What makes up the price of bullion?

Spot is a reference, not your quotation.

The spot price is a market reference for the metal. The price of a finished coin or bar also reflects the product supplied. The Royal Mint explains that bullion is sold with a premium above the underlying metal cost.

Always check the currency, weight unit and timestamp. A price per troy ounce should not be compared directly with a price per gram, and a US dollar gold headline is not a sterling product quotation.

Understand the purchase premium.

Manufacturing, sourcing and distributing a coin or bar have costs. Product type, size and availability can influence the premium. For a graded or collectible coin, condition and collector demand can also form part of the price.

Ask for the total amount payable, including applicable taxes and delivery charges. Compare equivalent products and quantities at the same time.

Buying and selling prices differ.

A dealer’s selling price and buying price will usually be different. This difference, together with any storage or insurance costs, matters to your result. An unchanged gold price does not mean you could immediately sell a product for its original purchase price.

Ask for an explanation of how a resale price would be calculated. With a graded coin, ask separately about the metal value and the collector premium; neither should be assumed to be fixed.

Read a quotation with these questions.

1. Which exact product, weight and purity does the quotation cover?
2. When does the quotation expire, and when is the price fixed?
3. What is included in the total, and what could be charged separately?
4. How and when will ownership, delivery or storage be confirmed?
5. How could you obtain a resale quotation later?

The live prices in this website’s header are indicative market references. Ask the team for a current quotation for the product you want.