Thoughts on this St. Gaudens double eagle

You're correct!! I believe you'll find the 90% alloyed Gold coins are generally rounded up for their Karat worthiness, being commonly sold as 22 Karat coins.

JMHO

 

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Doug, I liked your post a lot and didn’t want to criticize your research. On the contrary, it was very well done! My intention was merely to point out that the wiki article on “fineness” doesn’t mention 21.6 carat, however all other values are listed. And no, I don’t think such a small variance would change the results completely.

 

I had the impression (not backed by extensive personal experience or research) that large gold coins tended to show more bag marks than silver dollars. If that's true, that might be what led people to make the assumption --along with the folk "wisdom" that gold is soft, period, regardless of how it's alloyed.

If it's true that coin gold is harder than coin silver, and also true that MS double eagles are generally more dinged up than MS silver dollars, could it be because the greater density of the gold coins makes for harder and more damaging impacts?

Or am I just off base on my assumption that gold is generally more dinged up than silver?

 

Hardness is largely irrelevant among equivalent items - what matters is force.

What matters for gold coins is that they circulated far less than they were used for interbank transfers, which involves shipment by the mode of the day (e.g. heavy bags of coins in railroad baggage cars)...

 

You better buy from a trusted dealer or be able to identify a few "tells" on the coins that tell you it isn't a fake, if you aren't going to buy a graded coin.

 

Gold bags probably travelled more -- including overseas -- wherea mint bags might just say in the mint they were struck at.

Maybe...and again, gold bags travelled more.

 

I investigated and found the same as you've reported, many years ago, before collecting U.S. Gold "classic coins". As you've inferred, virtually everyone with whom I discussed/informed, only considered the malleability of pure Gold, disregarding the hardness of Work hardened Copper.

THANK YOU, as always, for presenting important facts, regardless that the post is aged. Gold is currently a more discussed subject for purchase than Silver (among those with which I discuss investments).

 

(1) Why are they discussing it now ?

(2) Are they BUYING ?

(3) What are they buying -- gold Eagles or buffalos, or classic gold ?

 

1. For the same reasons many in the world are, creating shortages.
2. When they can.
3. Whatever moves them, and is available.

It is difficult to locate quality purchases.

JMHO

 

There seems to be a problem with sellers of "U.S. Classic Gold". Established sellers have inventory shown with prices, but when I send an order for multiple items requesting an invoice signifying a "meeting of the minds", no response. One said they'd send an invoice at a differing price, I agreed, no invoice, I sent certified payment yesterday. Another relisted their items at significantly increased pricing.

The subject was recently discussed in this venue on another thread, where the seller couldn't determine what price to ask for his wares, because of the fluctuating base metal price.

I believe individuals shouldn't be in the "market", unless they've mentally solidified their position prior to entering.

Indecisiveness creates discussion, limits contracts, and choices. I trust this caveat fulfills your requests.

 

Add the two and divide by 2 and you get AUMS60.5!

 

IM, you're saying that sellers are backing out of agreements to sell because the price is rising bigtime after you've agreed to buy the coin ?

 

I actually wait to place my order on coins that had been listed for an extensive period, until the market reverses downward. I don't want to be known as a "cherry picker". But my sellers know that I recognize coins with value above the "norm", that will possibly CAC/upgrade.

It's a challenge for me to locate those that have greater value than coins proudly posted on sites as this. With patience/effort coins can be found that other miss because of undergrading, or their cost is greater than expected for date/type/grade/pricing publications.

 

The government announced that the strategic gold stockpile has risen in the past few months.

 

We have a "strategic stockpile" of gold ?

What's it saved for ? A run on Rolex watches ?

 

Some good news...
Gold processing folks are getting back to work.
Maybe it will keep the gold bugs from eyeballing our numismatic stuff.
https://af.reuters.com/article/metalsNews/idAFL8N2BT09A

 

I think we have a strategic stockpile of anything every made.

 

We do have the Gold Depository @ Fort Knox (ask Auric Goldfinger about that ) and the NY Federal Reserve's gold vault.