Determining The Value Of A Coin

January 18th, 2011 Posted in Precious Metals
Jan, 18 2011

You have found some old coins that appear to be in pretty good condition and would like to find out how much they are worth.  While rarity and condition are the two main factors affecting the price of any coin, an often overlooked third factor is popularity.  For example, there are some rare half-cent, two cent, and three cent coins in excellent condition that will not bring as much money as a Morgan silver dollar of comparable rarity and quality because in the numismatics world the Morgan silver dollar is the most popular collectible American coin.

It might seem to be fairly easy to determine the rarity of a coin simply by looking it up in a book or even on-line, but rarity does not only refer to the date and type of the coin.  Coins are also graded based upon their condition, so while a coin may have a fairly common date, that coin in near perfect condition may be very rare and hence worth a lot of money.

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Understanding Gold Prices per Ounce

January 17th, 2011 Posted in Precious Metals
Jan, 17 2011

Economic information almost always includes the current gold prices per ounce. This is a very specific piece of information, however, and if you want to make use of it, you have to understand exactly what’s being priced in these reports.

First, the gold prices per ounce are not for an imperial ounce of gold. A troy ounce is 1/12 of a standard pound, where an imperial ounce is 1/16 of a pound. When people hold a gold ingot for the first time, they’re often surprised at the heft. This is partially because gold is very dense and, therefore, small quantities of it weigh a surprising amount. It’s also because such people are probably unaware that they’re holding a troy ounce of material, not an imperial ounce, and they notice the difference.

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A Wide Open Rare Gold Coin Market

January 17th, 2011 Posted in Precious Metals
Jan, 17 2011

Before the internet whether you were a coin buyer or coin seller you would be limited to either buying or selling in a restricting market based mostly on whoever happened to be around you.  Every now and then you might be able to special order some coins, though in these cases you’d have to pay an outrageous fee based solely on the fact that the seller knew they were the only ones who would have the coin that you were trying to buy.

With the introduction of the internet into the business buying rare gold coins has never been easier.  You no longer have to worry about finding the right coin from a specific seller in your area; instead you can just hop online and search for the specific rare gold coins that you want to purchase.  This is a great boon for not only buyers, but for sellers as well.

If you’re looking for something that is safe and reliable to invest in, then you really need to look no further then the coin market.  It might seem like its expensive to get into, but that’s just if you’re trying to buy the current hot coins.  The key to any investment is purchasing something that you know is going to start going up in value before it actually does.  Gold coins have been on a steady rise over the past few months and there’s no reason to expect that to be changing anytime soon, after all, gold has continued to retain value for thousands of years.

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Coin Dealers and Rare Coins

January 7th, 2011 Posted in Precious Metals
Jan, 07 2011

Millions of coins exchange hands everyday.  Coins are exchanged between a shopper and a merchant for a cup of coffee.  Parents give their children lunch money in the form of coins.  Workers across the world deposit coins in vending machines on a daily basis.  But how often do any of us stop and take a good look at the coin in our hand?  Could the coin you just put in that vending machine be worth more than its face value?

In determining the value of a coin several factors come into play.  For the coin collector, value is dependent upon two main factors.  How many copies of the original coin were minted?  How many are speculated to still be in existence?  Is the coin still in circulation?  The best way to answer these questions is to seek the advice of a coin dealer.  Rare coins can be worth hundreds of thousand’s of dollars.  In some cases, they can be worth millions.  The most valuable coin ever sold at auction was the 1933 Double Eagle.  In 2002, this very rare coin sold for $6.6 million.  Believe it or not the buyer also had to pay a buyer’s fee of 15%, which came to an additional $7,590,000!  What makes the 1933 Double Eagle so valuable is that this coin was never supposed to have been placed into circulation.  Any coin dealer worth his salt is familiar with this story.

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Silver Bullion vs Gold Bullion

January 4th, 2011 Posted in Precious Metals
Jan, 04 2011

Today many people are taking a fresh look at precious metals of all types and finding that these metals make excellent investment opportunities. This is especially true in light of the way that profits from real estate and stock market investments have eroded and even evaporated in the last few years. If you are one of the people considering an investment in a precious metal, you may find yourself wondering whether it would be best to purchase silver bullion or gold bullion.

In the last few years, both precious metals have increased in popularity and price considerably. In looking at whether you would be better served to purchase silver bullion or gold bullion, there are a few factors to take into consideration.

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