We’re continuing our look at the burgeoning minigold market with a producer that takes a different approach to the path that yesterdays subject, Silver Pours, has taken. Instead of a wide variety of themes and designs, Germania Mint has taken their core one-gram gold bar, and individualised them using themed packaging, rather than on the bars themselves.

This is aimed completely at the gift market. We often forget in our hobby, that gold is a cultural phenomenon, and has been for millennia, so is deeply ingrained in most cultures around the world as a source of wealth and beauty outside the collector market. The gifting of small quantities of gold is a norm for family events, and for national ones, especially in Asia, but value is paramount, as the buyer likely isn’t interested in numismatic investment, and just wants the shiny stuff. As an example, these bars are roughly four times the price of a 1/1000 oz coins we looked at yesterday, but contain thirty-two times as much gold. They’re both aimed at different markets.

What Germania Mint has done is take their own one-gram 99.99% fine gold bar, with its standard design, and customised the packaging it’s presented in. This has the obvious advantages of cost, where nothing has to be spent on denominating it, or fancy designs, or custom dies to strike them, thus keeping the value more in line with what a gold stacker would expect, rather than a collector expecting something more unique. The black packaging below is their standard one, but below that you can see a wide range themed for such things as family events and cultural celebrations.

The packaging is perfectly realised. The cards the bars are mounted in are solid plastic, not cardboard, and the size of a credit card. You could easily slip one into a birthday card, for example. All told, a polar opposite to the Silver Pours coins, and a fine example of tailoring a similar product to a completely different market. All of these, except the new Christmas one, have an unlimited mintage, so availability shouldn’t be a problem.

The gifting nature of these bars comes in large part from the dual-sided theming of the packaging. The latest addition is a ‘Best Wishes’ bar, that you can see would be a great gift for any number of events, or other circumstances. The Christmas pack is self-explanatory, and also the only one to have a mintage limit – in this case 2,500. The others are for the new baby someone may have, and there are boy and girl versions. All of these are perfect examples of events where the gifting of gold is appropriate, and the presentation certainly lifts it over just gifting an encapsulated bar.

Earlier issues similarly have plenty of appeal for specific events, and, with the exception of the two lunar cycle packs which clearly have a limited lifespan, will stay relevant for years to come. Asian countries have a long tradition of gifting gold, so I can certainly see why there are lunar packs.

If you can think of other ideas, feel free to leave them in the comments, as GM do look in from time to time.