Fractional Gold and Silver: When Smaller Sizes Make Sense

Not everyone wants to — or can — buy a full troy ounce of gold at today's prices. That's where fractional products come in. Available in sizes like 1/10 oz, 1/4 oz, and 1/2 oz, fractional gold and silver make precious metals accessible at a wider range of price points.

But fractional isn't always the right choice. Here's when it makes sense and when it doesn't.

What Counts as Fractional?

Anything smaller than 1 troy ounce is considered fractional. Common sizes include:

Gold: 1/10 oz, 1/4 oz, 1/2 oz (available as sovereign coins and private mint bars)

Silver: 1/10 oz, 1/4 oz, 1/2 oz rounds and bars

Some products break down even smaller. Valcambi's CombiBars, for instance, come as a sheet of individually separable 1-gram bars. Goldbacks are gold notes containing tiny fractions of a troy ounce in a thin, spendable format.

When Fractional Makes Sense

You're starting out and want to buy gradually. If committing to a full ounce of gold isn't in the budget, buying a 1/10 oz coin each month is a disciplined way to accumulate over time.

You want divisibility. If you ever need to liquidate part of your holdings, smaller pieces let you sell exactly what you need without parting with a full ounce. This is a practical advantage that large bars simply don't offer.

You're gifting precious metals. A 1/10 oz gold coin or a 1/2 oz silver round makes a tangible, memorable gift without a four-figure price tag.

You want recognized sovereign coins in smaller sizes. Products like the 1/10 oz American Gold Eagle or the 1/4 oz Canadian Gold Maple Leaf carry the same government guarantee as their full-ounce counterparts.

The Trade-Off: Higher Premiums

This is the most important thing to understand about fractional products. The smaller the piece, the higher the premium per ounce of contained metal.

It costs a mint roughly the same to strike, package, and ship a 1/10 oz coin as a 1 oz coin. But the metal value of the smaller coin is one-tenth. So those fixed costs represent a much larger share of the price.

As a rough illustration: if a 1 oz gold coin carries a 5% premium over spot, a 1/10 oz version of the same coin might carry a 10–15% premium. You're paying more per ounce for the convenience of a smaller size.

This premium gap is even more pronounced in silver, where the underlying metal value per piece is much lower.

When to Buy Larger Instead

If your primary goal is accumulating the most metal for your money, larger sizes are more efficient. A 1 oz gold bar or a 10 oz silver bar will get you closer to spot price per ounce than any fractional product.

The general principle: buy the largest size you can comfortably afford and store, unless you specifically need the divisibility or accessibility that fractional provides.

Fractional Silver: An Accessible Entry Point

Fractional silver rounds are among the most affordable ways to start buying precious metals. A 1/10 oz silver round might cost just a few dollars, making it possible to begin accumulating even on a tight budget.

These smaller silver pieces also work well for barter and emergency preparedness scenarios where you'd need small, recognizable units of value — though it's worth noting that generic fractional rounds are less universally recognized than sovereign coins.

What We Carry

Florida Gold Exchange offers fractional products in both gold and silver, from government-minted sovereign coins to private mint rounds and bars.