My First Gold Coin: 2008-W $5 Gold Eagle

I did pay quite a premium over bullion or even proof versions. It cost $280, which isn't cheap, but I think is a fair price. I did look into the price fairly extensively before I purchased and found that these go for anywhere from the mid to upper $200s to about $350+ for a MS-70 graded example. One is currently on on ebay as an auction, so I'm curious to see what it ends up selling for. Mine is in original mint packaging. The hard part is finding one for sale that isn't ridiculously priced, although I'm sure many will think what I paid is ridiculous, but I'm happy with it and it is one of only about 12,000.

Nice pickup David! I have always liked this design also, especially the eagles in the nest.

Thanks for sharing. The St. Gaudens Liberty in Stride is still my favorite in gold. I have quite a few $5 AGEs coins my self.

Nice call! You might consider adding the 2006-W and 2007-W burnished $5 eagles to the 2008. Makes for a tidy-little subset within the AGEs, and yes they also have low mintages.

Congratulations on your first gold coin.
I know your gold collection will soon expand.
It's a very fulfilling investment and a hobby at the same time.
With gold coins, you can do no wrong. Nice catch

I was actually thinking of that. The 2008w is the most expensive one, so I'm hoping the 2006 and '07w will be a little easier on the wallet.

Really good choices, David, with mintages of under 25,000 when considering they cost just slightly more than the $5 bullion coin with average mintages of 250,000 each, it's a no brainer. I also like the burnished $10 AGEs, and the burnished platinum $10 and $25 with the Foundations of America reverses since the average mintage on each is about 3,000...Real toughies, I only see the occasional set of four denominations, never the four different reverses together. Not sure how these coins came to be if they were intended as 20th Anniversary moneymakers and the Mint just decided to continue issuing them until they lost major money on the platinum issues in '08. Looks like the precious metal grist mill is starting up again since I saw a mention for a burnished version of the 2011 ASE for the upcoming 25th Anniversary.

It's actually not a proof coin. The mint calls it "uncirculated" or "burnished." The planchets are treated as nicely as the proof ones, but nicer than the bullion ones. Thus, it sort of has a matte finish, kind of like the SMS coins. Unlike the bullion coins, it does have the "w" mintmark, as do the proof coins.