Gold premiums

So my LCS had some gold first spouse coins that they sold at a small preimuim over spot to a bullion house/dealer. This got me thinking about gold and the what is the best/cheapest way to buy 3-4 ounces. What is a cheap primium, which series are the best for low premium and who's some of the best to buy from. What's your thoughts on buying and flipping commemoratives. I'm not sure if it's for the long haul or until I clear a profit that is acceptable before I sell them.

I can see why one ounce coins are good but what are the advantages and best way to buy fractionals?

What's your thoughts on what's the best play on physical gold?

Sorry for the random thoughts I'm in the brain storming phase right now.

 

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A few thoughts on gold:

*watch the ebay deals section...I have seen 1 oz gold Canadian Maples, Gold Eagles, Gold Buffalos, and several other 1 oz world bullion coins in the $15-$45 per oz over spot...this is Credit Card price (so another 1-2% back via CC rewards)
*first spouse coins are fairly unpopular; there are a few low mintage ones, but the common ones (2007 issues) are hard to sell; dealers offer from spot to 3% under spot
*gold commemorative buy back prices are usually under spot, but it is also one of the cheapest ways to acquire US Mint gold
*fractional gold (1/10, 1/4, 1/2) has a higher premium than 1 oz coins but also retains some of that premium when selling
*Gold Eagles sell the best if your exit strategy is a local coin store
*World gold (Perth Lunar, Chinese Pandas) tend to appreciate more for older years but the target selling market is collectors (i.e. you would have to sell on ebay)

 

Here is ebay deals section:
http://deals.ebay.com/other-deals/coins

For example, now there is a Gold Eagle for $40 over spot (via Apmex)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/SPECIAL-PRI...irculated-/142234092340?rpp_cat_id=5000006556

 

Yea he bought the first spouse coins for 2% under and moved them at spot. I thought was a tight margin. I have never looked at eBay deals I'll have to check that out.

 

Most gold bullion margins are pretty tight. Smaller dealers also don't want to be stuck holding those spouse coins if spot goes down, so the smart ones will move them quick.

In my area, there was one dealer who had huge margins on his gold coins. He was considerably higher than the others in the area (some coins maybe even 2x spot!). However, he got very lucky. He was asking these huge premiums in the early 2000s and not selling too much. But then gold started it's rise to over $1,900 and he was able to sell off the gold at huge profits. Now this was extremely lucky because if the opposite had happened (hold when prices were $1,900), he probably wouldn't be in business any more. So, it seems like the dealers that can make 2% in the same day and move a lot of inventory are better able to manage the highs and lows of gold.

 

That was his logic and I get it. My thoughts are that 2 % on a half ounce at today's spot is only about 12 bucks so it wasn't a lot to cover once spot price goes up. I've seen the gold eagles with 40 dollar or more primium on them and on a half ounce of gold you need close to a 100 dollar up swing to cover your cost.

 

The low-cost gold around Columbus is the commemorative $5 coins pulled out of various Mint sets of the past 20 years. Some are Proof, some are Unc. They seem to be available at 2%-5% over spot, cash, no credit cards, no PayPal.

And watch for the Jackie Robinson $5 - you might get lucky someday.

 

Speaking of Apmex, they currently have random $10 BU and proof gold commems for $615.74 apiece, which works out to $1272.72/oz, and I believe that includes free shipping. The deal @ddddd pointed out is $1277.79/oz.

 

First Spouse in pristine condition for basically melt isn't a bad play. It's an unpopular series and a lot of very low mintages. They may not ever pick up a numismatic premium, but at least they have a chance too

 

I think you can get Somali Elephants for $50 over spot. I've always liked that series in silver. I wouldn't touch a first spouse coin, I prefer wildlife. There's probably a reason they're so cheap - resale value.

I'm not a fan of flipping. I leave the frenzying to others, and just buy what I like so I never regret it.

 

I started a similar thread recently as I also found the relatively low cost of modern gold commemoratives to be attractive. But the consensus response was they are not a good play. Shame really. Some very nice designs. All BU or PF. Constitutional coinage. Some low mintages compared to Libs, etc.

Maybe we should go against the conventional wisdom?

 

I think the problem for oddball gold (or silver) is liquidity, not resale value; those are two different issues. Down the line, when someday you must sell some of your PMs, I would not look forward to convincing some yahoo that the coin is (1) not 0.9 ounce; (2) not gold-plated; (3) not a problem for you, the prospective buyer, to resell, etc., etc., etc.

This looming problem suggests that stackers should seek out recognizable gold and silver in small denominations, even if they are not as pretty or not as interesting. I do take my own advice, with mostly silver dimes and gold $5 commemoratives. No one will be selling me 1-ounce coins (who will make change?), a factoid that Privy-whatever found hilarious and deserving of a pointless and gratuitous insult.

 

I don't see why there' any worse than AGEs. Commems are 90% gold vs 91.67% gold, 3% silver. Not much difference IMO.

 

It isn't the percentage, it's the gold content, period. You are buying for weight, not percentage.

 

So, 0.4838 ozt AGW is significantly worse than 0.5 ozt AGW? I'm not really a bullion person. I only have one bullion coin, and that's because it has pretty colors on it.

 

That's not quite what I said. There are sound reasons why ½ ounce gold coins, all over the world, contain ONE HALF OUNCE of gold; percentages may vary. It's not a question of "worse".

 

I personally like pre 33' half eagles and eagles the best. Although occasionally I'll pick up a double eagle if I find a nice one with a low enough premium.

 

They're not bad coins per say but the majority of those issues trade as bullion and nothing more. If you like them and want to stack gold then sure buy them up but I wouldn't expect them to ever have numismatic premiums. For most issues there is simply way too many of them and virtually no collector demand which is why they follow spot so closely.

 

First spouse gold? do future generations a favor and smack them with a hammer whenever you see one.

Go to APMEX on ebay today if you have the 10% ebay bucks offer and grab

something like

http://www.ebay.com/itm/121593597244?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1911-1931-S...571848?hash=item1a116e0208:g:5x4AAOSwy5ZXBthf

http://www.ebay.com/itm/British-Sov...618421?hash=item1a09af1375:g:044AAOSwEjFXcaOA


http://www.ebay.com/itm/Colombia-5-...361256?hash=item1c5e035628:g:grMAAOSw7FRWaF54

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Uruguay-193...449431?hash=item20f6caf457:g:21UAAOSwvg9Xc-P3

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mexican-20-...301536?hash=item1c4962e260:g:miwAAOSwhcJWOmV5

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mexican-50-...669324?hash=item20f757a38c:g:uxkAAOSw5VFWO8tB

 

I guess when I said flip what I was meaning is that I would have no emotional connection with the coin. It's not like a collection piece or numismatic item.