Color differences in gold coins

Gold coins can have a color difference, in this article we explain the reason behind this difference.

Pure gold is vulnerable

Pure gold is sensitive to scratches, which is also the reason why, for example, old Dutch gold guilders used to be made with a gold content of around 90%. This made the coins more resistant to daily use.

Nowadays, gold coins are no longer common in normal payment transactions and modern techniques make it easier to work with pure gold. That is why many gold coins are now minted from 99.99% gold.

Colour difference in gold coins

Why is there still a colour difference between gold coins? The Kruggerrand is a striking example here, because of it's darker colour than, for example, the Maple Leaf. Well-known gold coins such as the gold Maple Leaf, Kangaroo, Britannia, Philharmoniker and the Buffalo are minted from 99.99% gold.

However, there are also coins such as the Gold Eagle and the Kruggerrand that use a lower gold content. For example, a gold Krugerrand only contains 91.67% gold instead of 99.99% gold. The advantage of this lower content is that the coin is a bit more sturdy and gets a different color which distinguishes the coin from other gold coins. The red glow is often achieved by processing a bit of copper in the coin.

Lower gold content, same price

You may wonder why a Kruggerrand has a comparable price to coins with 99.99% gold if the gold content is lower. This is because troy ounce coins contain 1 troy ounce, or 31.103 grams, of gold.

The Kruggerrand also contains 31.103 grams of gold, but some material has simply been added to it, making the coin weigh 33.93 grams instead of 31.103 grams, resulting in a gold content of 22 carat instead of 24 carat.

Is purity important for gold investment coins?

The purity is actually of limited importance for gold investment coins. Since it is about the value and that is comparable for 1 troy ouncd investment coins because they contain the same amount of gold.

The fact that coins are fragile is also not so important because investment coins are not intended as daily use products and therefore have little wear and tear and if there is a scratch on it, this has little influence on the value. With the buy-back guarantee of The Silver Mountain we make no distinction between your slightly damaged and undamaged coins. Whether you choose a copper-colored Krugerrand or a golden-yellow Maple Leaf is therefore mainly a matter of taste.

Disclaimer: The Silver Mountain does not provide investment advice and this article should not be considered as such. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.