Small gold bars from 1 g to 20 g: who they suit and how to keep them

What counts as a small gold bar

By small we mean the sizes from 1 g up to about 20 g. Nearly all of them are minted bars: thin, sharply struck pieces sealed into a tamper-evident assay card. Look at the card and you should see the refiner's name, the weight and the fineness, and usually a serial number that matches the one stamped on the bar.

The sizes you are most likely to find with us are listed below. Not every refiner makes every size, and stock moves, so check the shop page for what is in today.

Most small bars from the refiners we carry, including PAMP, Valcambi, Argor-Heraeus and Heraeus, are 999.9 fine. In Singapore, gold bars of at least 99.5% purity from an accredited refiner, carrying the refiner's mark, fineness and weight, count as investment precious metal and are exempt from GST. Our guides on LBMA accreditation and bar markings go into this further.

• 1 g: the smallest common size, often bought as a gift
• 2.5 g: a small step up, and a size many decorative designs come in
• 5 g: a manageable size if you buy now and then
• 10 g: a size we see bought often, both as a gift and for keeping
• 20 g: the top of the small range, a little under two-thirds of a troy ounce

Who small gold bars suit

Small bars suit people who want to start modestly and see how they feel about owning physical gold. Plenty of first-time buyers come in for a single 5 g or 10 g bar. They want to hold one, read the card, and understand what they are paying for.

They also suit people who like to keep things divisible. Ten 10 g bars hold the same gold as one 100 g bar, but you can sell two of them and keep the rest. Some families use this to set gold aside separately for each child.

Gift-givers are the third group, and we come to them below. Small bars make less sense if you plan to put a large sum into gold in one purchase, because the cost per gram starts to matter a great deal. Our guide on choosing a bar size from 1 g to 1 kg sets out that comparison.

Why small bars cost more per gram

Every bar we sell is priced from the live world spot price plus a premium, and the premium is shown on each product page. On small bars that premium works out higher per gram than on a 100 g or 1 kg bar. People sometimes read this as a markup on the gold. Mostly it isn't.

It comes down to fixed costs. A 1 g bar needs its blank cut and weighed, its design struck, an inspection, a printed card, a seal and a serial number, much like a far heavier minted bar. After that it is shipped and handled, and here it is tested before it goes on sale. Those costs are much the same per piece, so on a tiny bar they land on very few grams.

Designs add a bit more. A bar showing a lunar animal or a festive motif needs more detailed dies and finishing than a plain one. Put a plain bar and a designed bar of the same weight side by side on our shop page and you will see the gap. Our guide on spot price and selling price explains how the full price is built up.

Small gold bars as gifts

A small gold bar is a familiar gift in Singapore. We see them bought for a baby's full month, for weddings, Chinese New Year and Deepavali, and for graduations and retirements. A 1 g or 2.5 g bar in its card tucks neatly into a red packet or a greeting card, and it tends to be kept long after cash would have been spent.

With gifts, people often choose the design first and the weight second. Zodiac animals, auspicious symbols and PAMP's Fortuna design are all popular. A plain bar from a well-known refiner is just as welcome and usually carries a lower premium than a designed one.

When you hand it over, mention that the card should stay sealed. An opened bar is still gold, of course. The card is simply what makes it quick to identify later. Our separate guide on gold and silver as gifts covers occasions and customs in more detail.

Buying gold a little at a time

Some customers buy a small bar every month or every few months. Our prices follow the live spot price through the day, so each purchase is made at that moment's price, and on weekends, when the world market is closed, we sell at the last closing price. Over a year or two you end up with bars bought at a spread of different prices rather than all on one day.

Know the cost of doing it this way. Each small bar carries the higher small-bar premium, and you pay it every time. Other people save the money and buy one larger bar later. We won't tell you which to choose. Just compare the per-gram cost on the product pages before you settle on a habit.

If you do buy regularly, keep your receipts together and jot down the date, size and serial number of each bar. That makes your own records easy, and it helps if you later sell part of what you hold. You can pay online by PayNow or bank transfer and collect free from our shop at Centrium Square, or have it sent by courier within Singapore.

Keep the bar in its sealed card

The best thing you can do for a small bar is leave it in its card. A thin piece of pure gold is soft and scratches or dents easily, and fingerprints show. The card guards against all that and keeps the serial number and refiner details with the bar. On PAMP bars we also run a Veriscan check, which reads the bar's surface and compares it with PAMP's records.

Opening the card does not change how much gold is in the bar, and we test every piece brought to our counter anyway. When you sell to us, the final amount is set at the counter after testing, at that moment's price. A bar in its original, undamaged card is just easier to identify and handle, for us and for anyone else.

Home storage is simple. Gold itself won't tarnish, but in our humid weather the card is the part that suffers: it can warp, bend or pick up marks if it is left lying about.

• Store cards flat in a dry cupboard, out of direct sunlight
• Don't put heavy things on top or drop them loose into a bag
• A small box or card sleeve with a silica gel sachet does the job
• Don't peel, cut or reseal the card, even for a photo
• Keep the receipt with the bar