While bars are cheaper to fabricate than coins, large coins generally cost less to make than small ones. Thus, the manufacturer’s premium as a percentage of overall cost should be lower on large coins. While many experienced bullion investors own small coins for flexibility, they’re also interested in the cost advantage of larger coins. The forthcoming 2013 Australian Koala is perfect for investors building such a mixed-size portfolio. As well as the popular 1oz and 1/2oz coins, it includes larger 1 kilo and 10oz varieties.
Other investors, however, prefer bullion coins. Owning bullion coins offers several clear benefits, including the fact that they are:
• issued (and therefore guaranteed) by Governments.
• highly divisible – our regular bullion coins range from 1/20oz for gold and 1/2oz for silver.
• portray detailed designs for easy identification.
• are thin, making them extremely difficult to fake around a base metal core.
The kilo coin is especially interesting because it’s the first large silver bullion coin struck on our special Grabener 1,000 tonne coin press, a technologically advanced machine that’s helping us reduce production costs even further.
We believe that as a result of installing this press, the 2013 kilo Koala offers the lowest manufacturing premium on a per ounce basis of any 99.9% pure silver bullion coin in the world.
The Perth Mint bullion website presents options to buy bars and coins, in both silver and gold. The 2013 Australian Koala, which will be available from 5 November, offers the benefits of investing in a coin at our lowest possible premium over minted silver.
