I've found several coins gold plated/commerative issued coins, but haven't seen one if these yet. Is this a common practice with certain coins?
There's many 3rd party companies that take US Mint products and plate / paint / stamp / repackage etc them and resell them for higher amounts. These vendors are creating an "artistic" flair to the coins to get your attention and your money. Since they are in lower quantities than the "actual US MINT" production, one "could say" they are rarer. The reality is that they are a *damaged* US Mint product after the alteration. example of America Silver Eagles sold at a premium over a BU ASE ==> http://coinsofamerica.com/eagles/colorized-eagles/ of course, in resale from the big online vendors, the painted eagles are considered damaged and sub-par quality and you can get a discount on them from a BU version. In essence you paid extra for an artistic representation, upon resale you lose that paid premium to an educated buyer.
To put it more bluntly: If I take a common 2016 Lincoln cent and carve my name into it, I've just made it an incredible rarity, because there's only ONE in existence! But no knowledgeable collector will pay extra for this incredibly rare "population 1" coin. What if I carved some intricate, delicate design into it, and produced something beautiful? A few people might be interested in buying it -- but as a piece of art, or possibly because they hope to flip it for a higher price. Plated coins, on the other hand, aren't really even "art", they're cheaply mass-produced. Some few people might think they're pretty or interesting, but the supply is always larger than the demand. The plated-coin market relies on naive buyers.
To the contrary, who's anyone to say what "real art" is? I sure as heck don't look at any (warhol)(van gough)(Rembrandt)etc.. paintings and think it's something I could of done. Cheaply massed produced or not, even at face value, I consider when finding them quite attractive to look at. Ask yourself this if 75 out of 100 people paid 100 bucks for the gold plated coins, does that make the value go up? Art is only what one is willing to pay
I can't really argue with that. (I should've known better when I found myself using the phrase "aren't really even art".) They aren't to my taste, but I still don't spend them -- I consider them worth a bit more than face value, simply because there are some people who think they're desirable. Not "$16.95 for a set of five gold-plated quarters" desirable, but maybe "toss them on eBay someday" desirable. Which reminds me, I should probably relist that fancy wooden cabinet with the complete set of gold-plated State Quarters that I got in an auction lot years ago...
To simplify matters, gold plated coins are best avoided unless someone wants to pull them out and look at them. That's likely all the buyer will be able to do with them other than give them away on eBay.
