1g Argor-Heraeus Gold Bar

The 1g Argor-Heraeus Gold Bar

The 1g Argor-Heraeus gold bar is the smallest standard gold bar weight from one of the most heavily accredited refiners in the world. Argor-Heraeus has held LBMA Good Delivery accreditation for gold since 1961 and is one of only a handful of LBMA Good Delivery Referees, the refineries the LBMA itself uses to vet new applicants. At 999.9 fine, a single gram from this Swiss refinery is the lowest-cost way to own gold with that pedigree behind it.

Be clear about what a 1g bar is for. Premiums at this weight typically run 8 to 15 percent over spot, the highest premium-to-metal ratio of any bar size, because manufacturing, assaying, and packaging costs are roughly fixed regardless of bar size and dominate the price of a gram. Buying an ounce of gold as 31 individual grams costs dramatically more than a single 1 oz gold bar. The market for this weight is gifting, entry-level ownership, and maximum divisibility, not bulk accumulation.

Where Argor-Heraeus stands out at this size is security. Its 1g Kinebar carries a KINEGRAM optical security element embossed on the reverse, the same diffractive technology used on banknotes and passports, and Argor-Heraeus is the only refiner worldwide licensed to apply it to precious metals bars. Every bar ships with a certificate of authenticity under the refinery's circular ARGOR HERAEUS SA emblem.

Argor-Heraeus 1g Gold Bar Specifications

The 1g weight sits at the bottom of the Argor-Heraeus Minted Classic range, which runs from 1g to 5kg in gold at 999.9 fineness. A typical 1g gold bar measures roughly 8mm by 15mm; in its sealed assay card the package is around credit-card size, and the card itself carries the bar's serial number, weight, purity, and the refiner's hallmark. Keep that card sealed: breaking it can mean re-assaying before resale.

Argor-Heraeus also produces one-gram gold in Multicard and Goldseed formats, sheets of individually removable embossed one-gram pieces aimed at gifting and collecting, and annual Lunar Zodiac minted designs such as the 2026 Year of the Horse.

Tax Treatment of the 1g Argor-Heraeus Bar by Country

At 999.9 fine, this bar comfortably clears the investment-gold purity thresholds everywhere they apply, so it is one of the most tax-friendly things a gram of money can buy.

• United Kingdom: investment gold (995 fine or better) carries 0 percent VAT. Bars are not CGT-exempt, since only UK legal tender coins qualify, but at this price point gains will rarely trouble the £3,000 annual CGT allowance.
• European Union: 0 percent VAT on investment gold bars at 995+ fineness under the EU Investment Gold Directive, in every member state.
• United States: no federal sales tax; most states exempt bullion, though some threshold-based exemptions (California over $2,000, Florida over $500, New York over $1,000) will not be met by a single gram, so a 1g bar can be taxable where a larger purchase would not be. Long-term gains are taxed at the collectibles rate of up to 28 percent.
• Canada: GST/HST exempt at 99.5 percent purity or higher in bar form.
• Australia and New Zealand: GST-free as investment-grade gold at 99.5 percent or higher.
• Singapore: 0 percent GST as an Investment Precious Metal; no capital gains tax.
• Hong Kong: no sales tax, no import duty, no capital gains tax.
• Switzerland: investment gold is VAT-free in the bar's home market.

Argor-Heraeus: From Chiasso Foundry to Heraeus Group

Argor SA was founded in 1951 in Chiasso, in the Italian-speaking Swiss canton of Ticino, by Emilio Weiss and Elvio Zoppi. It was the first precious metals foundry in Ticino, and the name fuses the Italian words for silver (argento) and gold (oro). Union Bank of Switzerland took an 80 percent stake in 1960, the year before the company was listed on the London Gold Market, the precursor to the LBMA. During the 1960s it achieved four-nines (999.9) gold fineness when most refined gold was 999.5 or lower, and became the first Swiss refinery to mint coins and medals.

The German Heraeus Group bought a 25 percent stake from UBS in 1986, the company became ARGOR-HERAEUS SA, and a new headquarters opened in Mendrisio in 1988. The innovation most relevant to this product arrived in 1993: the Kinebar, a minted gold bar with a KINEGRAM optical security element on the reverse. Kinebars launched commercially in 1994 in weights including 1g, 2g, 5g, 10g, 20g, and 1 oz, making the one-gram Kinebar part of the original line-up.

Ownership passed through a Heraeus-Commerzbank-management structure from 1999, with the Austrian Mint joining as a fourth shareholder in 2002, before Heraeus acquired 100 percent in April 2017 and folded the refinery into Heraeus Precious Metals. A second Mendrisio production facility opened in 2013, roughly doubling gold refining capacity to the region of 350 to 400 tonnes a year.

Argor-Heraeus 1g vs PAMP, Valcambi, and Bigger Bars

The most direct rival is the 1g PAMP Suisse Fortuna, the most recognised one-gram bar globally thanks to its Lady Fortuna design. Both are Swiss, 999.9 fine, and sealed in assay cards; the choice mostly comes down to design preference and price on the day. Argor-Heraeus answers PAMP's brand recognition with its Kinebar KINEGRAM security element, an embossed optical feature no other refiner is licensed to apply to bullion bars.

The second alternative is Valcambi, whose CombiBar format takes a different approach to small gold: a perforated sheet of 50 individual one-gram segments that snap apart as needed. The per-gram premium on a CombiBar is lower than buying 1g bars separately, so a buyer who wants many grams of divisible gold is usually better served by the sheet, while a buyer who wants one gram as a gift is better served by a single carded bar.

The honest comparison, though, is up the weight scale. One-gram bars carry 8 to 15 percent premiums, while bars at 10g and above shed most of that fixed-cost burden, and 100g bars run around 2 to 4 percent. Within the same refinery, every step up in the Argor-Heraeus Minted Classic range buys gold more efficiently. The 1g bar wins only when the budget, the gift, or the need for gram-level divisibility demands it.