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 Replies: 23 / Views: 12,877 |
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Pillar of the Community
Russian Federation
5172 Posts |
I've been relatively seriously collecting coins over the past year and a half, and have a lot of silver coins (including a huge silver dollar). However, for all (or at least most) of that time I've been hoping to get a gold coin. The problem here? I was too afraid to pay $40 for a single coin the first time saw a gold coin on sale (back in October 2010, during the first weeks of my "serious" collecting). And just a few weeks after, gold prices shot so incredibly far up that I've pretty much lost almost all hope to see a gold coin offered for anywhere near $40 again. However, I'd be happy to pay $80 or even $120 if that's what they're actually worth nowadays - except that I can't find anything even for that! (And I'm still not paying $200, as that just too much money for me). There's another problem in that I'm a little picky: the obvious choice for a cheap gold coin are those teensy tiny geometric-shape commemoratives from, IIRC, Tuvalu - but I don't want anything like that but something a little more serious (ideally something that could've realistically circulated). With that in mind, what's the cheapest gold coin I could plausibly acquire, how much it would cost, and where should I be obtaining it from ( ebay is probably not an option here - I don't have a credit card!) If this post inspires you to send me a gold coin, I'd be very grateful, but I realize how unlikely that is  Other than that - hope I'll get some helpful replies! |
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
3831 Posts |
With that price range, you might be looking at just a tiny 1 gram coin or 1/20 oz coin. You might be able to get an Indian faram gold coin but it's almost as small as some tiny sedimentary rocks. Best solution is to save up for gold coin and look for some at your local coin dealer.
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21786 Posts |
Common date Half Eagle of your choice.
Some of the neo classical designs of American gold coinage are superb.
If you wish to pay around the $40 price level for a gold coin that was actually used as circulating money,
an Indian gold fanam would be a good choice.
Such a coin would be a good introduction to Indian coinage, which has a history extending back 2,300 years.
Edited by sel_69l
06/19/2012 08:09 am
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Pillar of the Community
 Russian Federation
5172 Posts |
Quote:
With that price range, you might be looking at just a tiny 1 gram coin or 1/20 oz coin. You might be able to get an Indian faram gold coin but it's almost as small as some tiny sedimentary rocks. Best solution is to save up for gold coin and look for some at your local coin dealer. I don't really want fractional bullion, but if there's no other option I could go for an 1 gram gold round... if there's such a thing at all (unlikely really). I tried what you said, but so far they only offered coins in the $200+ range  well, that or more expensive (some went around $500, and yes, they did offer them to me). Quote:
Common date Half Eagle of your choice.
Some of the neo classical designs of American gold coinage are superb.
If you wish to pay around the $40 price level for a gold coin that was actually used as circulating money,
an Indian gold fanam would be a good choice.
Such a coin would be a good introduction to Indian coinage, which has a history extending back 2,300 years. I probably won't be able to save up for a Half Eagle - it's huge! I did consider saving up for a Quarter Eagle, but even that is likely to prove too expensive. I'm still, however, seriously considering a gold dollar (probably type 1). Anyone knows of any smaller coins with visible dates and/or countries? As for the Indian gold fanams - would love that if I had an idea how to get it |
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Valued Member
United States
310 Posts |
Honestly, I'd sat save and go for a 1/10th oz American gold eagle or an American $2.50 dollar piece. both of which can be had slightly above spot price $170-200.
You could go cheaper with a us $1 gold piece(which was my first gold coin) in the low $100 range.
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21786 Posts |
A 1/20 ounce gold bullion coin will cost about $80 in melt value + premium, + shipping costs, could work out to around $100 delivered.
The 1/20 ounce would be much better gold value for money than a gold fanam.
Fanams are very small, and would have only $ 15 value of gold in it, for a $25 to $45 value coin, to which you would also + shipping costs, giving a cost of perhaps $35 to $55 delivered. They are typically about 5mm diameter, and have perhaps 1/4 gramme of gold in them.
If you wish to buy a gold fanam, go to the VCOINS, website, ancient coins, SEARCH option. The price range is from $25 to $150 or more, for a 300 year old coin.
Depends if you are a numismatics or a bullion investor. Gold has a current spot value of $52 per gramme.
For me? I am looking for a platinum Russian 3 Rouble.
Which gets me to thinking:
You may be interested in a 1/20 ounce PLATINUM bullion coin. Platinum is slightly cheaper than gold just now.
