United States customary units mass: tower, apothecaries', troy, avoirdupois, and metric. Of these, the avoirdupois weight is the most common system used in the U.S., although Troy weight is still used to weigh precious metals. Apothecaries weight—once used by pharmacies—has been largely replaced by metric measurements. Tower weight fell out of use in England (due to legal prohibition in 1527) centuries ago, and was never used in the U.S. The imperial system, which is still used for some measures in the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth countries, is based on avoirdupois, with variations from U.S. customary units larger than a pound. The pound avoirdupois,
Taxation of precious metals Taxation of precious metals Precious metals are subject to taxation in most countries, because of their high economic value. In most countries capital gains tax applies when precious metals are sold at a profit. Some countries also apply value added tax to precious metals. In the European Union, the trading of recognised gold coins and bullion products is VAT exempt, but no such allowance is given to silver. Elsewhere in Europe though, Norway has exempted both gold and silver bullion coins with face value from VAT; Norway is part of the wider EEA (European Economic Area) and thus applies the