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How Much Is A Gold Ingot Bar Worth?
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I was watching the pilot of Royal Pains, a television show about a doctor who gets fired and, through a bit of luck and opportunism, opens up shop to the rich and famous of the Hamptons. Anyway, in the pilot, he helps someone at a party and the person who owns the home, a royal from Europe, gives him a bar of gold.
That’s when I realized I have no idea how many “ounces” are in a bar of gold, let alone how much a bar of gold is worth.
I’m a personal finance blogger… how could I not know that??? 
So I found out.
First, ingot merely refers to the fact that you’ve taken a material and put it into a shape of some kind. By definition, a gold bar is a gold ingot. However, a gold ingot could be in any shape, it just so happens that a bar makes the most sense (it stacks, it’s easy to handle, etc.).
Second, gold bars can come in any size, weight, and purity. There’s really no standardization when you talk about a “gold bar.” However, there is what’s called a “400 ounce London Good Delivery,” which is a standard (learn more about that here). The 400 ounces refer to troy ounces which means we can easily calculate the value of a gold bar, if it is a 400 ounce London Good Delivery gold bar, by multiplying that by the spot price of an ounce of gold.
So… drum roll please… the price of a gold bar is, assuming $946 (price as of 11 August 2009) an ounce –
Daaaaaaaaamn. That’s a lot of coin.
(By the way, the show isn’t bad. The pilot is a little… piloty, you know where they try to show you a lot but don’t go too far in depth… but I think I could enjoy this show. Not bad for a show by USA )
(Photo: bullionvault)
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I would pay off my mortgage, attend my friend’s out-of-town wedding, and put the rest into savings and retirement.
Don’t think you are getting the value of the gold… it is a better savings and retirement plan
Think about walking around with that in your car? The extremely rich have a very different view of life than the rest of us do!!
I like the show and the depth of the characters is starting to flesh out. It is nice to see the intereaction they have between the extremely rich and those around them that may be wealthy in many ways but not in their bank account.
I couldn’t even pay off my mortgage for that amount, even assuming no taxes. Also, isn’t gold measured in troy ounces? So there’s no need to convert the 400 troy ounces to avoirdupois (“regular) ounces.
XE.com says gold this minute is worth $945.623/ounce, and I assume that’s a troy ounce, so your 400-ounce bar is worth
$378,249.40.
I’ve been enjoying the show… on a delay ’cause who has time to watch so much television.
I never heard of the show, but I had no idea gold still cost so much!
I wonder why the price of gold isn’t for troy ounces. It seems like it would be easier to use the price if it did refer to troy ounces.
I want a gold bar please.
Gold prices are in Troy ounce… no need to convert.
gold bars and the price(933$)-are quoted in troy ounces arent they???-I e .–400 troy ounces
You are correct, the error’s been fixed in the original post. (and I updated the price too)
A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.
Jas, of course the price of gold and other precious metals is given in Troy ounces.
Andrew, yes it is measured in Troy ounces and priced in Troy ounces. Also, note that in some countries it is measured and priced in grams.
From the EMI website (http://www.mine.mn/Prices_Metals_Minerals_Gems.htm): “Gold prices are quoted in Troy ounces. Not from the Greek city of Troy, but Troyes in France. Troyes made a system of weights for its medieval fair. Henry VIII brought the Troy system to England. He made it England’s official standard for minting coins – and for weighing precious metals.
Gold spot price is in $/troy oz. so no conversion is necessary. With gold at $945 today that 400 oz bar would be worth $378,000. There are also 100 oz bars ($94,500) and 1 kg bars ($30,383).
Gold is always weighted and priced in TROY ounces, never in AVOIRDUPOIS ounces. So, your information is erroneous. How come you are so ignorant? Or just trying to provoke?
Insults aside, the site I was using to quote prices didn’t say troy ounces, just ounces, and since I’m not a trader of gold I didn’t know. Post have been updated to correct the error.
Gold is already quoted in troy ounces. No conversion needed
I updated the article to reflect that, the website I used for pricing simply said “ounces” and not troy ounces so I did the conversion unnecessarily. Thanks for letting me know!
Since you bring it up . . . I’ve been emailing every nationally-recognized, conservative personality and asking them why NO ONE IS ASKING ABOUT FORT KNOX AND THE FACT THAT IT HAS NOT BEEN AUDITED since the Eisenhower admin. You know, don’t you, that Pres. Obama’s U.K. pal,Prime Min. Brown, when he was the Exchequer SOLD about 70% of their gold?
I am not confident that there’s ANY gold left in there considering how we’ve been spending the past 50 years. If it IS there, it’s probably locked up in a secure area and CHINA has the only key!
I am NOT a Conspiracy buff – just a concerned citizen.
I’m pretty sure you ARE a conspiracy buff.
In 2001, this same bar would have been only $101k (2001 dollars) or $125k (2009 dollars).
Still a lot of coin, but not nearly as coiny as today.
Auric Goldfinger took control of most gold a long time ago. The other area is Lake Toplitz, in Germany, where Hitler sank a boatload of it. Best place to look for it is in the Atlantic Ocean region, where Spanish galleons plundered the South Americas in the 1500′s. Moxie.
Otto, why the knee-jerk name-calling? We were all newbies once. Jim manned up and corrected himself. Besides, you are wrong when you say gold is “always” priced in Troy ounces. As I pointed out in yesterday’s post, in some places (e.g., India, Japan, China, etc.) it is also priced in grams. From today’s Reuters-India (11:22 IST): “The most-traded October contract was 0.10 percent higher at 14,822 rupees per 10 grams at 11:17 a.m.”
Interesting.
Years ago, when I worked in lower Manhattan I used to see deliveries of dozens of gold, platinum, and silver bars on a truck and forklift right in the street and sidewalk at Chase Plaza . . . it always amazed me– that much money on the street!
Yeah that is amazing, but what’s even more amazing is all the money floating around as 1s and 0s in computer systems. My account balance in my checking account exists electronically.
At $946 per oz. $400oz= $378,400 not $378,704
if i had that much money i would own my own buisness and help out my family and save the rest for my kids college funds
So ironic. Watching the same pilot a year later. Googled the question about the goLd bar’s worth and saw this posting. Hysterical. And I thought the bar might be worth about $100,000. Big difference. Thanks for the info.
You didn’t know the value of a gold bar as a personal finance blogger because you’re… not a good personal finance blogger.
Honestly, the value of gold bars is not relevant to personal finance unless you’re rich enough that you probably have wholly different priorities than most people have with their personal finances.
Whatever the price gold and platinum are two of the only things to invest that always rise in price. Maybe slowly at times but never depreciates. Everyone should put save gold wether your just a collector, or have millions to invest. If I had a couple million one would go completely into gold then I would start a safe smart business. Sucks to have little & just scrape by. But life isn’t just money to most people thank whatever deity is yours.