Regular ingot gold bars are the most cost effective and best value form of gold bullion investment.
Gold Bullion trading has world wide standards that recognise weight and fineness of gold bullion.
These standards of gold bullion trading mean that you can purchase gold bullion for the current price of gold, plus a small margin to pay for costs incurred in refining, fabricating, and shipping that bullion to you.
The term 'bullion' has a very simple definition:
Bullion is a refined and stamped precise weight quantity of a precious metal.
Popular bullion bar sizes range from 1/2 ounce, 1 ounce, 2 ounce, 2.5 ounce, 5 ounce, 10 ounce, 20 ounce and 1 kilogram. There are a handful of major refiners around the world. Some of the most popular are Perth Mint, ABC Sydney, Johnson Matthey, Credit Suisse, Union Bank of Switzerland, Bank Lui, Harringtons, Deak International and the Canadian Royal Mint.
Buying gold in bar form gives people a way to build wealth without depending on the changing value and acceptance of the local fiat currency. For people everywhere in the world, a gold hoard is a private and permanent hedge against many possible contingencies.
Gold coins have been used for trade for thousands of years. The concept of a government-guaranteed measure of gold was what originally gave 'money' its power and legitimacy. But with the end of circulating gold coins in the world during the 1930's, gold lost its link with everyday currency, and people began to think of gold coins as collectible artifacts from our monetary past. "Gold coins" no longer produced as money, came to be considered something scarce and obsolete.
In 1967, South Africa introduced the Krugerrand. This is Government issued gold bullion in a one ounce coin. The Krugerrand is a coin struck and distributed at the current spot price of gold plus a small percentage. Now, these gold coins have become popular in the gold market, mostly in the form of bullion coins containing exactly one troy ounce (31.1035 grams) of pure gold. South Africa pioneered the 'round bullion' concept.
Other gold coins have become popular such as the Canadian Maple Leaf, Chinese Pandas, and the U.SGold Eagles. Australia, Austria, Great Britain, and Singapore also issue gold coins. Each coin has the advantage of a guaranteed purity, exact weight, and worldwide liquidity.
Iin the last twenty years gold bullion coins have become very divisible, and are an accepted form of globally traded gold bullion.