Buy physical gold: coins and bars at the price of the day

Buying physical gold means buying metal you can hold, keep at home or have stored, and sell anywhere in the world. At Gold Reserve you buy it online, at the price of the moment, in coins and bars whose weight and fineness are known before you order. Displayed prices are recalculated continuously from the rates quoted on international markets: what you see on screen is what you pay.

Coins or bars: what you are really buying

The question comes up with every first purchase, and the answer depends mostly on the sum you commit and on how you intend to sell. A coin is sold one at a time, a bar is sold in one piece. Anyone investing a few thousand euros who wants to be able to sell in small slices will choose coins, or a CombiBar: this plate of fifty one-gram bars breaks apart unit by unit and offers that flexibility in bar form. Anyone placing a larger sum and thinking in terms of a long-held reserve will lean towards minted bars or the cast bar.

Gold coins

The catalogue brings together the most widely traded gold coins on the market. The 20 Francs Napoléon remains the French benchmark, with a gross weight of 6.45 grams at a fineness of 900 thousandths. It is the most traded gold coin in France and the one with the deepest market. The Mexican 50 Pesos, nicknamed the mini bar, weighs 41.67 grams at the same fineness and lets you buy a large quantity in a single object. For one-ounce formats, the Canadian Maple Leaf and the Vienna Philharmonic are struck at 999.9 thousandths, while the American Eagle and the Britannia complete the Anglo-Saxon range. The British Sovereign is also available. For a first purchase, the lightest formats in the catalogue are the 5 Francs Napoléon at 1.61 grams and the Mexican 2 Pesos at 1.67 grams, both at a fineness of 900 thousandths.

Alongside these investment coins, a few semi-collectable pieces allow you to diversify without leaving the ground of physical gold. They are bought for their metal above all, with a premium that varies with the year of issue and the state of preservation.

Minted bars and cast bars

Our gold bars run from 5 grams to 500 grams, and the one-kilo cast bar completes the range. All are struck at 999.9 thousandths. Each comes sealed with a certificate stating the weight, the fineness, the identification number, the refiner’s mark and the assayer’s stamp. The refiner is accredited by the LBMA, the London association that maintains the list of refiners whose output is accepted without question on world markets. That is what makes a bar bought here just as sellable in Zurich as in Paris.

The one-ounce minted bar weighs 31.1 grams, the unit in which the gold price is quoted on the markets, so it is the format that compares most directly with the spot price. The CombiBar answers a different need: fifty one-gram bars on a single plate, snapped off one by one, for anyone who wants to release their gold in very small quantities. If you hesitate on the format, our guide on which gold bar to buy sets out the premium gaps between the 5 gram and the kilo.

How the price is set

The price of physical gold always has two components: the value of the metal it contains, and a premium. The metal value follows the international rate, which you can track on our gold price page. The premium is not simply a production cost passed on.

It first covers minting or casting, packaging, testing and handling, and those costs weigh proportionally more on small formats: certifying a 5 gram bar costs almost as much as producing a 100 gram one. But it mainly reflects the state of the market. A coin buyers are asking for, as the Napoléon is in France, sells above what its manufacture alone would justify, because demand is there and available stock turns over quickly. Conversely, a coin nobody wants trades close to its metal content, though it cost just as much to produce. Scarcity works the same way: a year of issue struck in small numbers, or a coin no longer produced, sells for more than the metal it contains.

That is why the premium differs sharply from one product to another, and why it moves over time. It rises when demand surges and refiners cannot keep up, and falls back when the market calms. Comparing two coins on metal weight alone is therefore never enough.

In practice, buying a large format in one go costs less per gram than accumulating small units. Conversely, small units are easier to sell in fractions. Our article on the price of gold per gram explains how to work this out yourself before ordering.

