How Many Gold Coins Are in a Pound?

Reviewed by the Gold by the Pound Editorial Team · Updated November 3, 2026

$58,942 15 one-ounce gold coins

One coin: $3,929.50

Gold spot $3,929.50/troy oz · $57,305/lb · updated November 3, 2026

Quick answer. A pound of gold is 14.58 one-ounce gold coins, so in practice it's fifteen coins, which hold 15 troy ounces (1.03 lb) of gold worth $58,942 at today's spot price. If you weigh the coins instead of counting their gold, the answer changes: a pound of American Gold Eagles on a scale is only about 13.4 coins, because each Eagle is alloyed and weighs more than the ounce of gold inside it.

Coins per Pound, Coin by Coin

Every coin below contains exactly the stated amount of pure gold. What differs is how much the coin itself weighs.

Eagle weights are set by federal law (31 U.S.C. §5112), which also fixes the Buffalo at one ounce of 99.99% gold. A pound here is the ordinary pound of 453.59 grams.

Fine Weight vs. Scale Weight

The two right-hand columns disagree for the Eagle and the Krugerrand, and the reason is worth understanding before you order.

A one-ounce American Gold Eagle contains one full troy ounce of gold. It also contains a little silver and copper, added so the coin resists scratches and dents. The finished coin weighs 33.931 grams, about 9% more than the gold in it. A Buffalo or Maple Leaf has no added metal, so the coin and its gold weigh the same.

For buying, only the pure gold matters. Dealers price an Eagle and a Buffalo off the same ounce of gold, and the extra alloy in the Eagle is neither charged for nor worth anything at resale. So:

• Fifteen Eagles hold 15 troy ounces of gold, worth $58,942, and weigh 1.12 pounds on a kitchen scale.
• Fifteen Buffalos hold the same 15 troy ounces, worth the same $58,942, and weigh 1.03 pounds.
• A pound of Eagles by the scale, about 13.4 coins, holds only $52,530 of gold. That is $4,775 less than a true pound of gold.

That last line is the trap. Anyone selling "a pound of gold coins" by scale weight is selling less gold than a pound if the coins are 22-karat. Count the ounces of pure gold, never the weight of the pile.

Which Coins People Buy by the Pound

A pound-sized order is almost always made of one-ounce coins. Four are traded everywhere:

American Gold Eagle. The most widely recognized gold coin in the United States, and the easiest to sell back. It usually carries the highest premium of the four, typically about 3–6% over spot.

American Gold Buffalo. The US Mint's 24-karat coin. Buyers who want .9999 gold and a US coin choose it. It is softer than the Eagle and marks more easily.

Canadian Maple Leaf. Also .9999, typically at a slightly lower premium than the Eagle, about 3–5%. Recognized worldwide.

Krugerrand. The original one-ounce bullion coin, 22-karat like the Eagle, typically about 2–4% over spot. It has one drawback covered below: it can't go in an IRA.

Fractional coins (½, ¼ and 1/10 oz) reach a pound too, but slowly and expensively. It takes 146 tenth-ounce Eagles to hold a pound of gold, and small coins carry the highest premiums per ounce of any common product. They make sense when you want small units to sell or give, not when the goal is a pound at the best price.

Premium ranges are typical figures from 2026 dealer guides in normal conditions. They move with demand. Check any quote with the premium per pound calculator.

Which Coins Can Go in a Gold IRA

If the pound is going into a retirement account, the coin list is shorter. The tax code treats coins in an IRA as collectibles unless they fall under an exception:

The Eagle is the odd one: at .9167 it wouldn't pass the fineness test, but Congress wrote it into the law by name. Our guide to gold at home or in an IRA explains the rest of the rules.

Worked Examples

Fifteen Eagles. 15 × 1 troy oz = 15 troy oz of gold. At $3,929.50 an ounce, that's $58,942 at spot. It is 0.42 troy ounces more than an exact pound, worth $1,637.

Fourteen coins. 14 troy oz is $55,013 at spot and falls 0.58 ounces short of a pound. If "a pound" is a rough target, fourteen is the closest order under it and fifteen the closest over it.

A tube of twenty. One-ounce Eagles ship from the Mint in tubes of 20. A full tube holds 20 troy ounces, 1.37 pounds of gold, worth $78,590 at spot. Some buyers round up to a tube because sealed tubes are simple to store and to sell.

A pound in quarter-ounce coins. 58 quarter-ounce Eagles hold 14.5 troy ounces, just under a pound. Each holds $982.38 of gold at spot, but expect to pay a noticeably higher premium on every one of them than on a one-ounce coin.

Related Pages

• Gold bars by the pound: the same pound in bars, and why a bar plus coins often costs less.
• How much gold can I buy?: start from a budget instead of a weight.
• Where to buy gold by the pound: the kinds of seller compared.

Frequently Asked Questions

Data sources: Spot price via api.gold-api.com · COMEX futures (GC=F) via Yahoo Finance. Prices are for informational purposes only and may be delayed. Figures on this page were generated 2026-11-03. Gold is quoted in US dollars per troy ounce; this site converts at 14.583 troy ounces per avoirdupois pound.