new to buying gold coins

[zultar]

I'm fairly new to buying US gold coins. I want to eventually have one of almost each US coin minted, except for the stella of course! (and maybe some capped/drapped bust. And I may buy a few lots of ten for investment purposes. I dont care too much on grade as long as the are AU or better. That being said whats the cheapest/best way to buy? will I find good deals at regional coin shows (Texas), buying from dealers? or biggest question would be buying bulk from places like APMEX? I already bought 10 $10 indian heads last year.

[jtryka]

Well, if you are just buying for bullion as an investment, you'd probably be better off with modern gold bullion coins, like American eagles or Canadian maple leaf coins since the premiums are much smaller. If you are looking to actually start collecting the coins, then you should do everything you can to learn about them first, to avoid the rookie mistakes that can cost you money. I remember when I first started getting back into collecting I wanted to buy a Saint-Gaudens $20 gold piece, a life long dream, so I went to an online auction and paid about $450 for a 1924 in MS-62 which at the time was a rediculous price! Gold was only $260 an ounce and these coins were selling in retail shops for $350-400. But I learned quickly and avoided costly mistakes again, but it was a process with a lot of questions, like "Why are these mintmarked coins in the 1920s so darn expensive when their mintages are so high?" You can learn a lot from forums like this, or from books. Whitman has some nice guides for gold coins by Q. David Bowers, and if you are interested in the Indian series or Saints, I highly recommend "20th Century United States Gold Coins" by David Akers, now in its second edition so it should be somewhat easier to find.

 

As for your questions, the cheapest way to buy in my opinion is not to be in a hurry! If you see a deal on Apmex or eBay or in a newspaper, go online and do a google search or search the auction archives at Heritage (www.ha.com). You can certainly find good deals at regional shows, I find them in Michigan pretty regularly and we are a lot smaller than Texas, but you should aqain know what you are looking for, bring a note pad and write stuff down, and have a redbook with you to look up coins you don't know about. I can't tell you how many times I've been to a show, bought a coin, and not 3 tables later find a better example at a lower price! To avoid this now, I just do a complete lap around all the tables at any show before I buy a single thing. You can buy bulk from Apmex as well, I've bough from them before, but remember, they are a bullion dealer. You won't find rare dates or super high grade coins in a bulk deal, the whole reason they are a bulk deal is they are priced to move, so they are likely lightly circulated, common date coins. I hope this helps.

[zultar]

Thanks, the prices I have to compare are just the bullion dealers, ebay and collectors corner, and I bought a few from Heritage auctions (mainly guns and texana stuff though). I dont care to much about MS grade pre1933 gold, unless its a deal. I'd rather have more AU quality than a few MS. And surfing so far Id say APMEX au bulk coins seem to be cheaper than equal grade on ebay, etc. I wouldnt mind owning 10 liberty and St guadens $20 as investment and coolness factor. But I do want to try to aquire as many of the different minted gold pieces- whether AU or MS. But $4 will be out of reach of course and some of the earlier busted coins. I think theres some shows in Fort Worth in the late winter/Spring I'll probably try to make- Theres one in Houston in Dec but thats further than I can to drive to and back in a day

[Saor Alba]

Hmm, should I say, now not really good time to buy gold coins - especially the pre-1933 gold. Unfortunately the best time to buy those IMHO was back in late 2005 just as gold was starting to move up in price. I bought up lots of Liberties from 1870's on up to 1907, and then Saints from 1908 - 1928 in EF-AU for about 3% over spot. I never bought quantities of $2.50 or $5.00 because the margins on them were too high already, but a few $10.00 from 1849 - 1907 at about 10% over spot. Heritage was a great place to buy lightly circulated gold - then they were buying from European central banks that were SELLING off their gold holdings! The banks made money of course, but fools they were! Should have held out a little longer.

 

The margins on the $20 are just too high to bother with, but then it is that way with AGEs and Maples and K-rands too IMHO now. Too much demand, and limiting supplies.

[gxseries]

Don't join in the crowd when it comes to investment. Keep reading the market condition. When lots of investors jump in, prices will go up dramatically - how do you expect to buy gold cheaply? Sure prices will go up even higher if more join the queue but it gets to the stage where prices just collapse. But then again, I'm never a fan of investors as they jack up prices of coins.