The current gold spot price closed at $1386.10 in New York. All investments in gold for the past 10 years have seen an increase in value. 10 years ago, gold was at $255.30. The high in this period was $1426.0 in early December 2010. An investment in a gold coin is still solid and will remain so as long as the economy of the world struggles.

The US gold eagle is considered the best gold bullion coin to make an investment in. this is only due to the reputation of the US government. China has a gold bullion coin, though investors are still wary of this communist country and what might exactly be present in the coin, but this is changing.

At the present time, the 2010 American Eagle One Quarter Ounce Gold Proof Coin is being sold by the US mint for $428 each. The cost is 20% above the current price of gold, but that is expected. No gold coin is valued at the current spot price of gold. The one ounce Gold Panda coin dated 2011 can be purchased for $1458.80, if you buy 100 of them. If you only wish to invest in 10 of them, the cost is $1464.70 each. These coins are 0.999 pure gold and China is known for having the largest reserve of gold in the world.

Coin collecting is fun, coins for investment is risky. If you wish to have an investment, then only look at the values of the coins and not whether you like them or not. That attitude is only for the coin collector where value is secondary. This makes the best coins to buy 2011 dependant on your reason for the purchase.

For additional resources on coins, please see Best Coins for Beginners. This site and all of its contributors strive to bring you the most accurate information available. If you have any comments to help us improve out site, please leave them. Thank you for visiting.

Not only are the fundamentals of detecting a counterfeit coin discussed but also how to spot altered and cast counterfeit coins. One of the easiest ways to detect a counterfeit coin is either by a size difference or weight. The weight is how many of the newly minted counterfeit Morgan Silver dollars are being exposed. The metal used is from a different source that the Nevada load. This does make a difference. Small imperfections like this are described in detail to help not only the novice but experienced coin collector with spotting a fake.

The grading sections of this book are considered second to none when it comes to a third party grading system. The terms of wear on circulated coins and of Mint uncirculated proofs are explained. Categories covered are familiar marks, luster, the strike, die cast marks are all covered. Knowing that eye appeal is important but so are the little details that can make the difference in value of any particular coin.

This book covers coins that were minted in America from the ½ cent denomination, all the way up to and including the America Double Eagles. This includes the newly finished state quarter series.

The descriptions set out in their guild cover 416 pages with accompanying pictures to help any coin collector improve their knowledge of this art. No coin collecting library would be complete with it.

Consider The “Official Guide to Coin Grading and Counterfeit Detection” by PCGS as an investment in your collection.

Some of the rarest gold coins are the ones that were only minted for one year. One of the most valued rare old gold coins is the 1796 no stars quarter eagle. This particular coin is thin in several places and there are only 90 to 110 still known to exist. There were two dies that these old coins were minted on BD-1 and BD-2. The first one, the BD-1 has only 4 to 6 left to be around. The rest have been destroyed or melted down. This rare coin fetched a record price back in 2008 at auction with a selling price of $1,725,000. This is rather expensive and rare, but an auction does have a way of setting the price by demand rather well.

There are less expensive but equally as rare gold coins that are more reasonably priced. The Great Britain‘s Queen Anne’s 5 guineas gold coin from 1711 has been known to fetch $4,500. The Greeks have an old Lydia Kroisos gold Slater that was sold at $7,200.

For coin collecting purposes, only the rich and wealthy can afford these fine examples of heritage. Before selling your rare gold coin, values should be known. Do not just sell them for the gold content.

If you are looking to just increase the number of Morgan Silver Dollars you have for your coin collecting hobby, there are place like the American Gold Exchange that sell the Morgan Silver Dollars by the rolls. When purchasing 1 to 9 rolls the price is at $699 each. These are advertised as having a grade of Brilliant uncirculated. The dates are the choice of the American gold Exchange and the rolls size is for 20 coins. That is almost $35 each. That has been the going price for a used Morgan Silver Dollar for many years, so this is not a bad buy.

If you are looking for more valuable and rarer Morgan Silver Dollars, then check out the Northwest Territorial Mint. This company sells not only the Morgan but also the Peace Silver Dollars. They have bags of 1000 for $16,929, 500 for $8,712, 250 for $4481 and 100 coins for $1,843.

