Just Bought My First Bullion - How Did I Do?

Today, my wife and I jumped into the gold market for the first time, buying 20 $50 Buffaloes at $1320 apiece. Each coin is an Early Issue MS70 2009 series and is sealed in the original mint package replete with holograph, etc. We bought the coins from a local dealer in Miami with a long history of handling rare coin transactions, including some very public exclusives.

My question: Did we do OK? Or did we get ripped-off?

I'm pretty sure we did OK since Blanchard and others are selling this same grade coin for $1426 or more. However, I'm still curious to know what others think.

FWIW, we purchased the coins as a long-term investment - probably something we'll hand down to our children in 10-20 years - so rapid turnover is not an issue. Nor is their impact on our portfolio: They make up less than 5% of our overall investments.

So...tell me what kind of idiot I was to buy these coins (and join my wife, who wanted to buy in years ago when gold was hovering around $500).

RCK

 

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Well you did buy in at the current highs..she was right wanting to buy in at the $500 mark...
I was buying from $320 to $600 and sold at 1025.00

What goes up must come down, set a stop loss limit and execute when the time comes to avoid huge losses. When is that time?? Who knows ...but gold has a vicious cycle.

RickieB

 

I don't think gold's coming down.. but you said 20 them!?!?!?!?

Holy canoley! That's a lot of freakin Buffalos!

WoW!!!!

Yeah, I think you have some good investments so just hold onto it and don't degrade yourself by saying "what kind of idiot i was" if you feel that way now, you should never have made the deal. So be proud, you pulled the trigger, you did it, you own them, hold onto them for 10 years.

bnb

 

my question would be this -
Who says they are MS70?

I don't care who you bought them from - the guy can be on CNN every day and still rip you off.
Post a pic' of one of them if you can and then maybe we can be of more help!

Speedy

 

I know he's being tough but I agree 100% with his tough stance. You never know!

 

Here's a pic

Attached are pictures of each side of one of the coins. I just verified its serial number with NGC. Looks to be legit, but...I'll let you folks decide.

RCK

 

Ok - that is good. When you said MS70 and sealed in the original mint package together, that kicked me off.
These are NOT in the original mint package - the mint sold these to someone who in turn sent them to NGC and NGC graded and slabbed these.

Here is what I would suggest - look around and see what MS69's are going for - maybe 68's even - then check to see how much in $$ differance there is...I'm betting there is quite a bit. If you are buying these for gold, then I wouldn't see that it would make any differance.
Gold is NOT a good investment as it really doesn't move much, and it can drop like a brick.

That is my suggestion - you have good coins, but if you are in it for the gold, just check out the lower grades and see what the price differance is.

Speedy

 

Thanks

Speedy,

Thanks for the feedback. My bad for not learning the terminology before posting. I'm a total newbie at this, so...

As I stated, my goal is to get into gold as a small (<5%) portion of my overall portfolio. And since the MS70's tend to trade a bit higher than the "raw" coins, and since I believed I'd found a good deal on the MS70 coins, it made sense to add the "nuministic" angle to the investment as well.

Regardless, these coins will now take a long nap in our safe deposit box until such a time when I'm ready to pass them along to my children (hopefully accompanied by hefty trust funds to help get them started in life).

Thanks again for all your help and advice!

RCK

 

Hey, and welcome to the world of bullion!
You definately didn't get "ripped off", but there are places where you could have purchased for less. Of course then shipping, etc, could have added some right back. So indeed, don't worry about that. Be proud of yourself for buying!

Here is my opinion though, and I know others will disagree.
I sepparate my bullion investment from my numismatics. Especially in modern issues (the silver and gold eagles, etc) they are not going to see very much in the way of circulation. Everyone buys them and into the bank vault they go. The value of high MS quality coins I don't think will dramatically increase the future price of the coin relative to how the metal is trading at any given time. They will largely be affected by spot pricing. If everyone has an MS69 or MS70 coin, the value really isn't there. It's not like finding a rediculously high quality Barber Half Dollar where the difference between an MS60 and an MS67 can be well over $20,000.
It's not just grade, but rarity in the grade that affects future performance.

I buy my bullion for bullion and save the extra costs on the slabbing because I just can't convince myself it is worth it in the long haul...I'd rather have more gold and silver.

Anyway, that is one guys opinion, and I'm still a newbie myself.
Again, welcome to the world of real money! I bet you won't be able to help yourself checking spot prices every day now.

 

No, no...I just didn't want you to think that this was mint packing....for all I knew the dealer had marketed them that way....if he didn't, then you are alright.

While I'm not an investment adviser, I can say that this is a wise move.

