Posts Tagged ‘coin values’
Common Date Gold Coins
Common date gold coins are also referred to as Generic gold coins. This is due to the quantity of coins that exist in the market place. These coins are readily available and are traded as like-kind units instead of as a specific coin. Therefore they are less expensive than the better date/rare gold coins. The value for common dated coins is primarily derived from the gold content and values tend to ebb and flow with the spot price of gold. The value for better dated/rare gold coins is determined by quality, rarity and availability. The gold content in better dated/rare gold coins is a secondary factor in the value.
Common date gold coins are available in $1, $2.5, $3, $5, $10 and $20 denominations. This is not the value of the coin but rather the denomination assigned to it when it was originally minted. Gold prior to 1933 was set at $20 per ounce, so a $1 coin was 1/20 of an ounce and a $20 coin was one full ounce. Common dated coins come in the Indian Head design from the $1 to the $10 issues, and then the design changes to the $20 Saint Gaudens design. Liberties are available in all denominations. The most common $20 Liberty is the 1904 Philadelphia mint and in the $20 Saint Gaudens it is the 1924 Philadelphia mint.
Generics are typically slabbed in plastic holders in the higher grades in the same way that rarer issues are. They can range now days in the $20 Saints and $20 Liberties anywhere from $1,400 to $6,000 depending on the grade and particular dealer.
Common date gold coins are typically used for their gold content plus a small numismatic premium which makes people feel as though they will not be confiscated. I have read that the Patriot Act III requires the value of a coin to be at least double its gold content to be considered non-conficateable, but I am not positive if this is absolutely true. If this is the case then some common dated coins would not be exempt from confiscation.
Common date gold coins can be a great addition to any well diversified coin portfolio, however it should be noted that rarer issues have performed better in the past.
1913 Liberty Head Nickel Sells for $3.7 Million
Earlier this year a very rare nickel sold at a Florida public auction to an east coast coin collector. The 1913 Liberty Head Nickel sold for $3.7 million! It is one of only five known to exist in that particular date and design. The coin was minted in Philadelphia with the Miss Liberty design.
The coin was once owned by an Egyptian King named King Farouk. It was also featured in a Hawaii Five-O episode in 1973.
The value of the rare coin didn’t breach the $1 million mark until 2003. This is an extreme example of how rare coins can perform over a long period time. Rare coins have been regarded for a long time for their performance, privacy and their historic immunity from confiscation. Check out this chart showing the performance of the Liberty Head Nickel over the past 67 years. What an amazing journey!
Rare Gold Coins for Collecting
Coin collecting is a prestigious hobby across the world today, but many do not realize that collecting coins didn’t become popular until the 16th century. This started with the resurgence of interest in Ancient Greek and Roman cultures. By the late 1500’s coin collecting had become very popular amongst nobility and the first rare coin auction was held in Leyden, Holland in 1598.
Over the years this once hobby to the kings has become popular to many well known persons, such as, John Quincy Adams, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Enrico Caruso, Theodore Roosevelt, Buddy Ebsen and Chris Schenkel. Today there are many collectors around the world. It is estimated that there are between 5-7 million collectors in the United States and as any as four to five times that worldwide.
Some of the world’s greatest coin collections are housed in popular museums around the world, like the Smithsonian in D.C. Because coins have been minted for over 2,000 years collectors have many options to choose from including: ancient Greek and Roman coins, U.S. rare gold coins and modern proof coins to name a few examples.
Values are determined not only by supply and demand (availability), but also rarity and quality. Rarity and quality are probably the two biggest factors in determining a coins value. The higher the quality/grade of a coin the more valuable, and the rarer a particular coin is the more valuable it will be. Values can range from under $100, up to multi-million dollar coins such as the 1933 $20 Saint-Gaudens which sold at auction for $7.9 million in July of 2002.
When amassing a coin collection many use the set building strategy, of which there are two basic forms: building by type or series. A type set is built with coins that share a single characteristic, ie design, designer, or denomination. A series is built with one coin from each date and mint of a particular type.
Other strategies are collecting by
die variety, historical period, mint mark and individual year or first and last year of issue of a particular coin.