Value added tax and taxation

Investment gold, meaning bars and coins struck after 1800 that have been legal tender, is exempt from value added tax throughout the European Union. You therefore pay the displayed price with no tax added, whether you choose a coin or a bar from our gold range. On the silver side, only cast bars carry value added tax, and the product page says so.

Taxation on resale is a different matter, and it depends on where you are resident rather than on where you bought. France applies its own regime to residents, with a choice between a flat tax on the sale price and a capital gains regime whose relief increases with the length of holding. Non-residents are outside the scope of that French taxation. Whatever your situation, one precaution applies everywhere: keep your invoices and your sealed packaging, because the tax authorities of most countries will ask you to prove the date and the price of acquisition, and to identify each item individually by a serial or seal number. Without that traceability, the more favourable regime is simply not available to you.

Ordering, paying, receiving

The shop is open continuously and payment is made by bank card or transfer. Your order is confirmed at the price displayed when you validate it, which protects you from rate movements while it is processed. Shipments are entrusted to carriers specialised in the transport of valuables and are insured until delivery.

Packaging is worth pausing on, because it is not only a matter of presentation. Bars come in a case with their numbered certificate. For coins, the sealed pouch is not automatic: you have to ask for it. A seal can hold a single coin or several, and that choice deserves thought. If you plan to sell in slices, several seals will let you release one lot without opening the others; if you see a single exit, one seal for the whole holding is enough. Either way you need to ask us: contact us once your order is placed, on +33 9 72 52 18 24 or at contact@goldreserve.fr, and tell us how you would like your coins packaged. This service is sometimes charged, and our advisers will tell you at that point.

Buying gold is a regulated activity. Above certain thresholds, the rules require us to verify your identity and, depending on the amounts, to ask for proof of the origin of funds. This is not specific to Gold Reserve, it applies to every precious metals professional, and our advisers tell you in advance what will be required so that nothing blocks the shipment.

Who you are buying from

Gold Reserve is a French company founded in 2017, based in Paris and Strasbourg. It belongs to the Comptoir National de l’Or, founded in Alsace in 1976, which has close to a hundred branches in France and Germany. Buying online therefore does not cut you off from the physical network: you can be received in person, have coins appraised, or sell over the counter. You can read more on our about page, or reach us on +33 9 72 52 18 24 and through the contact form.

Frequently asked questions

What is the minimum amount to buy gold?

There is no imposed minimum. The smallest bar in the catalogue is the 5 gram minted bar, at a fineness of 999.9 thousandths. On the coin side you can go considerably lower: the 5 Francs Napoléon weighs 1.61 grams and the Mexican 2 Pesos 1.67 grams, both at 900 thousandths. A first purchase is therefore within most budgets. Since the premium weighs more heavily on small formats, a single purchase of a medium format remains more efficient than accumulating very small units.

Coins or a bar: which is better?

Coins let you sell in slices and enjoy very wide demand, particularly the 20 Francs Napoléon in France. A bar carries a lower premium per gram but is sold in one piece. Between the two, the CombiBar gathers fifty detachable one-gram bars and offers the flexibility of a coin with the premium of a bar. The choice is less about return than about how you picture your exit.

Is gold bought online delivered insured?

Yes. Shipments go through carriers specialised in high-value goods and are covered until they reach your hands.

Can I sell gold back to Gold Reserve?

Buy-back is handled by the branches of the Comptoir National de l’Or, of which Gold Reserve is part. Your coins and bars are appraised there and bought back at the price of the day, with the benefit of the physical network.

Should I keep the seal and the invoice?

Yes, and it is the most profitable precaution of all. To claim the more favourable resale regime, tax authorities require each item to be individually identifiable by a serial or seal number, and the invoice to designate it unambiguously. An opened seal and a lost invoice close that option for good. Think about it when ordering: for coins, the seal has to be requested, it is not applied as standard.

Does the displayed price change between order and payment?

No. The price applied is the one displayed when you validate your order. Rates carry on moving afterwards, but your transaction is fixed.