Sovereigns or 1/4 oz gold coins?

[Essendie]

So, I've been collecting for almost a year now & other than one 5g bar, I have collected 1/10 oz gold coins (because they cost about the same as the LEGO sets I used to buy before I had to admit I'd reach SABLE.)

My budget is nowhere near as big as I'd guess a lot of others on here, so 1oz coins are not really where I want to put my money anytime soon, but I'm thinking of 'moving up' a coin to either full Sovereigns or 1/4 oz gold coins.

Which would you think was better in terms of holding their worth over time (10-20 years & on)?

I'm sort of inclined towards the 1/4 oz as I'm not a fan of the colour of Sovereigns & they'll mess with my working out troy ozs.

I'll have managed just over 1oz of gold by this years end & I'm aiming for 2oz next year, so I'd only need 8 coins to get there if 1/4oz or 9 coins if sovereigns.

Sovereigns seem to be very popular though, but as my budget means I can't pick up the prettier older ones if they have  higher prices than a new one does, there seems to be more variety in 1/4oz coins.

I'm looking at British coins so they would be CGT exempt due to being an incurable optimist about the size of stash I'll one day have.

I've been using my Digi gold account at Royal Mint to save up (stops me giving in & buying more LEGO I can't even store, so it works for me), so I have enough in there to get the 1/4 oz Tudor Beast Lion, or a Sovereign if they ever stay in stock for longer than ten seconds.

I do know that really I would be better saving & just getting 2 x 1oz gold coins, but that would require more willpower than I possess & having 'pretty' coins is partly an emotion based decision for me.


Does anyone have any suggestions on which they think might be the better buy, Sovereigns or 1/4 oz gold coins?
I'm talking about the bullion versions, not the fancy pants other versions.

[artalien]

2 minutes ago, Essendie said:

I do know that really I would be better saving & just getting 2 x 1oz gold coins, but that would require more willpower than I possess

I resemble that remark. Sovs seem to have the lower premium so I buy them if I can over the 1/4. I leave the rest to wiser heads to comment upon. Silver lego would be so coool.

[artalien]

There is a dealer that does a free silver brit if you refer a friend and they buy as well.

[Silverlocks]

30 minutes ago, Essendie said:

[ . . . ]
Does anyone have any suggestions on which they think might be the better buy, Sovereigns or 1/4 oz gold coins?
I'm talking about the bullion versions, not the fancy pants other versions.

Sovereigns.  The dealer spreads on sovs are much smaller than 1/4oz bullion coins due to the colossal numbers produced - something like 900 million sovs have been minted in total.  They're also very liquid on the secondary market; I've seen folks rock up here with 50 or 100 sovs and flog them all within a week. 

It's also worth noting that the spread between a typical dealer price and the going rate on the secondary market (spot+3-4% or so) is no more than the dealer margin on a 1oz gold coin, and sovs are so liquid that you probably wouldn't have to resort to selling back to a dealer.

If a 1/4oz coin comes up on a forum at the right price, by all means get it, but sovs will the be the bread and butter of a gold stack.

 

Edited October 7, 2022 by Silverlocks

[James32]

So let's take an approximate current "forum" price of both for a sec 

Full generic sov £375 ÷ 7.32g of fine gold = £51.22 per gram

1/4oz brit £405? ÷ 7.775g of fine gold = £52.09 per gram

So the sovereign has the lowest premium but not by an earth shattering amount ( obviously this is by buying from the forum/trusted sources) 

My advice is to go the sovereign route, but certainly pick up the odd 1/4 that comes up at a good price 😀 👍 

Next thing to do is start counting your stack in grams,not ounces.. this makes stacking sovereigns easier. 

Finally whilst it may seem more logical to save for 2 full ounces and buy in one go?? Its the biggest mistake you "could possibly " make.

Cost average buying is the most important thing, buying little and often achieves this and protects you from mad price swings.

Say you save from today for a whole year and by the time your ready to buy gold is £100 an oz more expensive?? You have sacrificed the opportunity to get cheaper gold throughout the year. 

[SiCole]

As I'm in a similar boat, personally I have gone for more 2022 sovereigns due to the design of the year. 

Not a fan of the colour and I prefer the look of a 1/4 TB or Britannia but sovereigns are more available and both are stupidly liquid. They would both sell in 10 mins on here.

[Essendie]

I've already bought from BBP, so I'm signed up there already I'm afraid, but thanks for the suggestion!

[artalien]

Ah, worth a pop. How many free brits did u swing? (Subsequently lost in that same boat accident)

Edited October 7, 2022 by artalien

[Essendie]

LOL.

12 year olds aren't allowed accounts there!

Not a one, but I only spent about £50 there getting a QB silver completer coin because I thought it was drop dead gorgeous.



 

[artalien]

It could mean a sovereign @ spot. I know u all know how to count but, spend total 500 get 2 brits thrown in say 50. This is not a hussle btw. Just trying to save some cash within the community.

Edited October 7, 2022 by artalien

[Essendie]

Consider me thick but I don't know what you are going on about.

