New: RCM 1/2-Gram Pure Gold Proof

Like most NCLT these days, this is a first. At over $1200+ an ounce, the RCM is still trying to provide an affordable pure gold coin to collectors. And this is legitimate.

Extremely small at 11mm, this coin is even smaller than a silver 5 cents (15.5mm). Too small for me to read the legend I'm sure.

Such a high mintage of 15,000 is a problem... according to my DTE (Dud Threshold Estimate) mintage of 7,500 or less would have provided the scarcity required to maintain its price on the secondary market. I don't predict a sell out.

But I've been wrong on occasions.

Despite the mintage (and price), I don't think sales will be a problem; all of the 1/25-oz. gold coins have sold out at higher mintages and I don't think the 2010 issue will be any different.

Am curious about this one.


(What is 'NCLT', btw?)

The Perth Mint in Australia recently put out a 0.5 gram gold coin:

http://www.perthmint.com.au/catalog...in.aspx.aspx

Only $50 Australian. An 'affordable' collectable as long as you don't mind paying $3110/ounce for gold. :)

^ It's a numismatic piece; limited mintage, etc.

At a price of $1200/oz, the metal content of the coin is about $20; the Mint's price of $74.95 should represent a premium of 275% above spot.

I doubt the production cost of this coin is near 75 bucks. The mint makes money on these items... being a business and all that.

The small 1/20, 1/25th or whatever the they are gold coins are relative newcomers... cowboy, wolf, voyageur, beaver(plane), caribou, Louis'sss series, etc etc are produced as collector coins. As the RCM is becoming infamous for... a plethora of collector coins(the Beanie Baby Marketing Mentality/BBMM)... often over priced and decreasing in value with time(<This fact is verifiable in Charlton's and other coin guides). The mintages, as previously mentioned, are not even that low.

As with other gold coins... such as the $100 and $200 RCM gold collector coins, the premium evaporates over time and they trade as bullion, or slightly above... but the extravagant initial collector cost vanishes. Although, the price of gold has risen, so those who are chosing to now sell some of these items are now breaking even. There are/were some exceptions to this and a few coins still command well above spot... being lower mintages/less demanded subject matter.

I, of course, can not guarantee that these facts will also affect these tiny gold coins... but if I ever buy one of these pieces, it will be years after it's initial production and not much above spot.

>>> edit >>> I am not trying to belittle any RCM collector or anyone else for that matter. Perhaps if the Dehavilland Beaver Bush Plane were a larger part of my upbringing, I would like to get one in gold coin form... but being the shrewd, sceptical, cynical, me I am... I'll wait for a better deal.

Better not be. This is the retail price... I don't know what their cost is but for good margings its got to be less than $20.




Nothing wrong with profit... Offer and demand, pure and simple.

In the end, nobody forces us to buy this stuff.