Gold Coins "Grade Range"/Price Range Dilemma Question

I guess that is where I am in-the-middle junior e, part of me wants to do it for the "gold investing" aspect ( but a tad more collectable than just bars/bullion ), but I am also interested in the coin aspect - equally - as well. I am concentrating/looking at my favorite design ( Indian Eagles 1907-32 ) and wouldn't go lower than AU55 as I want some eye-pop bang-for-the-buck coin collecting out of it as well.

I am very torn between the two schools-of-thought, I think. I may do a little of both - say one >= MS63 and a couple "closer to bulliion-like/cost" ones as well. I do agree with you that owning twice as many for the same $ has its appeal as well.

Thanks for the input.

The $10 Indians are my favorite design/look of any coin - by far. So I'm more into them than the $5/$2.5 ones.

I take it you mean you can get half eagles ( $5 ) for 550. The eagles are running 850 and up minimum, unless you want to go with uncertified ones - which I call rogue - which are way too dodgy for my tastes. Since there is something like $700 in gold in the $10 coin, it makes sense that they are going for 850 or above.

In addition to getting more gold for the money, the buy/sell spread on circ gold is a lot tighter than you'll find in high-grade coins.

I bought a 1914 Quarter Eagle for $325. This coin unfortunately had been cleaned. 1914 is the lowest mintage of the Indian Quarter Eagles and the detail and eye appeal of this coin is amazing. It was graded by ANACS as Uncirculated Details Cleaned and it graded out at a Net AU 50. I really love this coin because it has such gorgeous detail and there are no hairlines with the gold on it just shimmering. This is a case of buying a coin with problems that actually make it more beautiful than it would be in a higher MS grade. Just an example of how weird these coins are to grade. If it hadn't been cleaned I would never have been able to afford it. Every time I look at it I feel that I really stole it for what I paid.

You guys(buffalosrock and juniore) think a lot like I do regarding classic gold coins. I've asked the same things in my head that you are asking over and over, and I have to agree that the indians are the most beautiful.

I've been working on a roll of half eagles. see thread:
https://goccf.com/t/83917

I honestly think that for making purchases where you want to balance "collectibility" with "bullion" investments, it is best to find the grade right below the grade that the value takes off. For example common $10 indians and libs are reasonably close to spot in todays market up until you get to MS-63, so try to find some nice PQ MS-62s. $20 Saints don't take off until MS-65, so get some pq MS-64s. $5 indians are a bit different, because they get expensive easily in MS, but a PQ AU-58 can be very lustrous and attractive. AU-58 is one of the best overall grades for cherrypicking imho, because some of them are so close to 63/64 you can hardly tell the difference, and have potential for a huge upgrade if the TPG later sees them as mintstate.

If your going just for bullion, XF-AU $5 and $10 indians are just amazing coins to handle. So much more enjoyable imo than modern bullion, and very historical too!

Good luck BuffalosRock, and post some of your pieces for all of us to enjoy!

I always wonder how it was cleaned. Most of the time the slab reads "improperly cleaned", but this holder just says "cleaned".

Those were both REALLY good buys! You do us proud buffalo, congrats! We need some bigger pics though. :-)

That's probably a little too out of my budget, near term at least. Over time who knows. I would like to snag a bargain MS63 at some point, which is right before even the larger mintage years take off in price. One I was eyeing just had too many flaws for my tastes - for that grade. I also want to resist 1932's if I can, as there are so many more coins available in that year than any other!

There tends to be lots of black marks, and spotting, and dark areas on many of those being sold. Some slashes ( like on the reverse eagle breast area on this one ) and marked up chins and cheeks I am less picky about, but I don't care for the big swatches of black. This one seller on ebay, tnfc, has lots of black on almost every single one of his MANY listings - even the MS64s and MS65s, I think the only one w/o is a 66. LOL One dealer told me some collector's like the black marks as they re-assure them they are genuine. I think it detracts from the eye-appeal a lot. With the circulated gold, it is such a "relatively soft" metal that nicks and scratches are impossible to avoid when people carried them around in change purses and pockets etc.
JMHO