Stacker Guides · Bars
Gold Bar Sizes and Weights: From a 1-Gram Bar to the 400-Ounce Bar in the Vault
The bar in the films weighs about as much as a two-year-old and is worth more than most houses. Every common size, who makes them, cast versus minted, and why no two vault bars weigh the same.
By Joel Perkes · · 5 min read
The gold bar in the heist film, the one the thieves stack on a trolley, weighs about 27 pounds. That is roughly what a two-year-old weighs, and like a two-year-old it is denser and harder to carry than it looks.
The standard gold bar held by central banks and the big London vaults is a London Good Delivery bar of about 400 troy ounces: 12.4 kilograms or 27.4 pounds, worth about $1.6 million at spot on October 24, 2026. Each one may hold anywhere from 350 to 430 ounces of gold. Bars sold to individuals run from 1 gram to 1 kilogram, which is 32.15 troy ounces or 2.2 pounds. The 1-ounce bar, the 10-ounce bar and the kilo bar are the most common sizes people buy.
Gold bar sizes and what each is worth
| Bar | Troy oz | Pounds | Worth |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 gram | 0.0322 | 0.002 | $128.50 |
| 10 grams | 0.3215 | 0.022 | $1,285.03 |
| 1 ounce | 1 | 0.069 | $3,996.90 |
| 100 grams | 3.2151 | 0.22 | $12,850.33 |
| 10 tola | 3.75 | 0.257 | $14,988.38 |
| 10 ounces | 10 | 0.686 | $39,969.00 |
| 1 kilogram | 32.1507 | 2.205 | $128,503.32 |
| 100 ounces | 100 | 6.857 | $399,690.00 |
| Vault bar, about 400 oz | 400 | 27.43 | $1,598,760.00 |
Values are the gold alone at the stored spot price; a dealer charges more than spot and pays less. The troy ounce converter values any size at today’s price, in your own currency.
Gold is quoted in troy ounces, which are 31.1 grams, about 10% heavier than the ordinary ounce on a kitchen scale. That is why a 1-ounce bar reads 1.1 ounces at home, and why a pound of gold is 14.6 troy ounces rather than 16. The guide to the troy ounce explains the difference.
The 400-ounce bar: what is in the vault
The bar the world’s central banks own is defined by the London Bullion Market Association, which runs the wholesale gold market. Its Good Delivery rules say a bar must hold between 350 and 430 troy ounces of gold, be at least 99.5% pure, and come from a refinery on the association’s approved list. Each bar is stamped with the refiner’s mark, a serial number, its fineness and its year of manufacture.
It is cast, not stamped: a refinery pours molten gold into a mold shaped like a slightly tapered brick, a little bigger than a thick paperback book, and lets it cool. Its volume is only about 640 cubic centimeters, which is why so much money fits in so little room. London’s vaults held about 9,464 tonnes of gold at the end of June 2026, worth about $1.2 trillion, and the LBMA estimates that as roughly 757,000 bars.
Why no two vault bars weigh the same
Because nobody tries to make them weigh the same. Pouring exactly 400.000 ounces of molten gold would be slow and expensive, and trimming the extra off would waste effort and a little gold. So the refiner pours close to 400, weighs and assays the bar, and stamps its actual fine weight on it. A bar might hold 398.715 ounces; the next 404.102.
Trading happens in fine ounces, not bars, so the difference never matters: a buyer of one bar pays for exactly the gold it contains, the way a deli charges for a piece of cheese by what it weighs on the scale, not by how big the knife meant to cut it.
Cast bars and minted bars
The bars people buy come in two styles. A cast bar is poured into a mold, like a small Good Delivery bar, and has the soft edges, ripples and slight unevenness of something that was once liquid. A minted bar is cut from a rolled sheet of gold and stamped in a press, so every one is identical, crisp and flat, usually with a design on the front.
Minted bars, especially small ones, usually come sealed in a plastic assay card that shows the weight, purity, serial number and the refiner’s or assayer’s guarantee. The card proves less than it seems: it tells you what the refiner promised, and a counterfeiter can print a card too. Its real use is that a dealer can check the seal, the serial number and the bar against the refiner’s records without cutting the card open. Opening it does not change the gold, but some dealers may pay a little less for a bar out of its card.
Cast bars are cheaper to make, so they usually sell for a slightly smaller premium over the gold inside. Minted bars are prettier and easier to check by eye. Neither holds more gold for the same weight.
