1 Wyoming Goldback | Aurum Gold Foil Note (24k)

Count the ladybirds on the sunflowers and you will find seven. That detail carries the whole Mato Tipila origin story on a note holding 1/1000 of a troy ounce of 24-carat gold, and it is the sort of thing the Wyoming 1 rewards you for noticing.

The artwork

Wyoming introduced Reverentia — Reverence, or Respect — and this denomination is where she first appears. She stands on Wyoming's north-eastern plains as a Shoshone woman in a traditional buckskin dress, her hair left loose to blow in the wind, beneath the caption "Revere what is Sacred".

A bald eagle rides her arm in falconry gear, cast here as a messenger from the Creator. The freedom the design keeps returning to is tied directly to reverence for the one who granted it. Sunflowers crowd around her, standing for the life and beauty that follow from turning your face to the sun, absorbing the light and letting it shine through you.

The formation behind her is Mato Tipila, meaning Bear Lodge or Bear Rock, the site more widely known as Devil's Tower and sacred to many Native Americans in the region. The origin story shown here is the one about seven girls:

• Chased by bears, the girls prayed to the Great Spirit to save them.
• In answer, the formation rose beneath them and lifted them towards heaven, out of the bears' grasp.
• The bears scratched at its sides as it grew from the ground, leaving the markings the tower still carries.
• Raised high enough, the girls became the constellation of the Pleiades. Seven ladybirds on the sunflowers stand in for them.

An American bison stands behind Reverentia and a bison skull lies in the foreground. The animal is a Wyoming state symbol, historically vital to the region, and it nods to the tribe logos of both the Eastern Shoshone and the Northern Arapaho. Here it reads as strength, abundance and stability found through freedom, consistency and centredness. Living animal and skull are placed deliberately to prompt thoughts of the cyclical, symbiotic nature of life and death, both what came before us and what follows after. Reverentia sits in the middle of that cycle, which underlines the case for holding peace and respect for it in the present.

Who this note suits

The 1 is the reference denomination — every other value in the series is expressed against it, and it is the note most people picture when they hear "Goldback". At 1/1000 troy oz of 24-carat gold it is also the sensible unit for building a Wyoming set gradually, since you can add to it in small steps rather than committing to a large outlay in one go. It works well as a first purchase, as a gift, and as the note you hand to someone who has never held fractional gold before.

Where it falls down is gold per pound spent. The premium over the spot gold price is high at this size and will always exceed what you pay on a Britannia, a Sovereign or a cast bar. If your only aim is maximum metal for your money, buy one of those instead. If you want fractional gold you can hold, pass across a table and display, the 1 is the right place to start.

UK buyer notes

Yard Mint supplies Goldbacks from UK stock. They are treated as VAT-exempt investment-gold wafers, so there is no VAT to add at checkout.

Goldbacks are not UK legal tender. They can be bought, owned, sold, collected and voluntarily exchanged where both parties agree, but no UK business is required to accept one. They also do not share the Capital Gains Tax exemption that applies to Britannias and post-1837 Sovereigns, which are sterling currency. VAT and CGT are separate questions with different answers.

Resale depends on the gold price, the condition of the note and buyer demand at the time. A collector premium is not guaranteed.

This is general information, not personal tax or investment advice. Tax treatment depends on current rules and individual circumstances.

• Contains 1/1000 troy oz (0.001 oz) of 24-carat gold.
• Grade: (U) Crisp Uncirculated
• Metal content: 0.001 troy oz
• Purity: .999
• Thickness: 0.10 mm
• Size: 6.5 cm x 11.7 cm (2.56 in x 4.62 in)
• Manufactured in the USA.

The Wyoming Series

Each denomination carries its own original artwork and a proportional quantity of 24-carat gold. View all Wyoming Goldbacks or browse every Goldback series.