Guide To Buying Gold Coins
These are not 'numismatic' gold coins. Bullion coins are not rare, and their value is simply computed by multiplying their gold content by the price. Numismatic coins on the other hand are rare coins and are considered collectibles. Numismatic gold coin prices are more volatile than bullion coin prices, because their prices move both with the changes in value of bullion gold, and with the emotions of coin collectors.
guide to buying gold coins
Gold coins were hardly produced anywhere between 1933 and 1965. Then, once the private demand for gold ownership had been nearly extinguished, it was finally the South Africans who started minting again in earnest from 1967.
Generally these gold coins are not available direct from the producing mint. Instead the mints have arrangements with distributing sales agents who deal with the public. The mints themselves take a premium over the gold content (known as seignorage), and the agents add a further intermediary margin.
That's all there is to it! Bad money is losing value all the time, so people wisely spend it, and save the good money. Not being used does not mean that gold coins are somehow inferior to bank-notes: quite the opposite in fact. It means that their good wealth storage characteristics means they don't circulate.
Then what tends to happen is that the skill to deal in gold coins (without getting duped by fakes) concentrates on a few expert gold coin dealers, and that increases the cost of dealing. They benefit from the value of their specialised knowledge, and you pay for your lack of it.
Nowadays gold coin dealing is perfectly legal and there is open trading of gold coins - usually tax free. Yet even now you will pay a premium of 6-10% above the underlying gold price for trading small numbers of gold coins with a gold coin dealer.
Meanwhile should an economic meltdown occur your gold coins would probably not be very useful. One possibility is that they would be subject to compulsory purchase (confiscation) by a government at a significant discount to their real value - as happened in USA in 1933. Then the owner has either (i) to surrender his gold coins for a loss, (ii) to store them secretly, unused and unusable, or (iii) to dispose of them - dangerously - through illegal channels to underground gold coin traders, who will pay only a deeply discounted price.
This is why people who understand the issues choose to store only a small emergency reserve as bullion gold coins. They expect to use them only in extreme circumstances. They put the bulk of their gold denominated wealth store offshore, and usually as close to a professional and highly liquid bullion market as they can. You too can do this using BullionVault.
Because all 1 oz bullion coins will contain 1 ounce of fine gold, the underlying value is the same whichever gold coin you choose. Different coins may seem better or worse however when you consider the 'spread' between prices to buy and prices to sell, because buyers must pay a mark-up, above what the gold coin is worth, and sellers will typically get back less than that value.
Investing in gold is typically seen as a good way of hedging against risk as part of a balanced portfolio. Gold bullion coins tend to track the professional bullion market's pattern of increasing in value as other investment assets fall during financial crisis or economic downturns.
It depends which country you live in. No banks sell gold coins in the UK for instance, and banks that sell gold coins are few and far between in the USA or Canada. But Germany's banks often make it possible to buy gold bars or coins at their local branches.
The karat system is used most often in jewelry. But many 1-ounce bullion coins are 24 karat - sometimes called 24 carat - which means they are 99.99% pure gold or better. These 24 karat gold coins include UK Britannias, American Buffalos, Australia's Kangaroo, Austrian Philharmonics, and Canadian Maples.
As explained above, owning wholesale bullion in a market-accredited vault is the safer, cheaper and easier way to own gold, silver, platinum and palladium. That said, we recognize that some people also like to keep a little bullion at home, and so we now enable UK users to buy gold coins.
Gold and silver prices have been at or near record levels recently, heightening interest in buying and selling gold and silver coins. Consumers, however, should resist the temptation to make impulse buys or to sell an item before researching its potential value.
The ANA urges everyone to be wary of cold-call solicitations or mobile offices, set up in temporary locations such as motels, offering instant cash for gold and silver coins. Be patient, be informed and don't let anyone pressure you into making impulsive decisions.
It is also important to know this rule of thumb: the smaller the unit, the higher premiums clients are willing to pay. This means that if you buy gold bullion bars or if you buy gold bars that weigh one-kilo, it will always cost less in terms of a premium over spot than buying a one-ounce coin.
