20,000 reis coins of the Brazilian republic are rare. Mintage that year was only 11,000 and the mintage for the entire 32 years of the type was only about 100,000. These aren't cheap relative to bullion value, but way undervalued compared to their rarity.
You can usually pick up a nice AU for around $500, which is less than the Krause price for XF. A true, uncleaned BU is very hard to find.
I actually like the common stuff. I like the french roosters, french angels, british sovereigns, and old austrian gold (can't remember what they are called).
All of these can be had for very little over bullion and have really nice designs IMO, but they are common.
If your looking for "not that common gold," I would definately advise this one:
I like the ones which actually circulated and the modern mass market stuff. Many of these later issues were geared toward US collectors and had very small mintages. Coins like the Western Samoan 100T gold of 1977. This is a half ounce coin of which they made only 660 pieces and it can be found at a few percent premium to melt. Of course with such a small mintage it will be hard to find but there are 100's of others which you might find first. Many of these will be just as good. There are very large numbers of different world gold coins and most have some interesting attributes. It would seem difficult to go wrong with them.
There are also silver coins which fit these same general criteria which will often be equally scarce and occasionally thrown in free with the gold in a proof or mint set.
I'd say it would depend on how you define value oriented and fun. For the fun part you'd have to be the one to decide on a design or designs you like. For the value part - do you mean low priced or do you mean priced low considering rarity and availability ?
On second thought - just go buy all that British stuff
I would go with Spanish colonial escudos and half-escudos from the mid-to late-1700's: they're gold, they're relatively inexpensive, and they're historical; associated with all that "pirate treasure" stuff.
I'd recommend Venetian Ducats. I would assume a complete set is mission impossible but there are many of them that can be found relatively cheap.... and I'm not talking about holed ones.
4 765 of 50 971 (9.35%) complete
First DAMMIT BOY! 25/9/05 (Finally!)
" XpipedreamR is cool because you can get a bottle of 500 for like a dollar. " - Aspirin
I was thinking about this a lot, and while there are many choices, I especially agree with Philip; there is, in my opinion, a huge goldmine to be had with medieval ducats (Venetian ones seem to be especially cheap, but there are others too). They are scarce, ancient, full of history, and all of them are unique due to the nature of their minting process (hammered).
.....GOD
"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." -Luke 11:9
"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might." -Deut. 6:4-5
"For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; He will save us." -Isaiah 33:22
the mintage for the Ireland Republic (50 ECU) is listed as 5000 (ClarkSmith has one I think).
The Japanese one commemerates the 10th Anniversary of the Enthronement (I've see this one from Steinbergs and Clark Smith). There are many beautiful Japanese gold coins, earlier koban types, the Meiji era coins, and now the modern commemeratives. Satootoko has a couple of the latter in his sig line.
The Britannia is the 1997 version (from Chards). The Britannias make a very nice group to go after. Cosmicdebris has a great link to see them.
Hmm, it looks like I need to work on sizing consistency here. Oh well, I am still new to the imaging aspects.
Comments
20,000 reis coins of the Brazilian republic are rare. Mintage that year was only 11,000 and the mintage for the entire 32 years of the type was only about 100,000. These aren't cheap relative to bullion value, but way undervalued compared to their rarity.
You can usually pick up a nice AU for around $500, which is less than the Krause price for XF. A true, uncleaned BU is very hard to find.
All of these can be had for very little over bullion and have really nice designs IMO, but they are common.
If your looking for "not that common gold," I would definately advise this one
later issues were geared toward US collectors and had very small mintages. Coins like the
Western Samoan 100T gold of 1977. This is a half ounce coin of which they made only 660
pieces and it can be found at a few percent premium to melt. Of course with such a small
mintage it will be hard to find but there are 100's of others which you might find first. Many of
these will be just as good. There are very large numbers of different world gold coins and most
have some interesting attributes. It would seem difficult to go wrong with them.
There are also silver coins which fit these same general criteria which will often be equally
scarce and occasionally thrown in free with the gold in a proof or mint set.
On second thought - just go buy all that British stuff
The exchange rate is perilously close to that now!
09/07/2006
First DAMMIT BOY! 25/9/05 (Finally!)
" XpipedreamR is cool because you can get a bottle of 500 for like a dollar. " - Aspirin
"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." -Luke 11:9
"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might." -Deut. 6:4-5
"For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; He will save us." -Isaiah 33:22
First DAMMIT BOY! 25/9/05 (Finally!)
" XpipedreamR is cool because you can get a bottle of 500 for like a dollar. " - Aspirin
the mintage for the Ireland Republic (50 ECU) is listed as 5000 (ClarkSmith has one I think).
The Japanese one commemerates the 10th Anniversary of the Enthronement (I've see this one from Steinbergs and Clark Smith). There are many beautiful Japanese gold coins, earlier koban types, the Meiji era coins, and now the modern commemeratives. Satootoko has a couple of the latter in his sig line.
The Britannia is the 1997 version (from Chards). The Britannias make a very nice group to go after. Cosmicdebris has a great link to see them.
Hmm, it looks like I need to work on sizing consistency here. Oh well, I am still new to the imaging aspects.
Steve
Consider the following:
French 20 Francs of Napoleon by date and mint.
Mexican Republic gold by date, mint and assayer. (Pick one denomination and type and stick with it. Otherwise, you will lose your mind.)
Besides being cool coins, both series contain underappreciated rarities that don't bring much money. You'll have fun figuring it all out.
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
We ARE watching you.