Which do you support: pre-33 $5 coins or commemorative $5 coins?

I am a person who has enough gold to...... about buy lunch at McDonald's. However, I do have quite a bit of silver, so I'm wondering: to start investing in gold, should I get a pre-33 half eagle or a W commemorative half eagle?

The lowest price I can find on a half eagle is roughly $550, and some places charge over $100 more for an Indian head than a Liberty head. However, I got to researching, and I've seen a commemorative half eagle (random year, BU or proof) on APMEX for roughly $532 if you pay for a credit card (can you believe they had the lowest price I've seen on them?), and this is a coin I could sell for $550, with the same amount of gold.

If you were buying, which $5 gold would you get?

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

No question... Pre-33. With some detective work you can typically get close to spot. So you get the history of the piece as well as the intrinsic value of the gold..... Look in the unusual places. Jewelry repair stores, we buy gold shops..... I kid you not, I purchased quite a bit of my pre-33 gold from my office copier repairman.

 

Thanks for the advice! I agree that pre-33 gold has historic value, so it will probably be way better in the long run.

 

I'd go for a $5 Indian

 

Or a pre 33 commentative low mintages

 

Forget the modern coins. They are over priced. Buy the best grade of pre 1933 gold coins that you can. In 9 years they will all be over 100 years old.

 

Those are both quite good suggestions. Hopefully I don't get overcharged for an Indian, which means that I'd pay optimally $500-600.

 

Indians are my favorite, but they do carry a stiff premium. The older Liberty's are nice enough for stacking with the added numismatic interest. Get a nice one with luster, the prices don't vary much by condition for raw coins.

 

Low mintages on the moderns (unc) of late. Something to chew on.......

 

go for the older stuff

 

I have a complete set of the $2.50 Indian coins, including the costly one. It’s a set that’s affordable and can easily be completed. One coin, the 1911-D will easily set you back a few thousand but it’s worth it. Save and it becomes affordable.

 

Prefer the Slabbed Modern Commem Gold. Classic, been there done that.

 

I prefer the commems, here's one I picked up for just over spot.

 

The premiums on modern commemorative gold just aren't there, not now, not ever. Pre-1933 gold is also at very low premiums to melt at the moment, but have a much better chance of increasing in the future. For most investors in gold or silver, buying with a low premium but with the potential for higher future premiums, will often times be the difference between making money and losing money in inflation adjusted dollars.

 

Here's my answer! The thing about a commemorative gold coin is they don't sell very quickly and that's why you always see them for a tad above spot, pre-33 is way more popular.

 

In addition to the current low premiums on $5 Indians, there are some much better dates being sold at the same price as common material at the moment. My favorite being the 1916-S which was the last date struck before the war suspended gold coin production. It's not super rare with a modest mintage of 240,000. But far more scarce than a 1911, 1912, or 1913, --all of which are closer to a million struck, yet the 1916-S sells for the same price right now in AU58 as the others.

 

If I were buying as just an investment, I would only be looking at price. If buying for my collection, it would be nice older US gold coins.
Either way I would only buy with plans to hold it long term.

 

I agree. That'd be unless I can find a buyer for it, which shouldn't be hard for a quarter eagle like mine. Not only does it go good in my collection, but it would make a great ROI if I sold it.

 

True, but never as low as (say) the First Spouse gold, and those quickly dropped to near-melt as well.

If there are fewer collectors than there are specimens, low mintages don't matter. And there aren't many collectors for modern commems (or First Spouse gold).