Coins or bars, which form is right?
Coins for recognition and divisibility, bars for cost. Sovereign one-ounce coins resell easily to dealers and individuals alike but carry a higher premium per ounce. Bars from accredited refiners are the cheapest way to hold weight and are normally sold whole, through a dealer.
Every product on this page is the same metal. What you are actually choosing is how much fabrication and brand you pay for, and how you expect to sell later. That second question decides more than most buyers realize, because the exit is where format either helps you or costs you.
| Form | Premium tier | Liquidity | IRA status | Best use |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sovereign 1 oz coins (Eagle, Buffalo, Maple Leaf) | Moderate | Widest, dealers and private buyers | Eligible; the Eagle by statute at .9167 | Core holdings, IRA accounts, flexible exits |
| Bars, 1 oz to 1 kilo, accredited refiners | Lowest per ounce as size rises | Dealer market; assay card matters | Eligible at .995 from an accredited refiner | Larger positions where cost per ounce decides |
| Fractional coins (1/2, 1/4, 1/10 oz) | Highest per ounce | Good, and easiest to sell piecemeal | Eligible in the same sovereign series | Divisibility inside a larger holding |
A practical rule: buy bars for the weight you intend to leave alone, and coins for the portion you might touch. Buying the entire position in fractional coins is the single most common, and most expensive, mistake we correct on first calls.
Which of this gold can go in an IRA?
Gold that is .995 fine or better from an accredited refiner, mint or assayer, plus the American Gold Eagle, admitted by statute at .9167. Collectible, graded and most proof pieces are excluded, and final acceptance rests with your custodian and depository.
The fineness floor is the easy part. The part that costs people money is the category above it: proof and graded versions of otherwise eligible coins, sold at premiums that have nothing to do with the gold inside them. An eligible coin and an appropriate coin are not the same thing.
Eligibility, custody and the home-storage trap are covered in full in the gold IRA guide. If you are moving retirement money, the rollover guide covers the funding sequence, and IRA-eligible metals lists the accepted forms.
What premium should you actually pay?
Premiums move with product and market conditions: bars lowest, sovereign one-ounce coins above them, fractional and proof pieces highest. The number that matters is not the premium alone but the spread, what a dealer will bid for the same item the same day.
Dealers make their money on the spread, not the fee schedule. You can pay a low stated premium and still be badly positioned if the same-day bid is far below it. That is why every Dormy quote shows the bid alongside the ask, in writing, before anything is funded.
Typical premium ranges by format are on the pricing page, how to read a quote shows the four numbers to demand, and how to choose a gold IRA company puts real dollar figures on what a wide spread costs.
Delivered, or stored?
Gold bought outright can be delivered privately and insured in transit, or held at an independent depository. Gold inside an IRA must be held by an approved trustee at a depository, keeping it at home is a distribution, not a storage plan.
Gold’s density makes this simpler than silver: a six-figure position fits in a hand. The decision is usually about privacy, insurance and who else knows where it is. The storage and delivery page covers the outright case, and the gold IRA storage guide covers depositories, segregated versus commingled, and what insurance really covers.
What does Dormy source?
Sovereign coins from the U.S., Canadian and other recognized mints in full and fractional sizes, and assay-carded bars from LBMA-accredited refiners in one-ounce, ten-ounce and kilo formats, each quoted in writing with the premium shown separately from spot.