The old adage says that timing is everything. Or that one should always buy low and sell high. With rarer issues of $20 Liberties and $20 Saint Gaudens, timing isn’t necessarily everything. Now, you can always buy rare gold coins in the dips in the market which will always produce better results over the long-term, but rare gold coins have proven over time to have performed very well, consistently. It should be noted that if you picked up some of these coins in 1989, which was the peak of the last bull market you would not have recovered yet. But if you look at a chart of mint state rare gold coins from 1970 to present, you can see that if you bought at any other time you would be doing fairly well.

Incidentally, we are currently experiencing what I believe to be a temporary low in these coins, which I presume will be a great buying opportunity. But where we are in the trend cycle I feel that we have many years to go before this market tops out.

Because of the high gold content of these coins, each Liberty and Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle contains .9675 ounces of gold, they will never be worth zero. Gold has never been worthless. This gives their owners an added layer of protection.

In addition, these types of coins are scarce. For example, millions of 1 ounce American Eagle coins are minted each year. Whereas PCGS and NGC estimate that somewhere around 1.5 million 1 ounce Liberties and Saints in a 62 to 66 grade exist today. This adds yet another layer of protection for their owners.

These coins have been excluded from gold confiscation in the past, and with the dollars extreme weakness, it is thought by many that another gold confiscation is looming. Many experts believe that the numismatics will again be excluded from confiscation if it were to occur. This is another layer of protection.

Due to these factors I believe that anytime is the right time to buy Liberties and Saints. They have proven time and time again, that they are a safe and private way to accumulate wealth over time.

These two types of coins are some the most readily available and most sought after of the U.S. gold coins minted. The United States minted gold coins for circulation from 1795 to 1933. The $20 Liberty coin was minted between 1849 and 1907 and is available in 3 types. The $20 Saint Gaudens coin was minted between 1907 and 1933 and is available in 3 styles.

The $20 Liberty coin was designed by James B. Longacre with the head of lady liberty on the face with the word “Liberty” inscribed on the coronet. The Type I was minted between 1849 and 1866 and was minted without the motto “IN GOD WE TRUST,” and “TWENTY DOLLARS” was expressed as “TWENTY D” on the reverse side of this coin. The Type II was minted between 1867 and 1876 and included the motto “IN GOD WE TRUST.” Another Type II design change involved modifying the shield device on the reverse side from straight into the curved “rococo” style of that time. Again, “TWENTY DOLLARS” was expressed as “TWENTY D” on the reverse side of the coin. The Type III was minted between 1877 and 1907 and the only real difference with this coin than the Type II is the Type III was minted with “TWENTY DOLLARS.”

The $20 Saint Gaudens was designed by Augustus Saint-Gaudens with a striding lady liberty on the face. It is said that the reason for the design change from the Liberty coin is because Theodore Roosevelt thought that the Liberty coin was ugly compared with other gold coins from around the world, and therefore commissioned the world renowned sculptor Augustus to create something beautiful. The first style was the High-Relief coin minted only in 1907. Due to its raised characteristics bankers complained that they wouldn’t stack properly and thus in 1908 the U.S. went to a flat style. The 1907 also was minted without “IN GOD WE TRUST.” This was balked at by U.S. citizens so therefore half-way through 1908 the motto was put back on the coin. To be more clear, there are the 1907 High-Relief without motto, the 1908 no motto (now in a flatter style) and the 1908 with motto. All coins minted after 1908 contained the motto.

Both the $20 Liberty and the $20 St. Gaudens contain .9675 troy ounces of gold and are 90% gold and 10% copper. They are both considered to be U.S. rare gold coins.  The relative rarity of each coin minted depends on where they were minted (Carson City, New Orleans, Denver, Philadelphia and San Francisco), the year they were minted and the quality grade assigned to them. Generally speaking the rarer a coin is the more valuable it is.

Acquiring rare gold coins offers its owners many benefits that make it very appealing for any portfolio. U.S. rare coins were minted from 1795 to 1933, with your most typical coins being the $20 Liberty (minted 1849-1907) and the $20 St. Gaudens (1907-1933). They are beautiful, and sure they do contain an ounce of gold, but why would you want to own them. There are 9 reasons to own U.S. rare gold coins:

Outstanding performance: Rare gold coins are just that, rare, no one is minting any U.S. coins prior to 1933 anymore. Whereas new bullion is being added to the world supply everyday. As more demand comes to the market, supply is limited thus increasing value. PCGS maintains indices that track performance and have shown that over the past 38 years rare coins have outperformed bullion by a nice margin.

Privacy & Confiscation: Many who acquire rare coins do so for their status as a collectable which makes them non-reportable (confidential) as well as non-confiscatable by the government. Numismatic coins (another name for rare coins) were excluded from the last gold confiscation in 1933.

Diversification: Rare coins can play a useful role in any portfolio as a diversifier, since they tend to move in the opposite direction of typical paper assets. However we have seen them move together in the past. In fact, we saw the Dow rise from 2002-2007 while gold rose as well over the same period. A lot of people use rare coins in their portfolio as a hedge against inflation.

Liquidity: Rare coins are some of the most liquid collectable assets available. They trade on markets around the world on a daily basis.

Intrinsic value: Rare gold coins contain gold. So therefore they can never go to zero value. In a worst case scenario they will always be worth at least the amount of gold contained in them.

Portability: Rare coins are a perfect place to concentrate a large amount of wealth into a small number of tangible items. These coins can then be transported very easily, making it easy to move wealth without unwanted attention.

Affordable: Rare coins can be afforded by most budgets. As opposed to other tangible assets like real estate which can be expensive, many portfolios of rare coins are started with less than $5,000.

Historical beauty: Rare coins are apart of our American history. They are appreciated by many for their artistic beauty as well as their rarity. Because they are coveted by collectors, which add demand to the market, it helps add value for those who do not wish to become collectors.