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