1976 Bahamas Gold Uncirculated Set .........

longtimecollector

I just came into possession of a 4 piece set (in original box as issued) or Uncirculated 1976 Bahamas Gold Coins. At first, I didn't think they were anything special, but when I checked the mintages, I found the following

Denomination Mintage
50 Dollars 1,077
100 Dollars 456
150 Dollars 68
200 Dollars 68

I was FLABBERGASTED by the low mintages........ The question is, are they worth much if any over "melt"????? I cant imagine a coin with a mintage of 68 selling for melt...... But there may only be 20 people who collect Bahamas Gold...... Any help ???? Anyone have a similar experience ????

shirohniichan

You've hit upon a quizzical area of numismatics. I was interested in commonwealth proof and unc sets with low mintages for the very reason that some sell for melt value or thereabouts.

What kept me from buying any gold was that I wanted to keep my funds for coins that really interested me. I've narrowed down my purchases to accession, enthronement, and jubilee coins that come up as good-opportunity coins (i.e. ones I'll only buy if they're a really great value I happen upon).

To a lesser extent, South African and other proof sets were great deals when one considered their mintage. I bought a 1953 set for melt (including original case). Collectors have been catching on to this over the past few years so prices are going up.

cladking

There are a lot of people who want such coins but most are looking for anything that
has a low mintage rather than these coins specifically. If you can find a collector seek-
ing these specific coins then you can get a good premium. Otherwise they sometimes
sell as low as 140% of spot or so and can wholesale even lower.

Ironically many of these modern gold coins have extremely high attrition besides their
tiny mintages. The coins garner no interest so will be taken to their issuing authority
to recover their high face values. Redeemed coins are typically destroyed for their gold
value. Even with the higher prices of gold now this coin has a higher face value than it
does a metallic or numismatic value. When such coins come on the market there is a very
good chance that they will be destroyed. Higher gold prices will protect some but endan-
ger others.

It's incredible that there is so much disparity between the availability of the coins of the
last fifty years and their percieved availability. Except for a few hundred distressingly
common coins most of the rest are tough, scarce, or rare at least in some grades.

Kurt4

Krause (For what it's worth here) lists a 4 piece gold set. Issue price was $1000. Market value now $750. The mintages were a little higher for each coin. Krause lists about 100 more of each coin. These are listed as proof coins. Sounds like something to hold on to and watch the market for a while. World coins are rapidly gaining popularity and gold is always gold. Hope this helped a little.