Buying Gold for the First Time
Coins or bars, how much to start with, where it lives, and the two UK tax exemptions that decide most of it.
Buying gold for the first time is mostly a matter of deciding three things: what form you want it in, how much of it, and where it is going to live. The metal itself is the easy part — gold is gold, and a Britannia bought today is the same as one bought in 1987.
Coins or bars
Coins cost slightly more per gram than bars and are worth it for most private buyers. They are recognised anywhere, they sell one at a time rather than all at once, and the ones struck as UK legal tender carry a tax advantage no bar can match. Bars are the cheaper metal and make sense once you are buying in quantity.
The tax position, briefly
Two separate exemptions matter in Britain, and they are often confused.
VAT does not apply to investment gold at all — coins or bars, British or foreign. Every piece we sell is bought free of it.
Capital Gains Tax is narrower. Only UK legal tender coins are exempt, and only for UK residents. A Sovereign or a Britannia qualifies whatever the size of the gain. A Krugerrand, a Maple Leaf or a one kilo bar does not — those are VAT free but a gain can be taxable.
For most people starting out, that single fact is the whole argument for buying British coins rather than anything else.
How much to start with
There is no correct answer, but there is a common mistake: buying one very small piece because it feels safer. A one gram bar carries a much higher premium per gram than a one ounce coin, so you pay considerably more for the same metal. If the sum you have in mind buys a single Sovereign, buy the Sovereign.
Where it lives
Gold at home is only as safe as your home, and most household insurance treats bullion as a special category with a low limit — check your policy before you assume you are covered.
Buying it back
Ask this before you buy, not after. A dealer who will not quote you a buy-back price is telling you something. We buy back anything we have sold, at the market, on the day you ask.
General information, not tax or investment advice. Tax treatment depends on your individual circumstances and may change.