I'm not really any good at haggling or negotiating & I don't think my spend is high enough to get special treatment in this arena unless, they have a secret stash of antiques in desperate need of restoration.

Back to work for me now, have a good night 🙂

 

[Guest]

Just get both! They are very liquid and easy to sell plus you don’t have to worry about posting such a high value item like a 1oz coin. 

[Scootermuppet]

Personally, and from a liquidity point of view, Sovereigns would be the way to go, but as others have said, 1/4 oz coins are similar in value and seem to sell quite well here on the forum.

I started stacking with 1oz Silver Brits! And used them to ‘trade up’ to some gold - initially 1/10 oz coins - and eventually trading Silver Brits & 1/10oz gold for a 1oz Gold Brit.

I think what I’m trying to say is the smaller coins are a great way of building up to more expensive and/or larger coins - all depends on your stacking needs though, I use my stack as a means of storing my cash without being able to spaff it on random stuff 😁.

I don’t get too hung up on ‘must have the lowest premium possible’ coins, as I believe you’ll generally get back any premium you pay if the coins are sought after ones - like the special year Sovereigns for example - I have 3 halves and 3 full special years (bullion) and although I paid a little more than a ‘best value’ sovereign from a dealer or the forum, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t lose anything on them if I had to move them on…

Many forum members have proved the liquidity of sovereigns on here, with people selling 30 or 50 within a couple of hours or so, as they are always a popular buy - with people putting together date runs, type runs and so on.

I watched the for sale section for some time to see what types were popular and then bought those where possible, and I also buy things I like, within that ‘popular’ category - which satisfies the collector in me as well as scratching the Retail Therapy itch 😏

It helps not to get too attached to them too - or it’s more difficult to sell when the time comes / in an emergency situation.

Have to admit, I have a strong attraction to Gillick sovereigns though, they just seem ‘right’ as a sovereign, right look, right colour… what you’d expect a sovereign to be? - I’m currently building a set of them (there were 10 years minted, and the 2 slightly rarer years aren’t super expensive either) but again, I won’t hesitate to sell them on to fund something else I want or in a time of need. I guess they’ve become my ‘go-to’ bullion choice… 🤷🏻‍♂️

Don’t think you can go far wrong with anything in gold to be fair, but the humble Sovereign does seem to tick all the boxes for a lot of people.

Hope that helps! ☺️
Bob

[Tn21]

Your Lego may outperform your gold 

[Essendie]

 

38 minutes ago, Tn21 said:

Your Lego may outperform your gold 

Some of it has as I've collected sets like the Modulars, Winter Village, Minecraft, the big Ninjago buildings plus a few Ideas sets etc.. including multiples of long retired Modulars 🙂

Right now though, it's a bit of a buyers market as everyone is broke, so they are pulling out their spare sets to sell en masse.
Too many people noticed what happened to sets like the original Taj Mahal (before LEGO rereleased it) or Market Street & started buying up then hoarding the stuff to sell the second the sets were retired - a lot like the guys on ebay selling coins for crazily inflated prices.

There is a cool little site where you can track the growth of some sets, including stats based future projections of value now everyone & their dog is thinking of LEGO as a possible investment.
e.g. Scooby Doo Mystery Machine was a really good buy (£29.99 RRP in 2016, but I got it for £12) had grown 342.23% from RRP since then for BNIB, but has recently had a hefty dip because of the cost of living crisis.
All my Scooby stuff did very well & I bought it all at lower than RRP anyway.
Mostly the better things only increase around 10-15% a year over RRP.
I think they price a couple of percent over what you'd honestly be able to get on the best day, but it's not that far off.

I never bought LEGO to sell though, I just bought it because it made me happy.
I'll be pruning my collection & only keeping my absolute favourites when the prices go up again, & eventually I'll turn the bulk of my LEGO into gold & silver.
 

[Arganto]

15 hours ago, James32 said:

start counting your stack in grains

Fixed that for you, let's not have too much of that metric supremacy talk shall we. 🙃

[James32]

2 minutes ago, Arganto said:

Fixed that for you, let's not have too much of that metric supremacy talk shall we. 🙃

Count it in memories? Because I'm coming for it all!

[Arganto]

1 minute ago, James32 said:

I'm coming for it all!

Nuh ah, vacuum cleaners don't work in deep salt water! 😝

[James32]

2 minutes ago, Arganto said:

Nuh ah, vacuum cleaners don't work in deep salt water! 😝

Under water non waterproof vacuum..now there's a business venture. 

[Arganto]

Blast, foiled again! Look what @James32has gone and bought from the Belgians!

[GoldStatue]

2 hours ago, Essendie said:

 

Some of it has as I've collected sets like the Modulars, Winter Village, Minecraft, the big Ninjago buildings plus a few Ideas sets etc.. including multiples of long retired Modulars 🙂

Right now though, it's a bit of a buyers market as everyone is broke, so they are pulling out their spare sets to sell en masse.
Too many people noticed what happened to sets like the original Taj Mahal (before LEGO rereleased it) or Market Street & started buying up then hoarding the stuff to sell the second the sets were retired - a lot like the guys on ebay selling coins for crazily inflated prices.

