Saint Guadens Coin

Numismaster.com recently had a great article about Saint-Gaudens prices.  According to Numismaster, the price of $20 St. Gaudens have fallen over $100 in the last few weeks.

This article claims that this $100 price drop is due to the gains of the stock market of the past couple of weeks.  I really have my doubts that the price of $20 Saint-Gaudens coins is that tied to the United States stock market.

I belive that $20 Saint-Gaudens values are more tied to the price of gold and I believe that the $100 price decrease in these gold coins is directly tied to the falling price of gold.

$20 Saint-Gaudens gold coins are some of the most common coins that gold buyers turn to when buying gold.  The common date gold St. Gaudens derive their price almost directly to the price of gold.  But, the beta on these gold coins is greater than one.  If the price of gold goes up 10%, the price of St. Gaudens goes up by more.  There reverse is similarly true when the price of gold decreases.

The $20 Saint-Gaudens Values will always be an important part of the US coin market.  Following these $20 Saint-Gaudens Values gives great insight into the direction of US coin prices and gold coin prices.

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?

President Theodore Roosevelt was a huge proponent of creating national parks, including the creation of Yellowstone National Park and Grand Canyon National Park.  It would be interesting to honor President Roosevelt’s contribution to the United States national parks by including him on the obverse of these National Parks quarters.

In addition to being the father of the United States National Parks, Teddy Roosevelt ushered in many modern US coin designs.  Prior to the Roosevelt Administration, US coinage was dominated by the designs of Charles E. Barber.  You had the Barber Dime, Barber Quarter, and Barber Half Dollar all containing the famous Barber coin design.  But, President Roosevelt did not like the Barber coin design and he reached out to Augustus Saint Gaudens, Victor David Brenner and Bela Lyon Pratt to create some new coin designs.

I think that it would be great to temporarily remove George Washington from the US quarter.  However, I would not want George Washington to be removed forever.  I think George Washington deserves to be on our coinage.  Maybe, during the National Parks Quarters Program, the United States Mint could produce a George Washington Half Dollar.  But, no matter, Theodore Roosevelt National Parks Quarters would be great.

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.

The 2009 high relief double eagle price will initially be $1,189 plus shipping and handling.  This is a pretty high premium over the price of gold.  In fact, you can buy some beautiful 1907 $20 Saint-Gaudens right now on eBay for $1,000-$2,000.

So the question that I am asking myself is whether I would rather have a rare us coin or the 2009 UHR Double Eagle Gold Coin.

CoinNews.net has posted some pictures of the 2009 Double Eagle broachure that he received yesterday in the mail from the United State Mint.  The Mint is really pulling out all stops in marketing this coin to coin collectors.

2009 High Relief Double Eagle Gold Coin US Mint Brochure

The display box for this UHR gold coin is beautiful.  It is made out of mahogony.  In addition, to selling the coin and the display box, the United States Mint also provides a hard-bound book that discusses the history of the 1907 $20 Saint-Gaudens and the making of the 2009 High Relief Double Eagle Gold Coin.  Will you be buying this UHR gold coin today?

The topic that is being discussed the most right now be numismatists is the new United State Mint pricing rules for the US Mint gold coins and platinum coins.  Here are some great articles discussing this new coin pricing policy -

• US Mint Gold Coin Price List
• Pricing Strategy Article by Coin Collecting News
• U.S. Mint Discloses UHR Saint-Gaudens Price and Announces New Pricing Policy
• US Mint Issues Press Release on New Pricing Strategy

The United States Mint has started to sell native american dollar coin rolls.  World Numismatic News has a good article about the Native American Dollar Rolls.  Are you looking forward to these new native american coins?

There is an exciting new coin collecting website launched this week by Michael Zielinski.  Many of you know Michael from his Mint News Blog.  Now he has launched Clickcoins.com.  Click coins is a great homepage for any coin collector.  It lists the latest coin collecting news and coin collecting articles from the best coin collecting sites on the Internet.  I am happy that Coinblogger has been listed on Michael’s site.  I encourage you all to check it out.

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.

Originally the US Mint only produced coins in the Philadelphia US Mint branch.  But, as the country’s borders moved westward, the US Mint needed more branches to keep up with demand for US coins.

The following is list of the US Mint branches and the mint marks found on the coins struck at that branch:

US Mint Branch	Mint Mark	Date US Coins Produced At Branch
Philadelphia	P	1793 to date
Devner	D	1906 to date
San Francisco	S	1854 to date
West Point, NY	W	1984 to date
Charlotte, NC	C	1838-1861
Daholega, GA	D	1838-1861
New Orleans	O	1838-1909
Carson City, NV	CC	1870-1893

Traditionally the Philadelphia Mint placed no mint mark on its coins. However, in 1979 and on the 1942-1945 nickels, the P mint mark has been used on Philadelphia minted coins.

I am fascinated by the Mint Branches history.  I want to read more about what was going on at the Charlotte and Daholega branches at the beginning of the Civil War.  The Charlotte and Daholega branches only minted US gold coins.  I bet that there was a lot of conflict about the gold sitting at these branches.