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Pillar of the Community
Russian Federation
5172 Posts |
Quote:
A 1/20 ounce gold bullion coin will cost about $80 in melt value + premium, + shipping costs, could work out to around $100 delivered.
The 1/20 ounce would be much better gold value for money than a gold fanam.
Fanams are very small, and would have only $ 15 value of gold in it, for a $25 to $45 value coin, to which you would also + shipping costs, giving a cost of perhaps $35 to $55 delivered. They are typically about 5mm diameter, and have perhaps 1/4 gramme of gold in them.
If you wish to buy a gold fanam, go to the VCOINS, website, ancient coins, SEARCH option. The price range is from $25 to $150 or more, for a 300 year old coin.
Depends if you are a numismatics or a bullion investor. Gold has a current spot value of $52 per gramme.
For me? I am looking for a platinum Russian 3 Rouble.
Which gets me to thinking:
You may be interested in a 1/20 ounce PLATINUM bullion coin. Platinum is slightly cheaper than gold just now. I'm more of a numismatic "investor" than a bullion one (and more of a collector than either). I know it's better "gold value for money" to get bullion, but a 300 year old gold coin would be a serious piece of history. For that matter, I've heard that Californian gold quarter dollars sell for around $70-80 (which seems improbable to me). Is that true? If yes that might even be a better choice than the fanams (despite being somewhat more expensive). As for platinum... it really is cheaper than gold right now? I should seriously be looking for an 1/20 ounce bullion then... if I had any idea where to get one that is (I don't want to search the entire internet, and most sites would want me paying with either WebMoney or PayPal anyway - and as I said I don't have a credit card). |
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21786 Posts |
Beware of Californian Gold Dollars and their fractionals. There are lots of 'jeweler's' copies around.
There are better opinions than mine to spot genuine ones with these coins.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
598 Posts |
Yeah ^^^ , if you are looking at California gold fractionals, make sure the word "dollar", "dol" or some such similar variation appears on the coin. As a very broad guideline, a coin simply having a fraction, but no denomination is likely a tourist piece and not solid gold. As for currently buying a U.S. gold $1 coin (roughly 1.5 grams of 90% gold) at 100 beans?... well, authentic pieces for both Cal gold and U.S. gold dollars are considerably more expensive than this... unless you can tolerate a certain amount of damage on the coin. Damaged pieces being rather common from these small coins having been made into a jewelry item at one time or another. Too bad about the no ebay... I'm sure a fanam would be the thing for you as well, and a quarter fanam can be had for 10-15 $, but it's really tiny with a diameter smaller than that of a pencil eraser at about a tenth gram. The premiums on ebay for 1 gram gold anything right now are crazy high, so I don't blame you (and many others) for not being a bayer. So, after all my babbling... just keep looking 'till something in your price range catches your fancy. ... or; do you know someone who could possibly be an online buyer/ebayer... perhaps you could buy on their account ?  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1211 Posts |
Have a Chile 1 peso gold and an Ottoman empire gold coin in my collection. Both of these satisfied my urge to amass gold coins but for very small change (compared to others).
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Moderator
 Australia
16826 Posts |
If you're wanting a coin that actually saw some use in international trade, I have another suggestion: the first gold coin I ever bought was a Peru 1/5th libra. The Peruvian libra was on par with the British sovereign, but Britain didn't make 1/5th sovereigns, so you can't buy anything in the sovereign series this cheaply. They're fairly small, but still attractively coin-like. At 0.0471 ounces, there's slightly less gold content than the Mexican 2 peso; the BV is only US$76 at current gold prices. Pre-WWI examples tend to be pricier, but if you can find a later one for sale, it should be for less than US$100 I would think. APMEX sell them for $10 over spot. Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1817 Posts |
Another option is the Canadian Cougar quarter with 1/25th oz. and retails for about $72 CDN. It's pretty tiny, about 11mm, but at least you would have a recognizable PM that has a known content and easily liquidated in a hurry, if necessary. Next up the size list would be a 1/20th oz. 14mm gold panda.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3276 Posts |
A half eagle with a giant hole in the middle :)
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
9399 Posts |
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Valued Member
South Africa
105 Posts |
Why has noone mentioned the KrugerRand yet? It is a very popular gold coin... although a bit pricey.
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Valued Member
United States
203 Posts |
I have a 2 Peso coin from Mexico, dated 1949. There is a local shop that sells them, or used to, for around $40. I think they are up around $70 or so now. You may want to look into one of those if you can find one. APMEX sells them for around $90 currently. |
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Replies: 23 / Views: 12,877 |
Posted 06/19/2012 07:56 am
