Generic Gold Bar 20g

Specifications

Weight

0.643 oz

Purity

.9999

About the Generic Gold Bars

Generic gold bars are exactly what they sound like. A rectangular (sometimes round) piece of .9999-fine gold, stamped with a weight, a serial number, and usually a refinery hallmark. They are produced by private and sovereign refiners around the world, and dealers tend to sell them as "any-mint" inventory. You order a 1 oz bar, you get whatever the dealer has on the shelf, which might be PAMP Suisse, Valcambi, Argor-Heraeus, Perth Mint, Royal Canadian Mint, or one of a dozen others. The metal is the same. The premium is what you came for.

The weight ladder is wide. You can buy a 1 gram bar that fits in a coin flip, or a 1 kilo bar that weighs more than two pounds and costs as much as a car. In between, the common steps are 2g, 2.5g, 5g, 10g, 20g, 50g, 100g, then jumps to 10 oz and 1 kilo. There is also an ounce-based ladder (1/10 oz, 1/4 oz, 1/2 oz, 1 oz) that exists mostly because American buyers think in ounces. Inside each weight, you will find dozens of brands and finishes, from minted and assay-carded bars to plain cast pours.

Purity is almost always .9999, which the industry writes as "four nines fine." A handful of older or specialty bars come in at .999 or .995, but for anything you can buy new from a US dealer today, assume four nines unless the listing says otherwise. That matters if you are stacking, because a 1 oz .9999 bar contains 31.103 grams of pure gold, while a 1 oz American Gold Eagle, at .9167, contains the same 31.103 grams of pure gold but inside a heavier alloyed coin. Same gold, different package, very different premium.

Premiums on bars are the lowest in the gold market. A 1 kilo bar from a strong dealer can sometimes trade within 1-2% of spot. A 1 oz bar usually runs 2-5% over spot. The small fractional bars (1g, 2g, 5g) carry the highest premiums in percentage terms, often 10-25% over spot, because the refining and packaging cost is a bigger share of a tiny piece of metal. If you are buying for pure price-per-ounce efficiency, bigger is cheaper. If you are buying for divisibility, gifting, or barter scenarios, smaller pays the premium tax for a reason.

Liquidity is excellent at common sizes. 1 oz, 10 oz, and 1 kilo bars from recognized refiners (LBMA Good Delivery list refiners especially) sell back to dealers at tight buy/sell spreads. Off-brand or unrecognized bars can be harder to move, and some dealers will only buy them back at a discount or after assay. Stick to bars from refiners you have heard of, keep the assay card sealed if it came in one, and you preserve resale value.

A quick note on form factor. Minted bars come in tamper-evident assay cards with a serial number that matches the bar. Cast bars are poured, not pressed, and have a rougher surface and usually no card. Cast bars are slightly cheaper because they are cheaper to make, and at 10 oz and 1 kilo they are the dominant format. Both are the same gold by weight. The card is for resale confidence and storage, not for the metal itself.

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