Speedy

 

20 buffalo one ounce gold coins. doesn't said what year?. what mint mark?. are these 2009 bullion uncircualted american buffalo?. the price for that is much less than what you bought. i would rather buy 2009w buffalo proof at $1,360.00 or $1,410.00 if you are late. by tomorrow or thursday. the mint will up its price to $1,460.00. i don't need to slab them. and for long term investment. 2009w proof buffalo is far better than 2009 or other year bullion uncirculated buffalo.

 

The coins are from 2009. They're MS70 "slabbed" by the NGC. They say "Early Release" on the package. Not sure how that translates into your various definitions of "un-circulated", etc. I'm new to this so forgive my ignorance.

Note: I posted Pics of a sample from the set earlier in the thread.

Interestingly, 19 of the 20 coins have NGC serial numbers in perfect sequence, from -231 to -250. The only missing number is -246. We got a wildcard, -311, instead.

The good news is that all of numbers check-out with the NGC site, so at least I know they're not fakes (or at least they probably aren't - you never really know).

RCK

 

Congratulations on your acquisition... You already bought them and you already paid for them; no more in that equation! There is no need to look back and try to find out, through others, if it was a "great deal" or not... Specially in just a couple of days after the transaction. Gold prices will be changing daily! Sit back and enjoy watching your buffaloes grow. As you wll mentioned, wait 20 years and then have them appraised to the market and then, only then, look back and decide if it was a "great dael." (I am sure it wil be! Do not forget a bottle of red wine as you savour the outcome...)

Bravo!!! Way to go!!! Sit back and enjoy your purchase!!!

 

Hmmm, I bought most of mine for about $320, and I still have it. I have to disagree about "what goes up must come down". Gold is just the inverse of the dollar. Many currencies have gone to zero, which means the "price of gold", measured in those currencies, has gone to infinity. Setting a "stop loss limit" doesn't always work, prices can fall so fast that there is no market to sell, but not to worry, that won't happen with gold.

I did the same thing in the late 1990's. Now my gold is over half my portfolio, and not because I bought any more, its because gold has gone up while my stocks tanked.

Hope they're still there when you are ready to retrieve them, banks have been known to take a "holiday".

I never have understood why people refer to gold american eagles or buffalos as being "uncirculated". They're ALL uncirculated. I'm not much of a coin collector, but part of the appeal of my non-bullion coins is the fact that they were used, carried in people's pockets, etc. The appeal of an uncirculated common coin is its rarity, i.e. most mercury dimes were well worn when they were still fairly new. So, I don't see the advantage in slabbed bullion coins. There is a down side to slabbed bullion coins, i.e. you can't weigh and measure them to verify that they are gold and not tungstun.

I wish I had bought some 1/10 ounce eagles. Even if I only had 2 sons to leave them to. Suppose I left them to my sons, and they kept them and left them to their sons, it would be easier to divide them up.

Just my opinion, which is worth what you paid me for it!

 

The ongoing debate continues...

Grading modern bullion and paying for the slab and not the coin.

@ 20 ounces you could have purchased from APMEX or Gainesville Coins (two reputable online dealers), at this morning's price for $80 per ounce less (w/o negotiating). You could have saved roughly $1600 buying raw! That would have been another ounce in your pocket.
I'm also sure that you could have also negotiated the cost of shipping.

If you look at the top 2 TPGs (PGCS and NGC) population reports, modern bullion has a very very high percentage of grading 69/70.

With the continuing decline of the $ and inept gov't policies, Au will continue to increase vs. the $. Graded coins' premiums will be not realized, as the spot price will out perform the slab price.

This is IMVHO and I implore all to DYODD!

 

Really? I'm still waiting for silver to return to $1.29 per ounce and gold to hit $35. And I'd really like to buy another Mustang for $3,200 the way I did when I was 25. It will also be fun to get a chance to buy common date MS morgan dollars for $3 each. I can't wait!

 

Ok....I was wondering what they were going for on APMEX.
I really don't think the guy did that bad - looking at these prices, and knowing that, as he says, he is a totally newbe to coins, I don't really think any of us would have suggested that he buy them raw had he come here first and asked.

The extra $1600 is shall we say, insureance -

Speedy

 

Your wife is a wise woman. Me thinks you should listen to her more often, a lot more often. There is no shame at all recognising your wife as wiser than you, actually it is a compliment.

 

I just joined the ranks last week

Really enjoy all the great conversations and advice. I jumped in last week and ordered a UHR double Eagle and a 09 Proof Buffalo from the mint. It looks like they are about to ship; can't wait.

I was an avid coin collector in my pre-teen and teen years, but haven't kept up. This forum has reinvigorated me with collecting and investing.

Thanks everyone!

 

IMO... Au under $2,000 is a good hedge. So I agree, he didn't do bad but he could have done better by saving $1600 and putting another ounce in his pocket plus roughly 20 ounces of Ag.

If the OP would have asked, I would have said... Purchase modern bullion raw and keep them in airtites.