The advantages are:

• Gold Jewelry is the easiest of the gold to buy and has the enjoyment of being able to be worn.

The disadvantages are:

• Retail Jewelry is often marked up by 300% or more in the shops.
• The real value of Jewelry is in the stones and the value is higher then of the gold.
• Most gold jewelry pieces are different and their values are biased.

Bullion coins and Small Bars

Advantages:

• Gold coins and small bars are considered a liquid market, so sellers and buyers can be found when you need them.
• They are easier obtained for smaller investors. Gold coins can be purchased smaller amounts of money (a 1 kilo gold bar starts over$10,000)
• Genuine gold coins have the endorsement of a government mint which has a degree of guarantee to them.

Disadvantages:

• The possibility of fakes that can only be spotted by dealers.
• The difference between buying and selling price of gold coin and small bar is significant vs. most types of investments.

Gold coins and small bars can good gold investment method for people with sums from $100 to $10,000 especially for people who view physical possession as important.

Big bars

Advantages:

• Big bars are traded as a professional market.
• The bars are serial numbered, and usually do not leave the security of industrial strength vaults.
• Fakery appears to have been completely eliminated.

Disadvantages:

• Big gold bars cost big money, around $160,000 each. Not an easy investment for most individuals. In fact to benefit from a competitive standpoint 1 bar is insufficient.
• For the Big gold bars, the smallest trade size the markets will consider exceeds $500,000.
• Big Gold bar trading is for the bigger companies and inaccessible to the private investors.