Because they are officially issued by the US government these coins are legal tender and each size is marked with a face value on the reverse side. These values are $50 for the 1oz coin, $25 for the oz, $10 for the oz and $5 for the 1/10oz. The coins can legally be used to pay any debt at their face value. In practice this is never done, because their actual worth is far higher due to the gold content. This has always been the case; when the coins were first introduced in 1986 the gold spot price was over $300 per ounce, but the 10z coin had the same $50 face value as today.
The West Point Mint produces Gold Eagles in three distinct grades. The standard version is the bullion coin. These are intended for investment and are produced through a standard coin process; polished gold coin blanks are inserted into a die and struck once, stamping them with the pattern. The bullion coins are available in all four sizes and are by far the most common Gold Eagles. However there are two further grades.
For the novice gold investor, coins tend to be more appealing for their liquidity and ease of storage. But if you're buying in larger quantities, bullion has the advantage of lower premiums because it requires less processing than coins.
2. Understand how gold prices are determined: The price of gold is determined by the cycle of supply and demand, so if you're buying at a busy time, all that competition drives up the price. Also note that when you purchase gold, you'll be paying for the asset itself, plus a premium of 1% to 5%, so make sure you budget for the full amount.
3. Find the right dealer: Your regular brokerage or financial services firm probably doesn't deal in gold. Bullion is typically only sold at banks and gold dealers, while minted coins can be purchased at coin dealers, brokerage firms, and precious metal dealers as well. Wherever possible, try to purchase from a bank first, as they often offer lower markups than dealers.
Whether bullion or coins, gold is valued for its permanency and physicality. But those aspects can be a double-edged sword. Because gold in your possession isn't invested, it can't return any dividends or interest. In fact, you will likely lose some money on it, as gold is costly to store; most commercial storage facilities will charge you between 0.5% to 2% of the value of your holdings, which can really eat away at your bottom line.
Purchasing gold can be a great investment for those who want to hedge against an economic or socio-political collapse or a financial crisis. If you're truly worried about the apocalypse and want the purest play, you'll want to get physical with bullion or coins.
It does not matter that an individual coin is of special interest to collectors, if the usual price of the coin type falls within 180% of the value of the gold contained therein, all coins of that type will be exempt.
The finish influences the normal selling price of coins. Investment gold coins fall into 2 broad classes. The first consists of relatively older issues made to circulate as currency. These will normally be worn from circulation.
You can buy smaller amounts of gold by buying coins when compared to buying gold bullion. You can also choose to sell only some of what you own, and it can be potentially easier to find a buyer as well.
Many of the benefits of investing in gold come from owning it physically, but there are still benefits that you can get from investing in other ways. Investing in gold funds, such as mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs), can be a good option. This can be more convenient than buying physical gold in some ways.
There are multiple ways that you can sell gold jewelry, coins, and bullion, and different parties that you can sell it or trade it to if needed. You can easily go to a local gold dealer or sell your gold online if you choose to do so.
Gold coins are fantastic investment products and are minted precisely for this purpose by internationally renowned mints. We stock a complete range of the world's most popular investment gold bullion coins. Gold coins are VAT free in the UK and British gold coins such as the gold Britannia or the gold Sovereign are capital gains tax exempt.
Buying gold bullion coins is a very flexible method of owning physical gold due to their greatly recognised purity of 22-carat gold (916.7) or 24-carat gold (999.9) and their established sizes of 1 troy ounce (31.10348g) pure gold, with the exception of the gold sovereign (7.32g). CoinInvest.com is one of the leading websites in both the UK and Europe for buying gold coins online and helps you invest in gold easily.
You can buy gold in a few different ways. Some investors are looking for gold-related stock or funds, while others just want something tangible that they can sell quickly in the event of another economic crisis. Either way, buying gold is thought by some to be a proven method for hedging your bets and ensuring financial security. 041b061a72