Tell me about the American Eagle Coin Series

[Nightwing]

This is a real newbie question. I've read online about the coins, but I guess I am looking for clarification on how they are used in real life.

 

With that said I have been curious as to whether or not there is such a thing as "circulated" or "used" American Eagle coins? I know the US Mint produces uncirculated and proof coins for collectors, but are there actual coins that are produced for investment portfolios? If so who actually handles them? Are they purchased by the investor and then handed over to the investor's financial institution to add to their portfolio? Are they used more as a behind the scenes trade when people invest in gold, silver or platinum? (Hopefully, you know where I am going with this if not I can try and clarify)

 

I am thinking of asking for the 2007 American Eagle Silver Proof One Ounce Coin for Christmas and was curious if it was any sort of investment or just a sort of a commemorative for the year?

 

Thank you all!

[gxseries]

For the mint, it's just marketing - they make a profit regardless of the situation as they price such "coins" a certain prenium over bullion value. For the public, it's up to them in what they want to do. If they want to make them into jewellery, sure they can. If they want to make them into investment purposes, sure they can. I'm not too sure how tax works there in the US but IRS has a policy on bullion related from what I read online. For me though, I just see them as bullion coins unless there is a specific reason for the striking or a very limited striking.

[jtryka]

These coins don't really circulate per se, at least not like a nickel or a dime or a quarter would circulate. They are used in investment portfolios however, since they are the only bullion coin eligible for an IRA account. Although investors in metals have a lot of choices, like futures, eagles, bars, etc. the only physical metal that can be placed in an IRA account is an American Eagle. As a result, most brokerages will have eagles held for customers, often stored at a third party vault. These are generally not sorted by date or anything else, and are the business strike eagles. Since these folks are not coin collectors/dealers, they will often treat these coins like they would any other, so that might be the extent of "circulation" for eagles.

 

The proof eagles are viewed as collector coins, and are not permitted in IRAs, so from that standpoint a 2007 proof would not technically be an "investment" like regular eagles in a brokerage account. However, they, like just about anything else can be viewed as an investment (just like beanie babies or baseball cards). Over the years, some have done very well (see 1993-1995) while others have not done very well (see 2000). In any event, coins are best viewed as a collectible, unless of course you are talking about circulating coinage which is simply money. Hope this helps.

[Scottishmoney]

If you had a large quantity of them I would call them an investment, however just one or a few is more of a collectable than an investment. It bears basically more on the price and the range in which they trade, which is right now $15-17 each depending on what silver is currently, and what a dealer will charge for them.

 

For a real investment I would avoid these, and limit them to a few examples for a collection. The main reason is the markup on them is high(the price the dealer charges for them, compared to the actual silver value) For investments in silver if that is what you want to do, circulated pre - 1964 coinage and silver bars are a better value for your money.