neat topic(I think!)-bullion coins and % over spot price

1907Quarter

I was brousing through a recent issue of coin world and spotted prices for some bullion coins. They happened to be figures for the Mexican Libertad series. 1/20, 1/15, 1/10, 1/4, 1/2, 1oz. etc...With each coin came a % of bullion; for example b+.2
I noticed that the smaller the coin the higher the percentage added. Is there a universal law in the coin world that covers this price relationship with regard to all bullion coins? Will the formula work to match prices found in the redbook for its series of bullions?

kranky

The percentage over spot has to be higher on smaller coins to allow dealers to make a reasonable profit on the smaller coins. Even 10% over spot on a 1/10 oz. gold AE is still less than $4.

I don't think there's going to be an all-purpose formula, for a couple of reasons.

First, some gold coins enjoy more popularity than others, so those will have higher markups. Also, as the spot price goes up, dealers might be willing to reduce the spread, and just the opposite when the price is lower.

Steve27

You will also find a big difference between world bullion and US bullion, because the latter is treated like modern collectable coins in the US (e.g. PCGS MS69 1998 1/10 oz platinum goes for about 1600 percent of bullion value).

RNCHSN

There is also a collectables market in the bullion series, with mintage figures, and relative scarcity causing higher prices for some years.

In the silver Canadian Maple Leafs (SML) series, 1996+1997 have the lowest mintages and can cost as much as $28 each, depending on who has them. I was buying 1997 SMLs this time last year for $8.50-$10 each. I could sell them at $13, and had one guy buy almost 100 of them. They are now selling for as much as $24 each.

Last summer I couldn't FIND any 1996+1997 SMLs! The nationally advertising, big dealers all listed prices for them, but NO ONE had any in stock!

The Mexican Libertad series has some wild price variations as well. The earlier years are pretty cheap, but some of the newer years (mid-late 90s) are expensive to buy.

The Chinese Pandas are another series that has wild prices. The current years are the most beautiful design (IMHO), but the coins from the first years are prohibitively expensive with sales prices at $200-$275 for 1983-1985 1 oz. coins!

Australian Kookaburras tend to have a level price across the series.

michael

for me if you want to buy a large pretty coin and you just want bullino the best value to me is to buy mexican 50 peso coins i think they are like 1.2 troy ounces of gold?

then you get something more than a bullion bar and also one of the best value premiums

for me i do not like south african krugerrands even at below spot.......lol lots of negative things about them AND SOUTH africa also are ugly coins also bullino whatever you vall them!

so i am not including the kruggerrand in my assessment

sincerely michael

for me if you want to just by straight gold bullino the mex 50 peso is the way to go!