Why small bars cost more per ounce
The cost of making a bar barely depends on its size. Cutting, stamping, assaying, packaging and shipping a 1-gram bar takes nearly as much work as a 1-ounce bar, and that cost is spread over 31 times less gold. So a 1-gram bar costs far more per ounce of gold than a kilo bar, which sells close to spot. The guide to premiums explains the layers, and the premium calculator shows what a quote really costs above the gold.
The same arithmetic runs the other way when you sell. A dealer buying back a 1-gram bar pays for about one gram of gold, not for the packaging you paid for.
Who makes gold bars
A few dozen refineries supply most of the world’s bars: Swiss refiners such as PAMP, Valcambi and Argor-Heraeus, mints such as the Perth Mint, the Royal Canadian Mint and the Royal Mint, and refiners in the US, Japan, South Africa, the UAE and elsewhere. A bar from a refinery on the LBMA’s Good Delivery list is the easiest to sell anywhere, because every dealer already knows what it should look like and weigh.
That last point matters more than the brand. The common way to fake a bar is to hide tungsten, which weighs almost exactly the same as gold, inside a gold shell. The guide to telling if gold is real covers what a home test can and cannot catch.
Outside the US
Bar sizes follow local units. The kilo bar is popular across Asia. In India, Pakistan, the Gulf and Singapore the 10-tola bar, 116.64 grams, is a standard; in Hong Kong it is the tael bar, a tael there being 37.43 grams, while mainland China’s tael is 50 grams. Much of Europe sells bars in gram sizes. The gold is the same everywhere, so the converter handles all of them.
Sources
- Good Delivery bars (about 400 troy ounces, 350 to 430 ounces of fine gold, minimum 995 fineness), refiner requirements and the rules document: LBMA, About Good Delivery and Good Delivery, Wikipedia; required markings (refiner, fineness, serial number, year): StoneX glossary.
- London vault holdings, end of June 2026 (9,464 tonnes, about 757,145 bars by the LBMA’s estimate): LBMA, London vault data for June 2026.
- Kilo bars, cast and minted bars, tael weights and bar makers: Gold bar, Wikipedia.
- Tola (180 grains, 11.6638 grams) and the troy ounce (31.1034768 grams): Troy weight, Wikipedia.
- Gold price: indicative spot, $3,996.90 an ounce on October 24, 2026, as stored on this site; the troy ounce converter uses the live price.
Derived on this page: the weight and value of each size, and the volume of a 400-ounce bar (12,441 grams ÷ gold’s density of 19.32 grams per cubic centimeter, about 644 cubic centimeters). The comparison with a two-year-old uses a typical toddler weight of about 12 to 13 kilograms.
Questions people actually ask
How much does a gold bar weigh?
It depends on the size. The standard bar in central bank and London vaults is about 400 troy ounces, which is 12.4 kilograms or 27.4 pounds. Bars sold to individuals run from 1 gram to 1 kilogram, and a kilo bar weighs 2.2 pounds.
How much is a gold bar worth?
A 400-ounce vault bar held about $1.6 million of gold at spot on October 24, 2026. A kilo bar held about $128,503, a 10-ounce bar about $39,969 and a 1-ounce bar about $3,997. Dealers charge more than spot and pay less.
How much does a gold bar weigh in pounds?
A standard 400-troy-ounce gold bar weighs about 27.4 pounds. A 1-kilo bar weighs 2.2 pounds, a 100-ounce bar 6.86 pounds, a 10-ounce bar 0.69 pounds and a 1-ounce bar about 0.07 pounds.
What is a Good Delivery bar?
A gold bar that meets the London Bullion Market Association's rules: between 350 and 430 troy ounces of gold, at least 99.5% pure, made by an approved refinery, and stamped with the refiner's mark, a serial number, its fineness and its year of manufacture.
Why do gold bars have different weights?
Large vault bars are poured close to 400 ounces and then weighed and stamped with their exact gold content, because pouring an exact weight would be slow and wasteful. Gold trades by the fine ounce, so each bar is paid for by what it actually contains.
What is the difference between cast and minted gold bars?
A cast bar is poured into a mold and looks rougher, and usually costs slightly less. A minted bar is cut from a rolled sheet and stamped in a press, so each is identical, and small ones usually come sealed in an assay card. Both hold the gold stated.
How many ounces are in a kilo gold bar?
32.15 troy ounces. A kilogram is 1,000 grams and a troy ounce is 31.1035 grams. The kilo bar is a popular size across Asia.
Why do small gold bars cost more per ounce?
Making, assaying and packaging a bar costs nearly the same whatever its size, so the cost is spread over less gold in a small bar. A 1-gram bar costs far more per ounce of gold than a kilo bar, which sells close to spot.
