Greetings. I have been reading many threads for several days. I stumbled on to this site by accident. It is a very entertaining and informative site. From here I searched for a companion site discussing bullion. I didn't really find anything as informative or message board based. Anyway my beginner's narrative and question. Typically for birthday presents or special occasions I have bought my son or my nephew triple E bonds (whatever they're called). I just go to the bank, get the form and withdraw the money from checking or savings. I always forget some key piece of information and make two trips. The boys get a gift, a card with some money (ChuckECheese allowance) and this thing that says you will receive your piece of paper in so many weeks. Well they could care less. I thought maybe this year I would switch to those fancy slab coins from the mint or a dealer, etc... Thinking in a couple years the two could take them to show and tell (whatever). Basically something in their hands that was shiny, new and unusual. Reading the threads under bullion investing confused me. I am not buying this for investing. I guess my spouse and I or my brother and sister-in-law would just hold on to these coins for a long time but we wouldn't be looking to turn even a minuscule profit. Then I remember my uncle bought my brother and me these little silver bars for a number of years. So I re-read some threads. I reviewed apmex, pmg precious metals and northwest mint(?) sites as some mentioned in various threads. Further confusion. Apmex was the strangest, then northwest. They had a lot of options but I assumed (discounting mark-up) gold was gold. A 1/10th or 1/4 ounce US coin would be roughly the same price if equal MS or GEM rating. OR. At apmex, a gram bar of gold was a gram bar. But the prices were strange?!? A Credit Suisse bar was more than a PAMP bar that was more than another minters bar that was more than APMEX's brand bar for the same gram weight of .9999 pure gold. My premise is something of interest for the kids to receive. I guess a bar of gold (or silver) is simply worth its metal value but can't figure out why one brand is more expensive then another brand. (Onsite manufacture of the product?) Wouldn't you just go with the least expensive option for a 1, 2, 2.5 or 5 gram bar? Next, what seem readily available, would MS 69 or MS 70 coins be a better option though slightly more expensive in tenth or quarter ounce? I found the coins more interesting than a little sliver of metal in a holder. Does anyone have some general guidance? A suggestion? Thanks for reading my tale! It was long.
In 2010 the US Mint will begin the National Parks quarter series. As part of that series there will be a 3" - 5 ounce silver quarter issued for each of the National Park designs. I think they would make great kid gifts. They will have the same design obverse and reverse as the quarters issued. There will also be the National Parks quarter proof and silver proof sets. Very attractive items.
Hi Kehf and welcome to the forum. I feel you are going to have to decide whether you want to collect coins or collect bullion,and, if you're going to collect these items for fun ( collectability) or profit. I personally enjoy collecting ASE's (American Silver Eagles). They're big beautiful coins that carry a troy ounce of silver. I'm sure the "boys" would get a kick out of these issues and they are truely affordable. I would suggest buying them in mint state as most of these beauties tend to grade between '67-'69. Forget purchasing them in '70 as I feel you'll pay way too high a premium...
welcome to coin talk, you are right about those prices, I think it has to do with a brand name, sort of how the grocers paper towels will cost less than the big name advertised towels. In bullion pamp suisse englehard and others are brand names, house brands are usually a bit less. The gold might be the same but the perception of quality differs.
There are some great coins and some great bullion coins available. If you want to stick with precious metals there are some awesome products made by the US mint and you can get more information from the internet about them than you could imagine. I will mention that I don't think you can go wrong buying US mint products, just pick a series and run with it. It will be a fantastic learning experience for these children and you as well. As an aside I sent my daughter an album filled with the state quarter series of regular circulated coins, without the Virgin Islands and Northern Marianas for her birthday, 14 years old. They are all circulated and Denver mint. I told her what they are and she will need to fill the last 2. I also have all the full mint sets in silver in a safe here and when she is 18 I will give her a key to a safe deposit box and she will need to visit the bank where I rent the box. I am not sure if I will pay up front for a 5 or 10 year lease for the box up front, but it will make here visit the place I decide I want her to take at least a mini vacation. This is all provided she shows the maturity to accept this. Now I need to decide whether I rent the box in Sandpoint Id or Kalispell Mt. The good news is I have 4 years to figure that out or find an even more awesome place for her to take a forced vacation.
For kids, I think the one ounce American Silver Eagle might be the best. It's far more beautiful in design and very popular. The price may be slightly more than a bar, but to me it's worth it. The older bars from the 1970s are collected by some, but the newer bars are really investments. The 1 gram gold bars are too small to be interesting to a child in my opinion. They won't understand. It's easy to be impressed by the ASE.
Thanks for all the replies. I think I will look on the mint site for the American Silver Eagles. That seems to be a consistent suggestion. I think they will like to look of them in the holders. Thanks for all the suggestions. I plan to keep reading the site. Very interesting and a good time killer during hour long conference calls when I just sit in attendance.
If you go to a local coin shop, you can buy ASEs for less than the collector version on the Mint website. The shop can also sell you an airtite holder for it.
Again Thanks I think I am going to look at a local dealer Saturday. I have been checking the couple sites mentioned in several threads and thought I would just look at a local dealer too. I think I have decided on ASE's. I may pick up a gold coin for each of their birth years too. Then back fill the missing coins to their birth year. They will have something nice versus broken toys, old video games and battered and forgotten junk. A couple of the mint items are nice like the beginnings set or the year issue. Something casual and inexpensive for them in nice holders.
Yet another consideration is "junk" silver", or low grade coins , preferabley pre 1964 coins containing 90% silver. Thes are plentiful and easily attainable at around spot + or - 10 to 20% and will lose little to no value if they chose to handle the little piece of silver. It is something I do for my neices and nephews as they prefer to get their little hands on the items vs viewing them through plastic.
Yes indeed junk silver is a lot of fun. You can buy a $100 face value bag of mercury dimes or washington quarters off Apmex for $1,200-$1,350 and that will give you hours of fun. That's 1,000 dimes or 400 quarters to look through and sort by decade, then year. Get an old Whitman album and start to fill it up. You would be surprised at the range of dates in those bags. I've been through 3-4 bags of quarters this year. After all the fun, buy some quarter tubes and all the left overs you cann roll in the tubes and put away for safe keeping. You get to invest in some low cost silver and get you spend lots of time with the little ones learning about the dates and mint marks. It's a win win all around. Your dealer might even have some old silver quarters to sell you for $2.50-$3.00 each or so.
