What's your favorite non American circulated gold coin that can be purchased close to its gold spot price?
French 20-francs (Swiss, too.) Three years ago, I bought the French "Angel" 20-franc piece shown below quite near spot price and sent it off to PCGS. Was delighted with the outcome. Don't buy one from a sight-unseen "random date" wholesale offer from the big bullion sellers. While you might do OK with those, and you're likely to get one closer to spot that way, you're also likely to get generic quality. Pick your piece carefully and use auction bidding or Best Offer to get a selected coin as close to the spot price as you can. It might take several tries. Of course you can expect to pay some premium over spot - especially if you're buying an already-slabbed piece. (I bought the one below raw, as mentioned.) You won't be able to buy at melt price unless you're very lucky- and then you can't be choosy. For spot price, you might be able to get polished or damaged ex-jewelry pieces, but I say pay a modest premium for something nicer. There is enough generic gold out there that you can cherrypick a nice one for not too much premium over bullion price.
Ditto on the ducats. They go back a long ways in time, too. Edit: unless you're talking the "1915" Austrian ducat restrikes, which were struck up into the 1950s or so with the "1915" date "frozen". If you don't mind the fact that those are restrikes, they are quite attractive, usually prooflike, very affordable, and readily available for not too much more than spot price.
I've always been rather partial to the artistry on Turkey gold coins from around 100 years ago. Here is one of them: I must admit, however, that my go to coin when wanting to add some gold bullion to my stack would be the British sovereign. And as far as the non-American qualifier is concerned, there is not a single US gold coin which I find attractive.
I'm with you there, I don't care too much for US gold either. The only thing close is the $2.5 gold Indian I picked up a couple weeks ago. The US coins are so boring compared to other countries. Ryan
I go with the good 'of British Sovereign for pure bullion. Don't really pay attention to the design much as it's just gold sitting in a tube in my SDB. But the size and price point are great, and it's a well recognized piece so solvency is simple and easy when needed.