Gold particles produced by the inert gas aggregation technique were observed in HREM. Among the smallest ones (1–3 nm), four structures were recognized: decahedra, icosahedra, cuboctahedra and body-centered tetragonal or orthorhombic structures. The observation of the latter structure for Au clusters is reported for the first time. By improved image processing, their morphologies and defects were precisely determined. Most of them contained small distortions compared to the ideal structures.