Good morning, bad influences! So, I have the opportunity to purchase one of the two below coins….. your input please!
Both!!!.... I am wrong, but I love the pre-33 stuff and would have to go that direction. But jeez that high relief modern makes my mouth water.
If you can afford both of them, go for it. If not the '09 would be my choice. Good luck with the decision and thanks for sharing those beauties.
I’d buy the 1925 if I had to choose. If I could, both would be fine. You can’t go wrong in your choice.
I would select the new high relief version. 115K minted vs 2M on the 1925 Saint. Common date saints are readily available and I've yet to see one of these high relief coins at a show. Mind you, I wasn't looking for one either, but these suckers would stand out to even the casual observer.
I know, right?! I am a new gold collector, and normally I would only consider pre-33, but then I stumbled upon the 2009 High Relief, and my gosh! I mean, if we only go by looks, the 2009 trumps the 1925. As we dont know eactly how many '25s still actually remain, its probably fair to say the 2009 is less common as well. But the old(er) gold, plus the fact that this example makes the '25 a tough one to ignore is making this a very tough choice! As far as pricing goes, there's a couple hundred dollar difference, with the 2009 being slightly cheaper. I never should have started with these St Gaudens! Addictive. EDIT: There is something weird about the eyes og the '25 as well.....ghoulish the way the light seems to reflect?
agreed......Ive frequented a few smaller shows, but have never attended one of the BIG ones (always seem to have to work). I havent seen a 2009 HR at the shows Ive attended, but, frankly, gold in general didnt seem all that common. I did pick up a 2006 old mint San Fran $5 commemorative at the last show, but only because I like the reverse and I dont see them commonly for sale.
Neither of them is something that is difficult to find. It all depends upon the grades and the price. There are many examples of 2009 High Relief coin around. The one you are considering appears to have a few marks. You can find them virtually perfect. I have one that is in a PCGS MS-70 holder. I didn't pay any particular premium for it, but the dealer who sold it to me was PO'd because the price was dropping at the time. He just wanted to dump it. The 1925 double eagle is a common date in the series. I would put it in an MS-64 holder because of the marks on the obverse, but it would not surprise me to see it in an MS-65 given the way things are graded these days. Edited to show an example of the "old" 1907 (MCMVII) High Relief. This costs way more than you intending to spend, but I'm showing to you here to give you an idea as to how the original coin looks.
I don't collect gold but I'd go for the "real" coin, the 1925, instead of the redux. Unlike almost everyone else, I'm not a fan of the design either way.
Personally I would go with the 25, high reliefs are way over priced to begin with as a collector and investor of many GOLD coins, that’s my opinion for what’s it worth…LOL
Total mintage for the 1925 Saint was 2,831,750....but only about 175,000 survive today. About 30 coins MS67-68....10,500 in MS-65-66......70,000 MS63-64....and about 90,000 in MS-62 and below. All from Roger Burdette's fantastic Saint-Gaudens book.
They're at most small or even big shows. They are pretty much considered modern bullion coins. They're often graded sometimes with descriptives (PL, DMPL, etc.).
The technology deployed to produce the 2009 -- mostly digital -- was light-years more advanced than that for pre-1933 gold. There's a nice booklet that comes with the 2009 UHR, make sure you get it. Gives all the information on making the UHR. Is the UHR graded ? What about the 1925 -- it must be, probably MS63 or 64 ? Welcome to the party, pal !!! - John McClane Could be luster....light bouncing off thousands of microscopic ridges in the gold.
You can probably only do that if the price of gold bullion increases. Of course the price of the 1925 double eagle might go up too. The 2009 Ultra High Relief coin is a copy of a pattern coin the mint made in 1907 when the mint was looking for ways to make the high relief coins more easily. Twenty were struck, but only two survive in the Smithsonian collection. The coin has the diameter of a $10 gold piece, but twice the thickness. The mint could have only issued such a piece if Congress had approved of it. The 2009 version is a faithful reproduction of the original. It was made with modern scanners and lasers from one of the original coins. There was an interesting little book that was included with coins when they were issued from the mint about how these pieces were made. I think that it’s better than just a piece of bullion as a numismatic item, but the mintage was such that there are plenty of them to go around.