It can be sold to a Merchant for 12 per bar, so selling gold as a raw material will get you more money than selling gold as a refined bar.
Trivia[]
In real life, a tool made of gold would be a waste, since it is a very soft metal. In fact, one may take a bite into gold and likely leave a depression. This is also mentioned in one of the Goblin Tinkerer's quotes.
Despite being a solid bar of gold which is bigger than a Gold Coin, it is only worth 12 .