Hello all. This is my first post here and I have two questions. If you can give me some guidance I would appreciate it. 1. I am interested in pre-1933 gold coins but am very afraid about getting stuck with anything counterfeit. Is this a big concern for pre-33 U.S. and European gold coins? To be more specific about which coins, I am referring to the non-rare (or not as rare), non-graded varieties that I can buy larger quantities of readily. I am trying to stay as close to spot price as possible and am therefore leaning towards the European coins, as they seem to have less mark-up. 2. With that said, who is a good online dealer for such coins? I have spent a lot of time looking at coins at usagold (Centennial Precious Metals in Colorado). They seem decent but I have plugged their name into several forum search engines to find some dialogue on them but no hits came up. Has anyone dealt with them? They have what I'm looking for but again, I’m new to this and I'm just trying to be cautious. Thanks, Andy
Yes Andy, counterfeits are a HUGE concern for both US and world gold. That's why they are so successful, most folks don't expect it. There used to be and are entire factories dedicated to producing nothing but counterfeit coins. I don't mean Joe Blow in his garage, I mean full blown factories. Let me give you an example - at a recent large coin show here in the US the authenticator for ANACS reported that 90% of the gold coins that attendees brought to him during that show were counterfeits. That's why I said what I did in your Introduction post. So, if you wish to collect gold coins, then your best bet is to buy only certified coins unless you can tell for yourself that they are genuine. Or, buy from a trusted dealer. Otherwise you're gonna get burned.
You can find a list of trusted dealers - Right Here I would also suggest that you spend some time reading through the lists of links you can find by - Clicking Here There is a lot of information there, you can learn a lot
Thank you GDJMSP for the info...I will certainly do some more homework before tossing out anymore cash. Andy
If you are looking for pre-1933 gold coins, and looking for common dates, and looking to buy in bulk, and looking to buy near spot, then I presume that this is an investment more than a collection, and that you are trying to buy coins that would not be confiscated in the event the government tried to do this again. I would rate the risk of confiscation as very low since gold is no longer used as money or in settling international trade imbalances; and there is no reason to think pre-1933 coins would be excluded next time if they did confiscate them. If you can get past that fear, some of the US and Canadian gold bullion coins might be a good substitute, and look pretty nice.
Never say never. What is value when the money has none? When all falls, only metal like gold and silver do. Maybe not so much in USA, but in Russia, China, India, Japan and countries less influenced by the new world order.
Cloudsweeper99, You hit the nail on the head. I am looking for the coins you mentioned and for those exact reasons you mentioned. With that said. Do you know of one or two really safe dealers online to make a bulk purchase? Also, you mentioned the US and Canadian bullion coins. I do like those and actually have a couple of those already. I know they do not protect against confiscation but at least they do protect against a failing dollar which is my primary reason for buying. Are these harder to counterfeit and therefore safer to deal with? Thanks for the info!
I think current year American gold eagles and maple leafs are less likely to be counterfeited and much easier to buy and sell for prices close to spot. The chance that government agents are going to go door to door in America searching houses for gold coins is something I rank pretty close to zero probability. The last time gold was confiscated, it was done as coins passed through the banking system and not through searches and seizures. Since the conficsation of gold at this point would be interpreted by the market as an admission that Federal Reserve Notes and Treasury bonds were completely worthless, it probably isn't on the top ten list of responses to a financial emergency where the idea is to restore confidence, not initiate panic. If I wanted to make a bulk purchase, I'd do it through a local coin dealer and pay cash instead of ordering online, which just isn't as safe in my opinion and maybe not the way to go for what you are trying to accomplish. The dealer may also be able to hunt down some circulated $20 gold Liberties that have been authenticated and ususally don't sell at a large premium, particularly if the dealer knew you wanted to buy a meaningful amount. A little different would be to invest in gold by buying the GLD ETF. The stock trades on the NYSE but the gold is stored in London, so it isn't easy to confiscate. Also, I think Scotiabank in Canada lets you buy physical gold coins and they will store them for you. And fidelitrade.com lets you buy gold stored in the Comex warehouses in various amounts. I've never dealt with either organization so I can't vouch for their service. But there are many ways to own gold. If you plan to invest a significant amount of money, spreading it around seems safer than keeping all of the gold in one form in one place. Also, don't completely ignore silver coins. Rolls of silver eagles might fit into your program.
