Gold Investing - Gold Closing In On $1100

In case you missed the news, spot gold closed at $1084.50 today even with a strengthening U.S. dollar. There are many predictions on how high gold will be by year end but it looks like it will leave the 2008 year end spot price of $885.50 in the dust.

The interest in owning gold bullion coins is gathering strength too. The U.S. Mint reported a total of 115,500 American Gold Eagles were struck in October which bring the year-to-date total of gold eagles to 1,069,500. Silver eagles had impressive numbers too - 2,939,000 for October and 23,406,500 year-to-date.

I hope you are the proud owner of some of these gold and silver coins as the picture keeps looking better and better.

Happy investing.

Categories of Gold Bullion Coins

In my article on Basic Gold Investing, I recommend that investors start with gold bullion coins. Not discussed are the three categories I assign to gold bullion coins which you may find useful. These categories are:

1. The most common gold bullion coins that are universally recognized and accepted by coin dealers. In this category, I include Gold American Eagles, Gold Canadian Maple Leafs, South African Krugerrands, American Gold Buffalos, Austrian Philharmonics, Chinese Pandas, Australian Nuggets, Mexican 50 Pesos and maybe one or two others;

2. Not as common gold coins as those above but still recognized by coin dealers and readily tradeable (liquid). This would include one or more denominations of The Angel (Isle of Man), Hungarian Korona, French Twenty Franc "Rooster", Dutch Guilder, Austrian Corona, British Sovereign, German Mark, Italian Lira, Russian Ruble and Swiss Franc;

3. Lesser known gold coins which coin dealers are hesitant to accept because of low demand by investors and low acceptance by other dealers.

When first starting out with your gold investing, concentrate on those coins in the first category. There is much less chance you will make a bad decision with any of the gold coins in this top category.

Happy Investing!

Gold Bullion Coins versus Numismatic Coins

In the first article posted on the Gold Investing Simplified web site, Basic Gold Investing, I recommended you start with gold bullion coins. Assuming you are a gold investor (for whom I created this blog for) and not a gold coin collector, that advice still stands.

Pictured above is a $20 Liberty Double Eagle. In its higher Mint State grades, this is considered a numismatic coin and can fetch several thousand dollars. If you invest in this coin, it is obvious the price is not based on the gold content (currently around $900) but on the coin itself. The price for numismatic coins is determined by the particular strike, scarcity, condition (or state of preservation) and demand.

Investing in numismatic coins is not for casual investors. If you are investing on your own, stick with gold bullion coins. If you have the finances and are ready to move up to numismatic gold coins, work with a reputable dealer that has been in business for many years. It will greatly lessen your chances of making bad investments.

Happy investing!