There is a cool little site where you can track the growth of some sets, including stats based future projections of value now everyone & their dog is thinking of LEGO as a possible investment.
e.g. Scooby Doo Mystery Machine was a really good buy (£29.99 RRP in 2016, but I got it for £12) had grown 342.23% from RRP since then for BNIB, but has recently had a hefty dip because of the cost of living crisis.
All my Scooby stuff did very well & I bought it all at lower than RRP anyway.
Mostly the better things only increase around 10-15% a year over RRP.
I think they price a couple of percent over what you'd honestly be able to get on the best day, but it's not that far off.

I never bought LEGO to sell though, I just bought it because it made me happy.
I'll be pruning my collection & only keeping my absolute favourites when the prices go up again, & eventually I'll turn the bulk of my LEGO into gold & silver.
 

I believe the Lego Death Star set is one of those holy grails, it must be massive.

I think the steam is going out of a few collectables markets at the moment, people are saying it is happening to star wars vintage action figures as well.

To answer your original question, in reality there is minimal difference between the two as long as you pay the right price in the first place. People generally go for the Sovereigns as they have a long history to them and are therefore more recognisable to the average joe in the UK.

[LawrenceChard]

16 hours ago, Essendie said:

So, I've been collecting for almost a year now & other than one 5g bar, I have collected 1/10 oz gold coins (because they cost about the same as the LEGO sets I used to buy before I had to admit I'd reach SABLE.)

My budget is nowhere near as big as I'd guess a lot of others on here, so 1oz coins are not really where I want to put my money anytime soon, but I'm thinking of 'moving up' a coin to either full Sovereigns or 1/4 oz gold coins.

Which would you think was better in terms of holding their worth over time (10-20 years & on)?

I'm sort of inclined towards the 1/4 oz as I'm not a fan of the colour of Sovereigns & they'll mess with my working out troy ozs.

I'll have managed just over 1oz of gold by this years end & I'm aiming for 2oz next year, so I'd only need 8 coins to get there if 1/4oz or 9 coins if sovereigns.

Sovereigns seem to be very popular though, but as my budget means I can't pick up the prettier older ones if they have  higher prices than a new one does, there seems to be more variety in 1/4oz coins.

I'm looking at British coins so they would be CGT exempt due to being an incurable optimist about the size of stash I'll one day have.

I've been using my Digi gold account at Royal Mint to save up (stops me giving in & buying more LEGO I can't even store, so it works for me), so I have enough in there to get the 1/4 oz Tudor Beast Lion, or a Sovereign if they ever stay in stock for longer than ten seconds.

I do know that really I would be better saving & just getting 2 x 1oz gold coins, but that would require more willpower than I possess & having 'pretty' coins is partly an emotion based decision for me.

Does anyone have any suggestions on which they think might be the better buy, Sovereigns or 1/4 oz gold coins?
I'm talking about the bullion versions, not the fancy pants other versions.

15 hours ago, Essendie said:

I've already bought from BBP, so I'm signed up there already I'm afraid, but thanks for the suggestion!

It sounds like you only ever see the first 2 or 3 results on Google which are usually paid adverts. This means you will probably be buying from some of the most expensive dealers / sites, such as RM, BbP and Gold (these last 2 are one and the same, but with different prices).

Do you know what percentage premium you paid for any of your gold?

You should do if you are about value, or are an investor. If you have more money than sense, then it doesn't matter.

I would advise you to read:

https://www.chards.co.uk/blog/advice-guide-for-uk-bullion-investors/1041

Others have already recommended sovereigns. If you can't handle the simple maths, then use a spreadsheet.

Alert: the weight shown on most websites is incorrect, including the Royal Mint! Most dealers have lazily copied what the Royal Mint publish. The specified weight of sovereigns is not 7.98 grams, but 7.98805 grams, meaning the RM figure is in error by more than 0.1%.

Even the well-known Blackpool website of @ChardsCoinandBullionDealer has the same errors on some pages, waiting to be corrected when they / we have time to breathe, however this page is very approximately right: https://www.chards.co.uk/blog/technical-specification-of-a-gold-sovereign/181

If numbers frighten you, it would be well worth investing a modest amount of time learning some simple mathematics. It could be the best investment you ever make, and you get probably find it online, free of charge, and with free postage.

There are a few more points I could make, but this is enough for now!

😎

[LawrenceChard]

20 hours ago, Essendie said:

So, I've been collecting for almost a year now & other than one 5g bar, I have collected 1/10 oz gold coins (because they cost about the same as the LEGO sets I used to buy before I had to admit I'd reach SABLE.)

Sable?

How is she doing these days?

Looking good for her age!

😎

[Darr3nG]

41 minutes ago, LawrenceChard said:

Sable?

How is she doing these days?

You've a good eye, @LawrenceChard

[LawrenceChard]

6 minutes ago, Darr3nG said:

You've a good eye, @LawrenceChard

The right one?

😎