Need advice on Prussian Gold

DeutscherGeist

Since I am a newbie, you guys warned me about purchasing raw gold from ebay. Well, I really like Prussian gold and am always looking for the off grade stuff at close to spot price. Since I cannot tell real from fake, I cannot buy raw gold coins at all--I am bound to fall flat on my face. I do have one graded though that I bought from ebay.


Is this a good grade and deal? 10 mark Prussian gold NGC MS 65


Someone from this board told me not to buy MS61 or MS62 since those are lower grades. MS65 is ideal to get. Any higher grade than that would simply mean paying too much for a holder.


I also saw this coin, but the grade is not desirable . I heard the grades do have to be highhttp://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=230240307297&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=013">20 Mark Gold

I am going to see if MS Live will give me 30%. I am not sure if these ebay BIN prices are inflated, but it sometimes appears to me that they are as if the sellers know about each customer potentially getting a discount

theboz11

No on the 10 mk, someone had one in our BST a couple weeks ago for half that much. The other link did not work I don't remember anyone pointing out Prussian fake gold though? Any Darkside gold at or near melt should be bought regardless of grade. IMHO.

adamlaneus

Definitely no on the 1872A.

I got an 1873A in NGC MS-66 for $200 recently. Slabbed world coins can be deceptive as far as grading. One can get so convinced that "63" is at a premium due to US Gold...that "65" sounds like an uber grade. But for a coin like this, it is actually sort of the center of the bell curve! It all has to do with their history, and world gold coins can have vastly different histories of handling.

In fact, the 1872A in UNC, at least according to Krause, is listed as fractionally cheaper than the 1873A.

Waaay closer to spot is what you should be looking for.

I find that when there is some 30% off deal going on...that some BIN prices are invariably jacked up 30%. This causes me to stop buying on eBay until prices settle down to reality.
Few BIN prices are worthwhile. Once in a while you see one, but you need to order your search by "newly listed". The good BIN prices are seen and snapped up early! The poor BIN prices languish.


I'd say that all of my world gold coin collection has been purchased close to spot prices. I think a 20% (or maybe it is a $100) premium is the highest i've paid (happily). I've come close to paying more, but for some reason, those deals have fallen through! In many series, 'staying cheap' would be very limiting. But if your series is as broad as 'world gold', one can assemble quite a varied and diverse collection of 'bullion' as I like to call it. They are really rare coins that are simply not expensive because they are either unwanted or the market has not caught on.

FilamCoins

Three Kings .....

ajaan

A 10 Mark is what. 1/10 oz AGW or something? I say definately no on the coin linked.

DeutscherGeist

20 Mark Prussian Gold

Thank you all for the input. This 20 mark coin is nice, but not at that price. Even with the 30% off, it comes to $273.50. This is a hair under 1/4 ounces of gold. The spot price of a quarter ounce is about $191. This BIN already is inflated by 30%.

So, Adamlaneus

an MS 65 is average for Prussian gold and I should not get anything lower than that, right? I feel good about buying graded coins from ebay, but not raw ones. Unless I can ask for help in buying raw Prussian gold coins off ebay, I do not feel comfortable doing it without having another set of eyes looking at the auction.