Do Any of You Consider the SILVER In Gold Eagles?

Discussion in 'Bullion Investing' started by Argenteus Fossil, Aug 23, 2017.

  1. Argenteus Fossil

    Argenteus Fossil Active Member

    American Gold Buffalo coins as well as the Canadian Maple Leaf coins are pure gold. However the American Gold Eagle is not. Many of you know this. However, did you realize that Gold Eagles contain 3% silver?

    Doing the math, Gold Eagles contain around 55 cents worth of silver at a spot price around $17. Sure, it's negligible. But if you assume that a gold eagle, gold buffalo, and gold maple leaf are side by side on a table for the same price, you would get more from the Eagle...

    Just a thought...
     
    harrync likes this.
  2. Avatar

    Guest User Guest



    to hide this ad.
  3. onecenter

    onecenter Member

    I do in my collecting habits. Any coin with trace amounts of precious metal should be noted.
     
  4. LA_Geezer

    LA_Geezer Well-Known Member

    Am I misunderstanding you? If the Gold Eagle is NOT pure gold, as the Buffalo and Maple Leafs are, what is the MORE you are mentioning? Should I avoid buying two of these three?
     
  5. Argenteus Fossil

    Argenteus Fossil Active Member

    The Gold Buffalo and Maple Leaf each weigh 1.000 troy ounces and are 99.99 pure gold. The Gold Eagle weighs 1.0909 troy ounces but is only 91.6% pure gold, 3% silver, balance being copper. So it also weighs in at 1.000 ounces of gold, but the "more" I'm referring to is the 0.03 troy ounces of silver (3% of 1.0909).

    I'm not saying this is a differentiating factor, as that .03 ounces is very small. I'm just curious as to if any of you ever realized or thought about this?
     
    LA_Geezer likes this.
  6. LA_Geezer

    LA_Geezer Well-Known Member

    Thanks, and no, I hadn't thought of this before. Since you know about this, how do the 2016 commemorative Mercury Dime, Standing Liberty Quarter and Walking Liberty Half fare in this same comparison? The few comments I've seen on the commemoratives have not been flattering, but I find the coins attractive enough to buy eventually.
     
  7. Bman33

    Bman33 Well-Known Member

    I stick to gold Buffalos. Love the fact it's 24K. I will be looking into fractional AGE's soon. I have never thought about the silver content in the AGE, but it is not a big factor to me. Interesting though as I didn't know that.
     
    Argenteus Fossil likes this.
  8. Argenteus Fossil

    Argenteus Fossil Active Member

    You know, I thought it was really cool when I heard about them. But I have not even seen one in person yet. I also hadn't looked into their specifications as I have the ones mentioned above.
     
    LA_Geezer likes this.
  9. cpm9ball

    cpm9ball CANNOT RE-MEMBER

    I remember the days when doctors would save their old x-rays for the silver content in the emulsion.

    Chris
     
    LA_Geezer likes this.
  10. Nathan401

    Nathan401 Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

    I bought the Merc, and I love it, but the crazy premiums prevented me from buying the other 2 issues. Unfortunately. They are all .999 purity.
     
    LA_Geezer likes this.
  11. LA_Geezer

    LA_Geezer Well-Known Member

    Someone else pointed out to me, @Nathan401 , that these commemorative coins are selling at lower prices than when released. I had my eyes on a few at eBay, but just over the past day or so, my TV system started acting up. That money from this month's disposable cash budget for fun will have to be spent on having a tech guy come out and figure what's wrong. I won't be able to pursue these until I find out how much the work and replacement components will be costing me, alas.
     
    Nathan401 likes this.
  12. Nathan401

    Nathan401 Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

    Yeah, my collecting interests have moved away from this area. Ive been focusing on ancients and starting a U.S. type set. I doubt that I'll ever own the other centennial golds, but who knows? I think they are beautiful though.
     
  13. mpcusa

    mpcusa "Official C.T. TROLL SWEEPER"

    When considering a gold coin purchase it does not matter it the least when you buy or sell if it,s a 22k (Krugerrand 91.67 AU / 8.33 CU) ( Gold eagle 91.67 AU 3 AG 5.33 CU) 24K (Maple Leaf .9999)

    all contain 1 OZ of Gold therefore the only difference is the purity which does Not bring any additional premium.
     
    Last edited: Aug 23, 2017
    LA_Geezer likes this.
  14. Argenteus Fossil

    Argenteus Fossil Active Member

    I think you missed the point. Of course they all have 1 ounce of gold. However, Eagles are the only coin that also contain some silver. Krugs and Eagles are both 22K, you are correct. However, Krugs are balanced with only copper. Eagles are balanced w/ 3% silver and the balance copper. Therefor Krugs contain 1 ounce gold. Eagles contain 1 ounce gold + .03 ounce silver. Market premium is irrelevant here as that is cost. Cost is different from value.
     
    LA_Geezer likes this.
  15. Mr Roots

    Mr Roots Underneath The Bridge

    If you have $40k in AGEs no one cares about the $20 in silver in them.
     
  16. mpcusa

    mpcusa "Official C.T. TROLL SWEEPER"

    Not sure why the silver content would even be an issue sense we are talking about gold coins here ? the other medals are irrelevant, silver,copper etc...
     
  17. LA_Geezer

    LA_Geezer Well-Known Member

    OK, I am reviving this thread to ask again about those Gold commemorative Mercury Dimes. Specifically, what is a fair price to pay for one, and should there be a big price difference for an MS70 versus an MS69?
     
  18. sakata

    sakata Devil's Advocate

    Personally, I would not pay more than melt plus a small premium for one in any grade. All the basically are are AGEs with a different design.
     
    coinsareus10 likes this.
  19. Argenteus Fossil

    Argenteus Fossil Active Member

    LA_Geezer, I think you'll be better off starting a separate thread. Not many people will click on this thread about the silver content in gold eagles to comment on the centennial gold coins.
     
  20. baseball21

    baseball21 Well-Known Member

    There's plenty of sales history on those on eBay
     
  21. sakata

    sakata Devil's Advocate

    LEGO probably has plenty of sales history. That doesn't turn into a coin.
     
Draft saved Draft deleted

Share This Page