So, I'd love to add a Prussian 20 Mark gold coin to my German collection. I'm on a limited budget so for the time being, a high end piece is not really realistic. With gold being fairly low, I was thinking of picking up a circulated example because they can be had for close to spot. My thought was...it would give me an example of the type for a relatively low cost and if I ever wanted to upgrade, all I'd have in it was a spot value (or roughly). I was thinking of buying something like this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Germany-Pr...020808?hash=item46583bbd48:g:bHsAAOSwD9dZxDNw My only concern is...I don't know if I'm risking getting something that has been harshly cleaned. The description says XF/AU...but can I trust that? Like I said, common date circulated is fine. This price is about 10% over spot which seems reasonable. Is this a bad way to go for a coin like this?
It's not the best way to do it if you have a specific look in mind, but it should be fine if you are just looking for an example of it. They're a pretty big outfit and can understand why they listed that many of them the way they did
Yes, that’s a bad way to go about getting into gold. These may be fine as gold investments, but if you want a coin for a type set, go after one that does not have a stock photo. There are several others available for nearly the same price with nice images.
The large bullion dealers like liberty coin or APMEX typically don't exclude cleaned coins from listings like these, so you would run some risk in purchasing this listing. But based on my experience, the majority of raw older world gold coins on eBay are cleaned, so your options may be limited (and more expensive) if you were to look at listings from other sellers. Personally, I might wait for APMEX to get back in-stock on these Prussia gold pieces as they typically list their world gold in the World Coins section instead of the Bullion section, which allows you to use eBay bucks offers, and they have an easy return policy whereas liberty coin does not. They tend to sell these pretty frequently so I wouldn't anticipate a long wait.
I have done two such from them about 2 years ago. For a British AU/UNC George V Random Year sovereign, I got a 1924-P (technically Australian) with which would have been BU but with a giant 3mm ring ding on it. Not great. The other coin was a British AU/UNC Victors Random Year sovereign, for which I got an 1869 shield sovereign UNC. From the numismatic point of view, a big score! For a 20 Mark Prussia coin and if you are concerned about the condition, the premiums have dropped quite low. One can wait patiently - you can snag a low UNC (even graded) for a similar price on eBay.
If you're not looking to buy immediately, you can get a nice example cheaper than that by sitting on auctions. And you won't have to worry about any surprises related to buying sight unseen.
That's about all it should be for anything up to and including MS63 for basically any generic gold coin. What's a generic gold coin ? Most of them are really. And it doesn't matter much which country, US, France, Germany, England, Spain, Italy - the list goes on and on. And if you're patient, and look, you can find them for that. While I understand your concern here's the thing as I see it. In today's world most of these coins graded as 60, 61, 62, and 63 - well they really aren't. Most of them are AU to begin with. Sure once in a while you can find one that's graded accurately, more so among the world examples than the US examples. But most of the time they're not really MS. So how do you deal with that situation ? If it were me, I'd go to shops and simply look for one. Then you can see for yourself the condition of the coin. But if that wasn't an option, I'd find a dealer I trust, tell him what I want, and let him go get it for me. All of these kind of coins are common, they're easy to find and just about everybody has some, raw and or slabbed, in varying grades from XF to MS63. And none of them, excepting certain date and mm combinations, are worth more than spot plus a small percentage. To be honest with you, I used to buy these kinds of coins for less than spot on a regular basis simply by being patient and waiting for somebody looking to clear them out of their inventory. And given the current gold market I see no reason that cannot still be done.
Buying like this one is simply buying bullion and can't be picky. If you have certain qualifiers, go to a coinshow or a LCS and buy one sight seen.
Worst German gold to buy right now is 20 mark. Reason? 300 were recently stolen from a home in Chicago Source? Numismatic Crime Information Center bulletin. Free but they solicit donations yearly.
I’m sorry to hear that some were stolen...but I don’t think that should affect any willingness to buy this type. These are common gold coins of which millions were minted. The chances of encountering one of those 300 is almost zero.
I agree. Terrible it happened but if they were raw they're in the wind now and if someone happened to buy one they'd never know it. Every denomination has been stolen before at one point
That's a mere drop in a bucket as there are millions of these out there. That is almost like saying "don't collect Lincoln cents because someone stole a piggy bank".
OK, good information. Thanks Doug. I'm in no hurry to buy one...it's more something I want to pick up in 2018. So, I have plenty of time. I will keep my eyes open for a good one at a good price and jump on it when I find one.
I wouldn't recommend buying circulated examples. These are incredibly common, and there is basically no price difference between AU and MS-63. Get the best you can, even if it's $10 more. An AU is going to be much harder for you to sell down the road - the liquidity of a 63 makes up for the tiny price difference.
