World Silver Bullion Coins

What was the world's first bullion coin? I am not really sure. I have read somewhere that Silver bullion was first introduced in Lydia as early as 600-650 B.C. I think, and I'll leave this open for debate, that the first modern bullion coin is the 1949 Mexico Onza. It is believed that Mexico started the collectible craze with the 1982 Libertad. Since then it seems everyone has jumped on the boat. China 1983 Pandas, U.S 1986 ASE, Canada 1988 Maple Leaf, Australia 1990 Kookaburra and 1993 Kangaroos, Great Britain 1997 Britannia, Austria 2008 Philharmonic, Russia 2009 St. George, and on and on and on.

It seems like I have been trying to gather a sample of everything. I found that I have missed a few in my collection The Isle of Man Angel, which I have on order and expect any day. The Australian Kangaroo, how did I miss that. Some of the bullion I have collected as a series, the Koala for example. I have a type set of all the different versions of the Britannias also.

I have put together a montage of the different coins I currently have in my collection which fit in the bullion category to illustrate the many varieties available. I really enjoy collecting these, not for the investment, but for the beauty. This is not to say these don't carry a premium, many do. Hope you enjoy.

Koala 2007-2015


Britannia 1997-2013 Type


Assorted World Bullion Coins

 

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Great Coins! Some nice ones there. I love the Kookaburra's. But they're hit or miss. Some years look great and others don't.

 

IDK. I think I would still give credit to South Africa for coming out with a one troy ounce coin, (theirs was gold). I think that is the true start of modern one ounce bullion coins and their collectible offspring. I believe Mexico just took this idea that worked brilliantly for gold and applied it to silver.

Nice collection. I am gathering a similar one since I buy my oldest son one silver coin per coin show he goes to with me. I believe he is up to about a dozen coins so far, (all with animal reverses). His rarest being the 2015 Fun Show limited edition panda.

 

I guess since I am so blinded by Silver, I wasn't even thinking about Gold. The Krugerrand pre-dated the Onza, starting in 1967. Amazingly these very low mintage coins, with the exception of the proofs, don't carry much collector's premium.

 

Didn't Mexico even start their Onza program in gold first? I am not saying they shouldn't take credit for making them silver, just saying they got the idea from South Africa IMHO. Due to the apartheid stupidity South Africa does not credit for a lot of things they deserve. For clarity, "apartheid stupidity" means the stupid idea to begin with, not opposition to it that brought it to an end.

 

I never hear this mentioned but I think Turkey had an earlier modern gold bullion program before South Africa. I had a smaller .06 oz or something gold coin from turkey dating in the 60s or 70s and remember reading about these bullion coins. I say bullion because they didn't circulate and were valued on their metal content, just like krugerrands, maple leafs etc

 

Took my wife and son with me to a coin show Sunday. Yep Mother's Day. Bad weather and a poor day made for zero crowds. Including dealers. Most had already packed up and left. Only took about 45 minutes to visits all the tables. I did pick up 2 more examples for my collection. The 2015 Isle of Man Angel and a 2015 Nuie Turtle. I didn't catch the scratch on the Queen until I took the photos. Oh well, it's only bullion. I'll find another.

 

I am under the impression that the Austrian thaler was popular for trading in the late 1700s and it was restriked for many years to come.

 

Chile had the gold bullion 50 and 100 peso coins starting as early as 1926.

 

The MA thaler is a fair point, but Venetian coins as well as Dutch had been also restruck for many years. My point was not that the Krugerrand was the first bullion coin. The key advancement the krugerrand made was to weigh exactly one ounce. This makes it easy to always know the melt value of the piece, and more closely ties a coin with a PM investment. That was the key advance they should get credit for. How many bullion coins issued today that are not one ounce or fractions of an ounce? Before the krugerrand, none of them were. They were like .1819 ounces, or really odd numbers like that.

 

This is what I like, we all get to learn. I checked out the Turkish Gold Bullion and found that they were issued starting 1942 in the 25-500 Kurus. However, they were in unusual weights. 50 Kurus = 0.1034, 100= 0.2036, 500= 1.0342. Not really useful as a fixed investment amount.

No reference found on Chile's Gold as Bullion. The 1926 100 Gold Peso appears to be a circulation type coin in 0.5885 AGW.

Austria's Maria Theresa Thaler is classified as a Trade Dollar which was used for commercial trading and for a circulating coinage in countries unable to mint their own.
Trade Dollars are a whole other subject which has been explored many time on this forum and deserves a separate thread.

I still haven't been able to locate any Silver coinage classified as bullion prior to the 1949 Mexico Libertad. Still searching.

