Gold Ducats - questions from across the street

tmot99

Hi all. Ok, I am an avid US collector and am looking into crossing the street. I happened to come across a gold ducat from 1604 that caught my interest for two reasons. 1) it was gold and 2) It was from 1604.

Well, I passed on it because I would like to learn a little bit more before I invest (and no coins are not an investment to me). I would like to get an AU to MS gold ducat from around 1600. I have no reference book of any type for world coins. From looking online, Vatican has some dating back to 1200 something. The one I specifically saw was from the Netherlands. I really liked the look of it. I have also seen German ones.

Please fill me in...
Are these really common and I should wait for a very strong strike? Are they worth collecting? I have seen that PCGS and NGC obviously certify them. I have also seen ICG. I tend to stay away from ICG when buying US coins. How are they with World coins? I would tend to buy certified only because I don't know enough about them to tell counterfit from original.

Thanks in advance for your help.
Tom

ajaan

Some of my best coins are in ICG holders. I don't know enough about gold ducats so I can't answer your question.

GDJMSP

I shouldn't be telling you this - I've got enough competition as it is But - what the heck

When I first started collecting Netherlands ducats, many of them were much cheaper than they are now. I've often wondered if I have to partly blame myself for that since I usually go showing them off at all the coin forums. It's getting so it's hard to keep up with market values on the dang things. So I'll say this - if you wish an MS example from anywhere near 1600 be prepared to dig deep - they are getting downright expensive. There are several MS coins examples being offered in various places right now - but in my opinion they are quite overpriced. The AU coins are not so bad price wise but they are steadily creeping up as well.

I would not recommend buying one raw - there are recently a great many counterfeits coming onto the market likely due to the increased popularity of these coins. As for the slabbing companies - I'd not hesitate to buy one slabbed by NGC ( most of them will be ), PCGS, ANACS or ICG. They are getting increasingly harder to find though.

As for being worth collecting - the ducat is likely the single most important coin the world has ever known. They are certainly the most prolific as the varieties are nearly numberless and the number of issuing countries is well over 300. The ducat has been in existence since 1140 and is still being struck today.

Strike wise - it varies greatly. This is because of the method of manufacture - many of the older ones were hammered coins while some were made with roller dies. Still others are milled. A strong strike is not so easy to find in the older coins but there are some nice examples.

And you can count on one thing - I'll likely be right there bidding against you

tmot99

Thanks for the info. I don't have a problem putting money out for a nice coin. I love the history of coins. I have some ancients going back to 300BC. Just the fact that it is in XF condition amazes me.

To have a coin from 1600s in AU to MS, is crazy. Where has this coin been? Who had it? What did they do with it so it could stay original? That is the greatest things about this hobby.

Again, thanks for the info.