Fine Gold (999)
Also: 999 gold, 24 carat, .999 fine gold, 9999 gold
Fine gold denotes gold with a fineness of at least 999 parts per thousand (999 ‰), i.e. a purity of 99.9 per cent or higher.
Fine gold is the purest commercially traded form of gold and forms the basis of all price quotations on the world market. The gold price is always quoted in US dollars per troy ounce of fine gold – regardless of whether an investor buys bars, coins or a security. Anyone wanting to determine the actual material value of a gold object first needs the fineness and can then use it in the melt value calculator.
What does "999" mean as a fineness?
The four-digit stamp 999 (or 999.9) stands for parts per thousand of pure gold in the total weight:
Fine weight = gross weight × (fineness ‰ ÷ 1000)
Example: 31.103 g (1 troy ounce) × (999 ÷ 1000) = 31.072 g pure gold
In practice the market distinguishes two levels:
| Stamp | Purity | Designation | Typical products |
|---|---|---|---|
| 999 | ≥ 99.9% | Triple-nine / Fine Gold | Standard bars, many bullion coins |
| 999.9 | ≥ 99.99% | Four-nine / Four Nines | Bullion coins (Maple Leaf, Philharmonic), kilo bars |
| 999.99 | ≥ 99.999% | Five-nine | Special bars for laboratories and the semiconductor industry |
The LBMA Good Delivery standard for wholesale bars (400-ounce bars on the London market) requires at least 995 ‰ – fine gold exceeds this requirement considerably.
Why is fine gold so soft?
Pure gold is one of the most ductile metals of all: one gram can be drawn into a wire about two kilometres long or hammered into a sheet of roughly one square metre. Its Mohs hardness is only 2.5 – a fingernail (Mohs hardness ~2.5) already leaves scratches. In jewellery making, gold is therefore almost never used as fine gold but is alloyed with copper, silver or palladium (→ 585 gold, 750 gold). For investment products, on the other hand, the softness is no disadvantage as long as the coins or bars are stored properly.
Investment gold: special tax status
In the UK – and across the EU – fine gold in the form of investment gold enjoys a VAT exemption (HMRC; based on Directive 2006/112/EC). The conditions:
- Gold bars or wafers with a fineness of at least 995 ‰
- A weight of at least 1 gram
- Coins with a fineness ≥ 900 ‰, minted after 1800, which are or were legal tender
Because fine gold (999 ‰) far exceeds these thresholds, all common investment bars and bullion coins made of fine gold are VAT-exempt. Note that silver, platinum and palladium attract 20% VAT on purchase. Note: This is not tax advice; for individual questions please consult a qualified adviser.
Typical fine-gold products
Bars are the classic form: the range extends from 1-gram credit-card bars to the 12.5-kilogram wholesale bar. Cast bars (recognisable by their rough surface) and minted bars (mirror-smooth surfaces, sharper edges) both reach 999.9 ‰. Leading refineries such as Heraeus, Umicore, PAMP Suisse and Valcambi provide their products with an assay certificate and a serial number.
Coins of fine gold have established themselves as an important investment form since the 1970s:
- Maple Leaf (Canada, since 1979): 999.9 ‰, special edition 99999 (five nines)
- Vienna Philharmonic (Austria, since 1989): 999.9 ‰, Europe's best-selling gold coin
- American Buffalo (USA, since 2006): 999.9 ‰, first US fine-gold coin
- Kangaroo/Nugget (Australia, since 1986): 999.9 ‰, changing motif each year
The Krugerrand (South Africa, since 1967), by contrast, contains 91.67% gold (916.7 ‰ = 22 carat) – it is not fine gold but contains, despite its higher gross weight of around 33.93 g, exactly 1 troy ounce of pure gold.
Testing and authenticity
Fine gold can be verified in various ways:
- Stamp check: hallmark 999 or 9999, possibly combined with a maker's logo and serial number
- Density measurement according to Archimedes: fine gold has 19.32 g/cm³ – tungsten, at 19.25 g/cm³, is close, but can be reliably distinguished by ultrasonic testing or X-ray fluorescence analysis (XRF)
- Magnet test: gold is diamagnetic and is not attracted by a magnet; if a piece reacts to magnets, it contains foreign substances
- Ping test: genuine coins of fine gold produce a clear, long-lasting tone
With the gold calculator you can quickly check whether the dealer price asked matches the current spot price.
Fineness vs. carat: the conversion
The carat value (gold jewellery) and the parts-per-thousand stamp (bars/coins) describe the same thing in different systems:
| Carat | Fineness ‰ | Purity % |
|---|---|---|
| 24 ct | 999 – 999.9 | 99.9 – 99.99 |
| 22 ct | 916.7 | 91.67 |
| 18 ct | 750 | 75.00 |
| 14 ct | 585 | 58.50 |
| 8 ct | 333 | 33.30 |
Fine gold thus always corresponds to 24 carat – theoretically 24 carat could also mean 999.999 ‰, since carat is a fractional representation (24/24). In trading practice, 24 carat = 999 ‰ or better.
In brief
Fine gold (999) is the purest regularly traded gold, forms the basis of all world-market prices and enjoys VAT exemption as investment gold in the UK. Anyone buying or selling bars or coins of fine gold should always keep the current gold price and the melt value calculator to hand, in order to assess premiums realistically.