could be lost. if you don't need to sell then something

like led lighting will save you a little money every month at little

risk. if you must choose gold then saving for a half sovereign

(as suggested by others) is probably a better choice.

(gold is usually cyclical so on average buying during predicted

annual dips and saving up during the in between months

might yield slightly better returns. this requires some discipline

and probably won't be much good for getting your 'fix')

 

HH

[Blockhead]

Thanks everybody for your comments. 

[Blockhead]

At the risk of resurrecting an answered thread only to derail its original question, what about 1g panda gold coins? A heavier premium than the pamp 1g bars but the yearly design change surely makes them collectable? Or are they not worth the extra premium amount being asked for, or not collectable because they are not proof quality? 

[Goldhooked]

12 minutes ago, Blockhead said:

At the risk of resurrecting an answered thread only to derail its original question, what about 1g panda gold coins? A heavier premium than the pamp 1g bars but the yearly design change surely makes them collectable? Or are they not worth the extra premium amount being asked for, or not collectable because they are not proof quality? 

The premiums on them do seem very high from what I've seen.  I guess it makes them highly collectable while they still carry the premium.  The only risk is of them going out of favour at some point in the future and the premiums evaporating.  That is a risk for any coin that carries a high premium, which is why I personally prefer to stack items that are as close to spot as possible.