But, coin collectors around the world love to collect gold bullion coins for their numismatic interest. I definitely think that American Eagles Coins are beautiful, but I am not sure that they are going to go up in value too much. I believe that these gold bullion coins value will always be primarily derived from the value of the gold comprising such coins.

Here is what one CoinTalk reader said,

The purist answer:

My favourite bullion coin is whichever is cheapest at the time of purchase. In the UK, where silver attracts purchase tax, these are usually krugerrands, Austrian 100 corona pieces and Mexican 50 peso pieces. In the US, I understand, the same three are good value as are junk silver and silver rounds.

It is possible to remain reasonably purist and buy coins which have a reasonable hope of being more valuable on resale. In the UK, this means bullion grade, early 20th century sovereigns; in the US, I understand, this means US gold eagles.

In the UK, gold bars are harder to sell than gold coins. In the US, I understand there is a more active market, so a truly purist US bullion investor might not want coins at all.

The aesthetic answer:

Krugerrands, though good value and honestly made, are not pretty. Canadian Maples and Austrian Philharmonikers are more attractive but don’t move me. I rather like both US Eagles and UK Britannias–quite as much as I like Chinese Pandas. And the 2009 US Double Eagle does look as though it will be most attractive.

But the bullion coins I find the most pleasure in owning are the Australian Kangaroos and Kookaburras. The 2oz sizes of these are particularly striking.

I couldn’t agree more with this readers first statement.  If you want to invest in gold bullion coins, buy the cheapest gold bullion coins you can find.  Remember that the reason why you are buying gold bullion is to own gold.  That is you are trying to convert your paper currency into a hard asset.  If doesn’t really matter what the gold looks like as long as it is liquid.

Having said that, I also like to collect gold bullion coins.  But, when I am buying gold bullion coins as part of a collection, my goals are different.  I am not looking to convert paper money into gold for the sake of owning gold.  Instead, I want to add it to my coin collection.  If I had to pick one gold bullion coin as my favorite, I would pick the 2006 American Buffalo Gold coin.  That is an absolutely beautiful coin.

What is your favorite gold bullion coins?

First MS-70 UHR Double Eagle

Man it would be cool to work for PCGS to get to see all of these coins being submitted.  I am not sure that I would have the patience to grade coins all day, but it would be neat to be able to see so many rare coins.  From the following quote from the president of PCGS you can still see that they love looking at coins.  This is what Don Willis, President of PCGS had to say about the first MS-70 2009 UHR Double Eagle, “We were thrilled to examine the first submitted example of this eagerly anticipated modern masterpiece. It’s one of the finest designs ever created for United States coinage and a testament to the excellence of the United States Mint.”

The question that is in my mind is how many 2009 UHRDE coins were submitted to PCGS before this first MS-70 UHR Double Eagle.  I have to think that almost no ultra high relief $20 coins will be below MS-69.  I am sure that the Mint is taking special care when minting these collector coins.

While it is cool to see the first MS-70 UHR Double Eagle, I am sure that these will not be rare.  However, they will be worth a lot more than the MS-69 versions.  If you can buy an MS-70 ultra high relief $20, why wouldn’t you buy that over the MS-69 graded coin.  But, they still won’t be scarce.

Have you submitted your UHR Double Eagle gold coin to PCGS or another third party grading service?  If so, please tell us about it.

US Mint Philadelphia

I am ashamed to admit that I have never taken the US Mint tour.  That is a disgrace for a coin collector who lives outside of Philadelphia.  The problem that I have is that the US Mint tour is only open during the week.  When you live in a city, it is hard to take time off work to visit an attraction in your home town.

But, I think that this 2009 Ultra High Relief Double Eagle Gold Coin Exhibit will be the impetus that gets me to take the tour.  I think that everyone loves the 1907 Double Eagle Coin.  Saint-Gaudens’ design is probably the most beautiful design on any U.S. coin.

If you are interested in buying rare gold coins, here are some interesting current auctions:

• $20 Double Eagles for Sale
• $2.50 Indian Head Quarter Eagles for Sale
• $5 Gold Half Eagle Coins for Sale

If you would like to read more about this coin, here is my 2009 Ultra High Relief Double Eagle Gold Coin article describing this beautiful US gold coin.

Mint News Blog provides an update on the Ultra High Relief Double Eagles.  It seems like the Ultra High Relief Double Eagle shipments are delayed.  Susan Headley states that the sales for the 2009 Ultra High Relief Double Eagles are starting very strong.  If you would like to read more about this coin, here is my article – 2009 Ultra High Relief Double Eagle Gold Coin.

Coinlink has a great article about the evolving prooflike gold coinage market.  Find out about how NGC has been designating some gold coins as being prooflike. It is fascinating to see a new coin collecting market take form.  Do you think more people are going to collecting Deep Mirror Prooflike Liberty Head Double Eagles?

Everyone is fascinated with following the US Mint production numbers.  Numismatic News has written a story about 2008 Mint Production Totals being down.  In fact, production fell by 29.8%.

The price of gold is still on its rollercoaster ride.  CoinNews.net has good article explaining Monday’s price of gold decline.

Obama mania continues to monopolize television shopping channels, advertisements and late night infomercials.  Susan Headley has a great piece about President Obama’s lawyers looking for ways to stop people from selling products with his name and face.  While I would love to see these merchants stopped from selling these Obama coins as great investment vehicles, I think that it would be terrible for the U.S. Government to attack this issue by arguing that these merchants can’t use Obama’s likeness.  Instead, if the Federal Trade Commission can make a case for fraud do that.  But, I think that is a very tough case to prove.

The Coin Collector’s Blog has an article about the Top 10 Historical Quarter Designs.  I love these historical designs.  In fact my Top 10 State Quarters includes a lot of these historical designs.  The history associated with these designs is my favorite thing about the US State Quarter Program.

I don’t think that I will be buying one until the end of 2009 anyways, but I would like to hear people’s reactions to them.  I think that they are going to be huge sellers this year.

If you would like to read more, here is a great article about the UHR coin delay on the Mint News Blog.

$5 Indian Head Half Eagle Gold Coin

In my previous article on the 2009 Ultra High Relief Double Eagle Gold Coin, I discussed my love for the $20 St. Gaudens gold coin.  However, the nice thing about the $5 Indian Head Half Eagle gold coin is that it is more affordable thant the $20 Double Eagle coin.

I just did a search on Ebay for newly completed sales of these $5 Gold Eagle Coins and have seen sales from $350 to over $2,000.  This is a lot cheaper than the $20 Double Eagle coins.  This price makes the $5 Indian Head Half Eagle Gold Coins much easier for new gold coin collectors to start their collections.

The History of the Indian Head Gold Coin

Bela Lyon Pratt was the designed of the Indian Head Gold coin.  The U.S. Mint began minting this coin in 1908 during the Theodore Roosevelt Presidency.   The face of these coins has an awesome image of a male Indian with a cool headdress.  Additionally, there are 13 stars on the front with the words liberty.

Investing In $5 Indian Head Half Eagle Gold Coins

For those wanting to invest in gold coins, $5 Indian Head Half Eagle gold coins can be great coins to invest in.  Unlike newer gold coin issues, these coin have value not solely based on the price of gold.  This is a great way to buy invest in gold coins because it can add stability to their value.  When the price of gold declines, the value of these coins will decline less because of their historic value.

As with any coins that I collect, I like to buy key date coins.  So when investing in gold coins, buy a key date $5 indian head coin.  Additionally, buy the best quality coin for that key date you can afford.

What year for the $5 Indian Head Half Eagle Gold coin do you think will go up in value the most?