I have almost exclusively had silver eagles and maples due to tight budgets. A past discussion here on the benefits of fractional gold coins vs silver got me thinking. Pulled the trigger on a single 1/2 oz AGE today. Was about 2% over spot (and that was with a credit card payment and with free shipping). Thinking of making a fractional gold coin part of my yearly purchase options with the few silver coins I get. Will see how it goes, but now I got a bit more gold in the vault
Congrats. I've got several gold coins in my collection but decided this year that I will buy a fractional gold coin at each Baltimore Whitman show I go to. Breaks down to 4 coins a year. Maybe 1/2 oz-1oz depending on what I buy. I have plenty of silver already so it's nice to diversify
Welcome to the yellow side. Now you will understand the power of gold. It is what the Chinese and Russians want, so it must be the thing to have. I like buying GB sovereigns and French/Swiss 20 francs because of the lower premiums, historic background and beauty. And you get about 1/5 to 1/4 oz. pieces.
Yeah, I like picking up historical coins when they can be bought around spot versus modern issues. I don't think I own any modern gold, just US pre-33 coins, 20 francs, Mexican pesos, etc. Well, some gold ancients too, but they don't exactly go for melt.
"Welcome to the yellow side" That's Classic. Lol Gold certainly takes a lot less space than silver for the same $$$ value. In classic gold there's a lot of variation one could collect such as the $1, $3 etc coins. And interesting early commemoratives plus all the modern stuff in addition to eagles. Have fun like @abuckmaster147
Oh yea I got the bug now! I am ready to start selling 10 ounce bars Of silver and convert to the shiny yellow.
Thanks. I recently bought a 10oz RCM silver coin. Its huge, but its value is less than 1/3 of the 1/2 oz AGE I got. So i get the space/value thing completely. Still - fun having a giant pretty silver coin as well as lots of different silver coins with different designs. I almost considered an $10 gold Indian head. I need to learn more about Pre 33 and classic gold coins.
Thanks, My newest does not fit on that wall he had to go into the room that me and the wife share, One of these days I wi8ll have my own den and have them all on the same 4 walls.
If you like old gold, you'll have to peruse a Redbook or something similar for all the neat old US gold coins. Of course many of them are above spot price but great designs and history.
I have a lot of silver ASEs, but previous to that I collected a lot of silver half dollar commemoratives. If you like silver and various designs there are a lot of those silver commemoratives too.
Going to buy one or two of the Sussie 50x 1 gram Gold CombiBar™ - Valcambi Silver and Gold... Also the Mene' Gold Jewelry site is amazing. Not going to link, buy even I have to buy Jewelry once in a while for wife, better to get 24K gold and at Spot plus 200$ for any piece... Would rather buy her a 1oz Ring for 1550.00 from them vs a 1550.00 BS diamond from Jareds that is 80% mark up on advertising fees... Everything is such a rip off for the common guy that doesn't want to put a little thought into the buying process and get fair value.
For jewelry, I would suggest asian gold jewelry. Higher purity, you weigh the piece and agree on gold value first, then negotiate the premium. I will buy my wife all she wants under these circumstances, for like you I just want a fair trade, and most jewelry in the US is a ripoff.
Not to get off topic (and we are) but Diamonds - thanks to internet are easier to find and price these days - i would never buy one at Jareds, too many reputable online places to find "fair" diamond prices . Fair being a relative term as diamonds are a whole other manipulated market. Then there is the colored stone market which..... oh never mind ! head over to the pricescope board if you want to talk gems and jewlery. I was on that board for years back when I bought my gal pretty stuff to wear
The entire industry certainly has changed over the years. Long gone are the true "Retail" stores as the discount/wholesale places and online places destroyed actual Retail stores. It's all marketing nowadays. I recall getting some free, yes free, range of colored diamonds back when colored diamonds were considered junk. I used to have an entire set of graded diamonds for reference back in the day for comparisons. Buying online I'd be afraid of miscategorized diamonds. And I'm sure most people would be non-the-wiser anyways if they totally over paid for something misrepresented.
Like with coins - its all where you shop on line. With the reputable (but bland) online places like BlueNile, or the higher end online places (diamond cutters) like Whiteflash - your going to have a better chance of a certified and accurately categorized diamond (at a fair price) then at the department store chains like Jared or some random shop in a strip mall. In fact you can view certs and actual scope images of the diamond on line. I work near a large Jewelers row in a major metro area - and there are so many places I would not feel good with. My wife's jewelery was all custom made online and via emails with images of 3 d models at every step..and at the end they were shipped to an independent lab of my choice for verification and appraisal and then shipped to me. But to each their own - sorry to divert from coins and bullion. I spent several years on gem buying - some nice rare gems I got for the wife. This is the issue as I buy coins as well - I got burned on one place, but have had good success with others.