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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;charlottedude, post: 4651864, member: 26010&quot;]I agree with USC96 - coins are more of a prestige hobby than an investment, although that&#039;s not to say you couldn&#039;t break even or make a profit on the eventual sale of your collection when the time comes.&nbsp; As a collector of better date gold $5s, I&#039;d say that if you are determined to put together a set of Liberty/Coronet half eagles and you have the $$ to begin your pursuit in earnest, I&#039;d start with some of the more rare dates.&nbsp; Gold is trading at near all-time highs right now, therefore the premium on common/bullion-tracking dates are higher than they&#039;d normally be. The price of gold doesn&#039;t typically affect the value of rare-date coins, since their premiums are not affected by the bullion market.&nbsp; If you do jump in, my best advice would be to Be Patient - don&#039;t buy cut-rate examples.&nbsp; Insist on original, unmessed-with, minimally-marked coins.&nbsp; Early/classic gold in the XF/AU and even lower MS grades should not be bright and shiny.&nbsp; They should have a measure of oxidation/patina on their surfaces.&nbsp; They&#039;re not .9999 gold, but 90% gold w/a measure of silver and copper mixed in.&nbsp; These two additional elements oxidize over time and can give the gold coin a layer of patina or even &quot;crust&quot; which savvy collectors love and are willing to pay premiums for.&nbsp; The trend over the last couple of decades has been for the &#039;coin doctor crowd&#039; to take an original coin with a nice layer of patina and then to dip or even lightly scrub them up to brighten them in an attempt to attain a higher grade with the TPGs.&nbsp; PCGS and particularly NGC &quot;awarded&quot; a lot of these submissions, giving a brightened XF coin an AU grade.&nbsp; While the coin upgraded, the result was a overly cheesed up, unnaturally bright coin with little/no character. Those are the coins I recommend you avoid.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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