Buy Gold Info

$7.4 Million Dollars Received For Gold Coin at Auction

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In what was near the highest amount ever paid for a gold coin, a 1787 Gold Brasher Doubloon recently received $7.4 Million Dollars at Auction. The deal was brokered by precious metals company, Blanchard and Co. The identities of the seller and buyer were not revealed. However according to Blanchard and Co the gold coin was delivered via armored car to the buyer over the weekend.

The 1787 gold Brasher doubloon has been considered by some coin collectors to be the holy grail of all collectible gold coins. This coin in particular was minted by Ephraim Brasher, who was a popular goldsmith and neighbor of George Washington. The coin itself contains 26.66 grams of gold which is actually a little less than one ounce. This particular Brasher doubloon is highly sought after because it is the only one to have a distinctive hallmark punch on the eagles breast.

The only other coin to fetch more at auction was a 1933 $20 gold Double Eagle. This coin sold in 2002 four $7.5 million at auction. It is interesting to note that the Brasher doubloon that recently sold for $7.4 million last changed hands in 2004 for $3 million. Since these types of auctions are shrouded in secrecy we do not know much about the fees paid, or where the coin ends up. According to John Albanese, a consulting partner of Blanchard, and well-known coin appraiser, “there are only five or six individuals in the world with the interest in money to buy such a coin.”

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You can see a picture of the near record breaking gold doubloon and read more about the details of this auction at this link.

50 Dollar Gold Coin

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The 50 Dollar Gold Coin comes in a few different manifestations or varieties. One of the best ways to invest in gold is by buying gold coins. Gold coins are available in different weights and karats which determine how much a gold coin will cost. One of the easiest and most preferable ways of investing in a gold coin is by buying the largest amount of weight in the most comfortable unit possible. Buying greater weights of gold will actually lessen the amount of premium that you would need to pay for a gold item. Such premiums of course include the labor costs and the transportation and insurance costs which would entail the delivery of the coin. If you wish to cut back on these costs, the best thing that you can get is the 50 dollar coin. They contain one ounce of gold in a single coin thereby cutting down on the costs. You can get these coins in either the American Eagle coin or the American Buffalo coin. They all have a face value of fifty dollars though their real value is way worth more than that especially now that an ounce of gold is valued at more than $1,700.

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The American Eagle 50 dollar coin contains 1.0909 ounces of gold with a purity of 91.67% or 22 karats. This is a good investment if you are looking for a gold coin that is hard and will not easily be damaged by handling. It contains an alloy of copper and silver which contributes to its color and toughness. The excess weight gives you the exact one ounce of gold in the coin which is a good thing if you are looking for coins that really contain what their certificates say. It is one of the most popular coins in the world will easily be traded due to their renown. The $50 American Buffalo however is for the keener gold investor. It contains a purer type of gold which is 24 karat but one of the downsides to this is that it can be easily damaged when mishandled. So the type of coin that you may buy will depend on your preference with what type of gold you would like to have in store.

Gold investing with coins is one of the most secure ways of storing your wealth for future use. The buying of this precious metal should however, be done with the wisest decisions in order to arrive at the best possible outcome for your investment. Not all types of gold items will give you the best rate of returns as they are all priced differently depending on the costs of production and also the design and other characteristics such as rarity and age which can all affect the price of gold. Although gold value is determined by its weight and karat, some factors such as historical value and design will affect how a gold item is priced by a seller. So, if you wish to invest in gold coins, you should understand the various factors which may come into play and act according to what your particular investment needs may be.

Canadian Maple Leaf Gold Coin

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The Canadian Maple Leaf is the bullion coin of Canada and is issued by the Royal Canadian Mint. It was designed by Walter Ott and features the famous Canadian emblem on its obverse. It is made from either .999 gold or .9999 gold depending on the time on which the coin was issued. The later ones are made from the higher fineness as a sign of Canada’s higher standards in the production of gold coins. The coin is considered to be the purest type of gold coin that is available for collecting today.  The coin was first issued in 1979 to compensate for the market for gold coins as the South African Krugerrand was prohibited from being sold for some political issues. However, it can be said to be different from the Krugerrand in that it is made from 24 karat gold unlike the 22 karat Krugerrand.

The Canadian Maple Leaf is available in various weights ranging from one-twentieth of an ounce to one ounce. The face value of the coin starts from one Canadian dollar to fifty dollars but there is also a 1 kilogram coin which has a face value of one million dollars. In 1994 a one-fifteenth of an ounce coin was issued having a two dollar face value but it only came with a limited number of coins issued and were smaller in size which had made them valuable only as additions to jewelries. The coin proved to be not so popular hence the producing of the coin has been stopped.

In 2007, the mint issued a 1-million dollar gold coin which has a purity of 99.999% gold and weighs about one kilogram. It was issued to promote the popularity of the Canadian Maple Leaf and only a few were able to purchase the coin. This was done to promote the newer type of Canadian gold coin which has a higher purity than the past coins that were issued by the mint. It was sold at the price of two-and-a-half million dollars to three million Canadian dollars. The coin was designed by Stanley Witten.

