So the mint posted their prices for the 2014 AGE today. Are there any "best practices" for getting the best value out of collecting precious/semi-precious metal proofs? As in, should I try to always buy in bulk, or wait for unique proofs (UHR, Buffalo, HOF, etc)? I'm early in my collecting journey but definitely willing to listen to the advice here.
the AGE proofs hold value well. twice in the last 5-6 years the spread has widened way out to where they were going for a lot more(75-85%) than the bullion coin. not saying that will happen again but you can make money on them even when spot is going nowhere. other coins just watch the mintage numbers to see where they fall within the "norm". the RP Buffalo sold so many you can get them in a couple of places still for the lower issue price. the regular 2013 buffalo proof goes for more now. mintage numbers are the key to watch. and a little luck on timing. the more you watch, back check, and study the less luck you need.
How quickly do the AGE 4-coin sets sell out? I noticed the 2013 AGE 1/2 oz had a mintage of around 4k coins, which isn't a heck of a lot...
the '13 four coin sets had 7,850 or so sold. I think they were on sale almost all year. I picked up a '13 proof 1/2oz when I saw it was the lowest mintage, so far. now I'll see if it was a good move going forward.
they were on sale all year. the mint has a max of 20,000 sets. it took 12 months to sell 7,877 sets. I recommend Numismatic News. they have a weekly update on the mintage of all the collector coins and sets.
I think the one-ounce coins sell out first. Several years back I decided to buy my first gold, and I could either buy smaller coins or the four coin set as the one-ounce was sold out.
