30 g Chinese Panda Gold Coin | Mixed Years

30 g Chinese Panda — .999 fine

Thirty grams of .999 gold, 32 mm across, face value 500 yuan, issued under the People’s Bank of China. Mixed-year stock, which means several different panda designs.

Specifications

The Panda is .999 fine, not .9999. It is a genuine gold bullion coin, but it is not four nines gold.

Grams, not ounces

Since 2016 the Panda has been struck in metric weights. The 30 g coin replaced the one ounce and the 8 g replaced the quarter ounce. A troy ounce is 31.1035 g, so a 30 g Panda holds about 3.5 per cent less gold than a one ounce Britannia or Maple Leaf. When you compare prices, compare cost per gram, not cost per coin.

Obverse and reverse

The obverse shows the Hall of Prayer for Abundant Harvests at the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, encircled by the name of the People’s Republic of China and the year.

The reverse carries a new panda design every year, together with the face value in yuan. That annual change is the reason collectors follow the series and the reason a mixed-year holding looks different coin to coin.

Some dealer listings reverse these two. The Temple of Heaven side is the obverse.

VAT and UK capital gains tax

HMRC treats a coin minted after 1800 as bullion gold if it is at least 900 thousandths fine, is or has been legal tender in its country of origin, and normally sells at no more than 180 per cent of the open market value of its gold (VAT Notice 701/21A). The Panda is .999 fine, Chinese legal tender and sold on the gold price, so it meets all three tests.

Capital gains tax is a separate matter. The UK exemption follows sterling legal tender, so it covers Sovereigns and Britannias but not a Chinese coin. This is a statement of the published rule, not tax advice — your own position depends on your circumstances.

Questions buyers ask

Is a 30 g Panda the same as a one ounce coin? No. A troy ounce is 31.1035 g, so the 30 g coin holds about 3.5 per cent less gold.

Which panda design will I receive? Mixed-year stock ships as available. The reverse changes every year.

Is it four nines gold? No. The Panda is .999 fine.

Which side is the obverse? The Temple of Heaven. The panda is the reverse.

Authenticity checked at GoldInvest24 before dispatch. Other sizes are on the Chinese Panda gold coins page. Live quotes on the precious metals prices page.