{"id":20257,"date":"2026-10-05T05:43:19","date_gmt":"2026-10-05T04:43:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/glossary\/fineness\/"},"modified":"2026-10-05T07:46:05","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T06:46:05","slug":"fineness","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/gb\/glossary\/fineness\/","title":{"rendered":"Fineness"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mrf-gl\"><p class=\"gl-def\">Fineness is the purity of a precious metal, written in parts per thousand. Gold of 999.9 fineness is 99.99% pure; a 22 carat Sovereign is 916.7, meaning 916.7 parts in every 1,000 are gold.<\/p><aside class=\"panel gl-live\"><p class=\"gl-live-h\">\ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udde7 Today in the UK<\/p><div class=\"gl-row\"><span>Gold, 1 troy ounce (spot)<\/span><b>\u00a33,150<\/b><\/div><div class=\"gl-row\"><span>Cheapest 1 oz gold coin: <a href=\"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/gb\/product\/1-oz-krugerrand-gold-coin\/\">1 oz Krugerrand Gold Coin<\/a><\/span><b>\u00a33,173.61<\/b> <small>+0.8% premium<\/small><\/div><p class=\"gl-src\">Data as of 05.10.2026, updated daily.<\/p><a class=\"btn primary\" href=\"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/gb\/cheapest-gold-coins\/\">Compare gold coin prices \u203a<\/a><\/aside><div class=\"gl-body\"><h2>How fineness is written<\/h2><p>Fineness uses a millesimal number: parts of pure metal per 1,000 parts of the alloy. It is more precise than <a href=\"karat}}\">carat<\/a>, which is why bullion uses it. The common figures you will see in the UK:<\/p><table><thead><tr><th>Fineness<\/th><th>Purity<\/th><th>Typical UK example<\/th><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td>999.9<\/td><td>99.99%<\/td><td>Gold Britannia (since 2013), most cast and minted bars<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>999<\/td><td>99.9%<\/td><td>Silver Britannia, silver bars<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>916.7<\/td><td>22 carat<\/td><td>Sovereign, Krugerrand<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>750<\/td><td>18 carat<\/td><td>Fine jewellery<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>375<\/td><td>9 carat<\/td><td>Everyday UK jewellery<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><p>Fineness tells you the fine weight. A 1 oz Krugerrand at 916.7 weighs about 33.93 g so that it still holds one <a href=\"troy-ounce}}\">troy ounce<\/a> of gold; the extra copper makes it harder wearing.<\/p><h2>Hallmarks and the four UK Assay Offices<\/h2><p>Under the Hallmarking Act 1973 it is an offence for a business to describe an unhallmarked article as gold, silver, platinum or palladium, unless it is exempt. Gold articles under 1 gram are exempt. A UK hallmark has three compulsory parts:<\/p><ol><li>the sponsor's mark (at least two letters within an outline, identifying the maker or importer),<\/li><li>the fineness mark, a number such as 375, 750 or 916, inside a shape that shows the metal,<\/li><li>the Assay Office mark, showing which office tested it.<\/li><\/ol><p>There are four Assay Offices: London (the Goldsmiths' Company, leopard's head), Birmingham (anchor), Sheffield (rose) and Edinburgh (castle). The approved UK gold standards are 375, 585, 750, 916, 990 and 999.<\/p><h3>Why your coins and bars carry no hallmark<\/h3><p>The Act exempts any coin that is or was current coin of the UK or another territory, and any bullion. So a Sovereign or a 100 g bar is not hallmarked. Its fineness is struck by the mint or refiner instead, and bars usually come with an assay certificate. That puts more weight on buying from a known source and on checks such as weight and dimensions. Our guide to <a href=\"\/gb\/how-to-spot-fake-coins\/gold-britannia\/\">checking a gold Britannia for fakes<\/a> covers this.<\/p><h2>Fineness and price<\/h2><p>Investment gold must be at least 995 for bars and 900 for coins to be VAT exempt in the UK (see <a href=\"investment-gold-tax}}\">VAT on investment gold<\/a>). Above that line, a 916.7 coin and a 999.9 coin with the same fine weight hold the same gold, so compare them on price per fine ounce. Use the <a href=\"\/gb\/cheapest-gold-coins\/\">ranking of the cheapest gold coins delivered in the UK<\/a> to see both side by side.<\/p><\/div><h2>Related terms<\/h2><p class=\"gl-chips\"><a class=\"gl-chip\" href=\"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/gb\/glossary\/carat\/\">Carat<\/a> <a class=\"gl-chip\" href=\"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/gb\/glossary\/troy-ounce\/\">Troy Ounce<\/a> <a class=\"gl-chip\" href=\"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/gb\/glossary\/investment-gold-vat\/\">Investment Gold and VAT in the UK<\/a><\/p><section class=\"mrf-faq\"><h2>FAQ<\/h2><div class=\"faq-list\"><details open><summary><h3>What does 999.9 mean on gold?<\/h3><\/summary><div class=\"a\"><p>It means the metal is 99.99% pure gold, the highest standard used for bullion coins such as the gold Britannia.<\/p><\/div><\/details><details><summary><h3>What does 916 mean on UK gold?<\/h3><\/summary><div class=\"a\"><p>916 is the hallmark for 22 carat gold, which is 91.6% pure. The Sovereign is struck in 22 carat gold.<\/p><\/div><\/details><details><summary><h3>Do gold coins need a UK hallmark?<\/h3><\/summary><div class=\"a\"><p>No. The Hallmarking Act 1973 exempts coins that are or were legal currency, and bullion bars, from compulsory hallmarking.<\/p><\/div><\/details><\/div><\/section><details class=\"gl-src-list\"><summary>Sources<\/summary><ul><li><a href=\"https:\/\/assets.publishing.service.gov.uk\/media\/63a333b9d3bf7f37654767e0\/hallmarking-guidance-notes.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Office for Product Safety and Standards: Hallmarking guidance notes<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.assayofficelondon.co.uk\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The Goldsmiths&#039; Company Assay Office, London<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/guidance\/gold-acquisitions-imports-investments-and-vat-notice-70121\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">HMRC: Gold acquisitions, imports, investments and VAT (VAT Notice 701\/21)<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.royalmint.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The Royal Mint<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/details><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"parent":20233,"menu_order":3,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","_glsr_average":0,"_glsr_ranking":0,"_glsr_reviews":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-20257","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"taxonomy_info":[],"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":{"display_name":"","author_link":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/gb\/"},"comment_info":0,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/20257","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20257"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/20257\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20345,"href":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/20257\/revisions\/20345"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/20233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/metalsradar.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}