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The coin was manufactured with a .999 fineness of gold and was only changed to a .9999 purity in 1982.  The purest that was ever produced, one having .99999 fineness was produced to commemorate special events and was particularly difficult to store and handle as it is very soft being pure gold.  Most of the Canadian Maple Leafs that were issued from 2007 were usually designed by Stanley Witten and usually portrays Queen Elizabeth II on one of its sides. The coin is officially struck at the Ottawa branch of the Royal Canadian Mint. The high quality of gold that the coin possesses makes it very difficult to handle as it is more subject to being damaged by handling. This has been one of the drawbacks of having a gold coin in such a very high karat but if you are after the quality of the coin, this will not be such a big problem. 

Austrian Philharmonic Coin

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The Austrian Philharmonic is one of the purest gold coins that is available in the world today. Gold coin investors prefer the higher quality of gold that can be found in this coin and also the excellent design of the coin. The coin comes in one ounce and is also known by collectors as the Vienna Philharmonics. The coin can be compared in its purity to the Canadian Maple Leaf which also has a high gold content. It has come to be one of the most popular gold coins that is being sold having its peak in sales in the 1990s. The US however is not one of the most avid buyers of the coin and sales are still not doing as well as in the other parts of the world. The Austrian Philharmonic has a higher gold fineness than the Krugerrand and the Gold Eagle coins which makes them more costly than the two.

The coin can be bought from either the mint itself or through some second-hand dealer where the coin’s premiums can be more costly. The popularity of the coins in the United States has led to fewer secondary markets for this coin although it has a good performance in the primary market. It is similar to the performance of the Krugerrand in the secondary markets.

The coin features one of the pride of Austrian culture and music, the organ in Vienna’s most famous concert hall, the Musikverein. It houses the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra which is considered to be the best in the world. The coin has a weight of one ounce and a face value of either two thousand Austrian Schillings or one hundred Euros depending on the date of their issuance. Hence, it is one of the gold coins that have a face value for two different currencies. The reverse side of the coin features the different musical instruments from the orchestra in such excellent detail making it one of the most beautiful coins in the world.

The coin is larger in size than the American Gold Eagle and the Krugerrand which only has a 32.7 mm diameter whereas the Philharmonic has a 37 mm diameter. It is also thinner than the former two in that is only has a 2 mm diameter. If you purchase the coins from the Austrian Mint they will usually be in rolls of coins in a plastic tube. The Austrian mint is one of the longest running mint operating for more than eight hundred years already. In that span of time, the coin has been able to turn up hundreds of designs in coins.

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The Austrian Philharmonic is one of the purest types of gold coins that is available in the market and is also one of the most beautiful in terms of design. The coin is comparable to the Canadian Maple Leaf in terms of its purity. It is the only European coin which has been produced in large numbers and is also one of the most popular.

Gold Buffalo Coin

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The American Buffalo gold coin is one of the purest types of gold coins in the world today. Having a purity of .9999, it ranks with the Canadian Maple Leaf as one of the most beautiful gold coins in a collection. It has a face value of fifty dollars while the gold content amounts to more than a thousand dollars depending on the prevailing price of gold in the market. It weighs for one ounce and hence makes a perfect coin for investing also. It was issued by the US Mint in order to produce a gold coin that will have the highest karat as a gold coin.

The coin has a diameter of 32.7 mm and its thickness is 2.946 mm. It has the design of the native American Indian and the buffalo at its reverse side. The pricing of this coin depends upon the current spot price of gold in the market which reaches to about $1,600 today plus the premiums that will be added to it. Finding this would be very easy as the internet now produces the current gold price in real time and also you can find the current selling prices from those who are dealing with selling gold coins.

The design of the coin was based on the history of the United States and the most prevalent themes in the past.  The person commissioned to do the job was James Fraser who is one of the best sculptors during that period. The design became so popular that it was used for the bullion coin and the proof silver coins on the past 2001 minting issue. There are several Indians who actually posed for the sculptor in order to serve as models for the Indian head.

The buffalo coin contains 24 Karat gold in one ounce. It was the first type of coin to be issued by the United States Mint having the highest type of gold purity.  The design however was based on the 1913 nickel which featured the buffalo and was henceforth known as the buffalo coin. It was supposed to enable buyers of gold coin to have an investment in .9999 pure gold in their keeping. The first coins to be issued were made during 2006 and has since marked the beginning of the manufacturing of high gold quality coins in the United States Mint. Although the value of the coin itself is already great, one can still appreciate the worth of the design that is contained in it. It is, in a way, a good method of presenting the rich history behind the making of the United States as a nation.  You can learn more about purchasing the coin directly from the U.S Mint here.

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The minting of the coin was temporarily stopped on 2008 due to the subsequent crash of the economic market.  The coin however is still considered to be one of the best coins to have in one’s collection. It has been dubbed as “American Buffalos” or the “Buffalo Gold” as it has now been more commonly known due to its design.