The advertisement makes the claim that all of the coins in the bag are of VG grade or higher. The pricing on these coins is not determined by the current value of the silver market or the silver that these coins contain. The price is determined by the rarity of the coins in the bags themselves.

The best price for bulk Morgan Silver Dollars I found are at the APMEX. They have the coins broken into the quality of each coin. For a bag of 100 extra fine the price is $1999 or $19.99 each. This is a better bargain that the previous two places since you actually know the grade you are purchasing and the price is lower.

But shop around for the best Silver Morgan Dollar prices.

The thirty day gold spot prices have been on the rise dramatically.  At their lowest, the spot price on gold was at about $885 in the past 30 days and now is over $950.

The sixty day spot prices on gold trends are the same, though in March gold was at an earlier high of about $940.  Like any long-term investment, the longer trend of gains is what matters here and gold is performing well in that regard.

Speaking of long term, the spot price on gold a year ago was about $920 and peaked in February at just under $1,000 and is again on a general rising trend.  The five year trend is definitely rising in a big way.  The gold price in 2004 was about $400/ounce and is now well over double that and still appears to be on a continued long-term gold spot prices upward trend.

For the coin collector, of course, the spot price on gold also directly affects the value of a given gold coin.  Even plated or heavily alloyed coins will have their price affected by current spot prices on gold.  Many of us at Coin Blogger have seen our collectible coins suddenly jump in value thanks almost exclusively to gold price trends rather than the other factors in the collectibles markets.

We’ll keep you updated on the gold spot prices as they continue, of course.

Of course, we are not investment brokers or analysts and cannot give investment advice, but we endeavor to provide the information you need to make your decisions when purchasing collectibles or bullion.

CAC offers two services to the coin collecting community,

• Verifying the grades assigned by PCGS and NGC are accurate, and
• Market making in CAC approved coins.

Why does market believe there is a need for CAC to verify the accuracy of PCGS and NGC slabbed coins?  Well, according to CAC, it is because of th gradeflation that is supposedly occuring at PCGS and NGC.  CAC founder John Albanese believes that the coin investing community and coin collecting community needs CAC to ensure that coins are being accurately graded.

But, I have to ask, wasn’t this the purpose of PCGS and NGC?  Aren’t slabbed coins supposed to already perform this function?  If PCGS and NGC have succumbed to the business pressures of their clients and are improperly grading coins, what stops CAC from doing the same?  Sure right now they might not be, but it seems to me that over time these same pressures will exist for CAC.  In fact, the pressures will probably be greater because there will be added pressure from PCGS and NGC to not make them look bad.

I am also concerned that coin slab holders are going to start to look like NASCAR race cars with stickers all over them.  I mean if seeing the CAC sticker is necessary, maybe we need to triple check the accuracy of the coin grades.  To me, this seems crazy.

My solution is to stop this and demand that PCGS and NGC accurately grade coins.  That is what we are paying them for.  What do you think of CAC verified coins?

In a recent article by Mark Fergusen, a Coin Values Market Analyst, he writes about how Lincoln cents are in a spotlight.  In 2009, the United States Mint will be issuing four new lincoln cents with four new designs on the reverse of the lincoln cents.  These coins will depict four different stages of Lincoln’s life from his home in Kentucky, growing up in Indiana, starting his professional career in Illinois, and culminating in the Presidency.

As Fergusen points out in his article, this spotlight is causing Lincoln cent coin values to go up.  The price of the 1909-S V.D.B. lincoln is going up and so is the 1914-D lincoln cent.  These two coins, the 1909-S V.D.B. lincoln cent and the 1914-D lincoln cent, are the key date lincoln cents.  They are the bellweather for lincoln coin values generally.  If the price on these key date lincoln cents is going up, most lincoln cents values will follow.  However, typically they will not appreciate as much as the key date coins.

If you are a lincoln cent collector, prepare for prices on these coins to go up in 2009.  As I mentioned in my article on the hottest coins to buy in 2009, the 2009 lincoln cents and lincoln cent collections generally will be the best coins in 2009.

Do you think that lincoln cent coin values will go up in 2009?  Please share your thoughts in the comments below.