So far, the Krugerrand is leading as the first Gold Bullion coin.

Keep it coming.

 

Peru minted gold bullion coins in 1950 and 1951.

According to my old Yeoman world coin catalog, Peru minted a series of gold coins in 1950 and 1951 as a "Special Issues for Bullion Purchasers", consisting of 5, 10, 20, 50, and 100 gold soles.

 

It depends how you want to define "bullion". In my opinion, a bullion does not necessary have to be circular in shape nor does it have to weigh exactly one ounce to be classified as bullion.

There are two interesting "bullion" coinage that I would like to propose.

The Chinese had a good understanding of finance in the early BC and had coins issued in various metals including gold and silver. Precious metals when available were often molded in shapes of boat. Their value depended on the weight and fineness of them. Large shape silver ingots were often revalued with counterstamps. These days, these especially large taels are extremely scarce in any condition.

More information can be seen here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sycee

http://sunflower.ch/pdf/yesterday/05_Modern_Times/02(02) Chinese Silver Ingots.pdf

An example seen here: http://www.sixbid.com/browse.html?auction=1963&category=40363&lot=1699462

A more uniform example of bullion coinage were issued by the Russian in late 1800s, early 1900s. Back then when gold was sent to St. Petersburg Mint, silver was the by-product during the refining process. These were often struck as "bullion" coins under various "zolotnik" weight, which was the old Russian weight measurement. As of why they weren't used during the coining process and were manufactured in such way, I have no idea.

Examples can be seen here:

http://www.sixbid.com/browse.html?auction=1963&category=40363&lot=1699469

http://www.sixbid.com/browse.html?auction=1963&category=40363&lot=1699470

http://www.sixbid.com/browse.html?auction=1963&category=40363&lot=1699471

http://www.coinarchives.com/w/lotvi...Lot=2308&Val=a5b14c8f6541f6646ac23aa9f69f627a

 

Sycee is an interesting nominee, but the problem is they were mainly made by private firms from my understanding. However, I would say Spanish new world coins, particularly the Mexican issues of the 18th and 19th century very much were the world's silver bullion coin. They were recognized all over the globe, so much so that after Mexico changed from 8 reales to one peso coins, they were forced to go back to 8 pesos since most of the demand for their coins was not from Mexicans, but from the rest of the world.

However, go back in time and there are other nominees. Many would say the Athenian Tets were the world's first silver bullion coin, being recognized and accepted everywhere in the known world. Heck, in many places like Egypt they were truly treated like bullion and cut into sections to make spare change as needed.

 

I think you already established that the Turkish gold bullion coins predate the South African ones. Despite the unconventional weights, the Turkish ones were valued based on their gold amount - which essentially defines bullion. So there's one example. But many other earlier examples have been offered now by others in here

 

where may one buy Russia St George bullion....
just looked on eBay , ... only 1 or 2 for sell .

 

I wish you luck on that one. I tried for many months back in 2009 to locate mine. i even sent an email to the Bank of Russia. No reply. I finally was able to purchase my 2009 from Downies. I paid $42. I believe the mintage for 2009 was 280,000 and another 500,000 in 2010. I am not aware of any minted after that. Apmex has them on their site but shows not available. I would suggest getting on their notification list. Ebay is the other option but expect to pay a big premium. Especially for the 2009.

http://www.apmex.com/product/60540/2009-2010-russia-1-oz-silver-st-george-the-victorious

 

Saint George is not officially the first silver bullion coin from Russia. According to the Central Bank of Russia, the first issue is the Sable coin issued in 1995. More information can be seen here: http://www.cbr.ru/Eng/bank-notes_coins/Coins_base/print.aspx?file=Help_monet_invest_e.htm

http://www.cbr.ru/Eng/bank-notes_coins/Base_of_memorable_coins/ShowCoins.aspx?cat_num=5111-0033

 

Well I got my Kangaroo today. Finding one was not as easy as I thought it would be. I should have got this long ago. It seems this is a very collectible series and finding one at a low premium is difficult. I had to order one from Australia and wait for the boat to bring it over. The series began in 1993 and continues to present. Like the Koala the Roo changes every year. I decided to collect the first year, 1993. mintage was 73,000 and the coin contains 31.635g of 0.999 Silver and is 40.6mm in diameter. The coin has a polished image and frosted background. Almost like a reverse proof coin.

 

You are right - Sable is the first Russian bullion coin ... in fact, there are two versions - Moscow Mint and Saint Petersburg Mint ... MS state - not polished - like St. George

From previous experience, Moscow mint has superior surface quality.