There's gold in them thar portfolios!

scottgardener

Economic turmoil was one of the things that got me back into coin collecting, and, mind you, this was a year ago, before the Bear Sterns / WaMu / GM and Chrysler / Circuit City / Economic Stimulus Package / Blah Blah mess. While everything else is tanking, gold is going over like gangbusters, spawning newspaper spreads and TV ads, from seedy pawning agencies wanting to slurp yours up to respectable firms like Blanchard and Co. wanting to sell you a piece of the action. The best investment I made in 2008 was $1500 for a PCGS-certified MS65 1908 No Motto Saint Gaudens, now showing over $2400 on the price guide.

So, anyone else doing gold? I've noticed it's not cheap, given that it's made of... well, gold. But, the rewards of being able to call your collection a portfolio, and one that's actually doing well no less, are worth it. I'm working on a type set myself, since I'm still just getting started with coins at this level. My choice of coins ideally is in finding the sweet spot in grade between the lower grades, which are cheaper but fluctuate with the rise and fall of gold itself, and the higher grades, which have numismatic value well beyond the metal content. When I got the before-mentioned Saint, it was one grade up from that spot at the time, MS64, where MS63s were less than $100 cheaper but MS65s about $400 more and MS66s double. I extended myself a bit and got the 65, and it paid off (at least in theory, since I'm not actually selling the coin any time soon.) My other holding, an MS62 Liberty double eagle, would seem to fit this theory as well, but I got that one mainly because it was the only pre-1933 gold coin available at that show other than a few that cost more than my car, except for an NGC-graded MS60 coin at the same price.

I've got three raws being graded now. One is a Liberty half eagle, which I expect to return AU. The other two are quarter eagles, one each Liberty and Indian. I'm thinking uncirculated, though the Indian, a 1913, was sold to me as AU raw, and the liberty, a 1905, was raw ungraded. I'm hoping I'll get notified that one of them are too valuable for their pricing tier, but I'm not holding my breath. I'm still getting the hang of grading, which is why I'm not buying raw anything priced significantly above AU values in the price guides. But, even if they're "genuine," I'll still love them.

ambro51

Welcome


Yes Gold Spoken Here!

scottgardener

Wow! Spoken rather boldly, I might add.

BECOKA

I think a small percentage of anyone's portfolio should be gold. Diversification is a good thing.

scottgardener

Agreed. A quick glance at the Dow Jones, and a scene from the latest, 3D version of Journey to the Center of the Earth comes to mind...

We're still falling!!!

I know it's important to think long-term and avoid panic reactions. Which is why I started collecting gold coins a year ago. It seems my "sweet spot" strategy, of getting coins that are at the price guide bending point between bullion worth and the dramatic up-swing into the stratosphere, is working. I figured back in July of last year that gold wouldn't stay in the $950s range, but its visit there would introduce others as it reintroduced me to the joys of coin collecting. And thus, I anticipated that better grade specimens would keep most of their value when gold went back down, and enjoy another boost the next time gold went up. I just didn't expect it to happen so quickly.

Indeed, the rise is happening so fast that my second PCGS-graded gold, an 1898s Liberty double eagle, as of today's price guide is listed at having just gone up to $1650 in MS60, but still only $1550 in MS62; I suspect it's simply a matter of updating the guide, as the "generic" value of an MS62 Liberty double eagle is $1770.

I also realize that when a recovery finally does happen, I could lose some of these gains, but I'm not selling. I'm in this for the long haul. I could point out that inflation will probably keep these coins' values, but I'm more interested in a collection that will, barring an extropian breakthrough in transhumanist technology, outlive me.

grip

You sound like a pedantic show off...but welcome anyway.

scottgardener

Don't worry; I won't stay pompous too much longer, as gold already took a nosedive back into the $950s.

And, don't worry; I'm not one of those "if it's modern, it's crap" people. I grew up on wheat cents and Jefferson nickels from WWII, and I have a healthy respect for finding really good coins straight out of circulation.

BAJJERFAN

Of course that $900 paper gain is meaningful only if you realize it. To believe that it is now guaranteed forever is foolish at best.

scottgardener

Somebody at PCGS isn't updating the price guide evenly. My 1898s Liberty $20 is listed at $1550, which I realize is a pretty respectable listing, but an MS60 of the same coin lists at $1750, and $20 gold liberty type coins (the Type 3, "TWENTY DOLLARS," with motto) at $2035. Of course, with gold backing off of the $1000/ounce mark and dangling back around $900, I can kind of see volatility, but it's still kind of weird thinking what a bargain another one of these would be right now.

scottgardener

Several months, and my 1898-S is still the same price, even as the other commons and generics have gone up and down.

I have wondered; if I complete a registry set of gold coins, do I get an extra life? It seems to work for Mario. I've noticed that lots of video game characters seem to have a thing for numismatics.

scottgardener

Yay! As of today, it's updated! My 1898s $20 liberty is now officially PCGS-appraised at $2100, and its price change makes it a top-ten winner for the day! Granted, as previously mentioned, generics already were up even more than that and then went back down, and that the PCGS price guide tends to run a little high, reflecting retail price rather than the wholesale trade in the other guys' guides, but I still feel better, and my coin would, too, if I wanted to anthropomorphize an artfully stamped disc of precious metal.

eggbone

Last year I purchased several Indian and Liberty $10s and Liberty and St. Gaudens $20s. All PCGS
What satisfaction.
This year I am diversifying...Quarter and half eagles. No real rarities, but a few nice pick-ups. I even purchased a few CA. fractional.
Stock brokers always speak of diversification.
Well why not in numismania.

scottgardener

We all go for the big ones first. It's simple human psychology to see a big, honking Saint Gaudens $20, with the beautiful figure on the obverse and outstretched eagle on the reverse, going for $2000, and then we see a tiny little $2 and a half coin the size of a dime, with a non-descript Liberty figure on one side and a copy of the Seated Liberty eagle on the back for the same price, and we want the big one. But, I variety is sound; my wife wondered why I kept looking at Morgan dollars when I already had a bunch of them, which was a good reminder to look at other denominations of gold.

Of course, it's easier to look at the $2.5s and $5s, because they can be had in circulated grades for less than $400 instead of the before-mentioned two grand. It's the $10s, the $1s (which are also more affordable, but so tiny), and especially the $3s.