An ingot is simply a bar of gold; it may have some standard specification as to size or weight, a .9999 is refined gold (highly refined---that means very little impurities like silver, iron and copper are in the total mix)...it's really pure, only a few mints in the world make such Gold bullion/bars with that purity. (Canada is one of them : The Royal Canadian Mint's Gold Maple Leaf coins are among the world's premier purest gold bullion on the market ) I have never heard of 999.9 purity gold. If you see it on the bar itself, it may mean something completely different. Check with the bank that issued the bar/ingot with that number and find out what it really means...or go to a reputable gold/silver dealer and that person should be able to tell you what it means. Ingots are large bars of metal. They usually weigh (based on the type of metal) quite a bit and are usually much larger than a smaller bar. Sizes vary from bank to bank.....but ingots can be as small as six by 3 by 4 inches in volume...and they can get larger. Reference: I own some silver ingot bars from the Swiss bank...they show .999 pure silver...their gold bars are stamped the same way.....plus I own quite a few gold / silver / platinum American Eagle coins....
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