I am going to begin buying a 1 ounce gold coin every month for the next 100 months in an effort to accumulate 100 ounces of gold. I am new to this so I'm curious about what experienced collectors or investors have to say...should I buy the 1 ounce gold eagles or the 1 ounce gold buffalos? Thanks for any help!
Welcome to CT. Are you after proof collector versions (raw or slabbed) or bullion versions (raw or slabbed)? Are you building a collection or building your holdings in physical PMs as pure investment? Something in between? Answers depend heavily upon your goal(s), other than just obtaining 100 oz of government issued gold. Please define your goals for us further. Note certain differences: AGE .9167 fine gold (been around about 25 years) vs. AGB .9999 fine gold. (been around about 5 years). Collect what you like and buy at the best price your money can be used to obtain the maximum amount of government issued bullion when acquiring as an investment. Good luck and let us know how it goes with your goals. :thumb: edit: my bad / corrected to reflect accurate information. apologies.
FWIW, $20 St. Gaudens Double eagles are .900 fine, so for all that I can say, the US never minted a gold coin in .916 fine
You are correct. Gold American Eagles are .916 fine or 22 carat gold. I would buy the Gold Buffalos unless you have to pay a premium for them. Sometimes they can be found for the same price (or close) to the Gold Eagles. Here's a brochure on American Gold Eagles: http://www.usmint.gov/downloads/mint_programs/am_eagles/AmerEagleGold.pdf
Both are nice. Not sure if one has more gold in it than the other but they are nice coins. I just hate that they take old designs and re-design them and mint new coins with the design. For example, the AGE has the original Saint Gaudens design accept for the reverse. As with the gold Buffalo.
A few positive points for gold buffalos over gold eagles ... 1. many dealers sell the gold buffalos in the stiff mylar sheeting as they came from the mint ... i think this helps with avoiding counterfeit coins ... the biggest risk you take in buying gold coins (in my opinion) is buying a counterfeit (b.t.w. if doing an internet order you will need to ask when you buy them if they are still in the mint mylar packaging) Not that mylar sheeting can't be counterfeited too, but it's one more layer of security. 2. the mylar sheeting helps keep the coins pristine and mark free (no fingerprints from careless handling) 3. the yearly mintage on the buffalos is lower than the eagles ... so you have the potential rarity kicker 20 years down the road (in 2009 the gold buffalo mintage was 200,000 ... in 2009 the gold eagle mintage was nearly 1.5 million) 4. the series mintage on the buffalos is WELL LOWER than the eagles ... (buffs only minted for 5 years, eagles minted for 25 years) (as of 2009 series mintage on the buffs is about 900,000 ... on the eagles closer to 15 million) (so as a type coin the mintage on the buffalo is much much lower) The cost of the buffalo is can range $15 to $40 more than the AGE (1 to 2 percent) ... but i think that the factors above outweigh that premium I actually have been buying a Gold Buffalo every year ... so I have the full set 2006 - 2010 ... it's a cool idea if someday an album came out for Gold Buffs However I would probably end up hurting their grade if i album'd them Still that would be a cool thing to open up and see. If you do decide on buying Buffalos, I still recommend getting at least one Gold Eagle coin for your archive as they are beautiful coins to look at. In terms of sheer beauty ... i probably like the Gold Eagle more. It's just hard to beat that old St Gaudens Liberty design. I actually own more Gold Eagles than Gold Buffalos ... but still worry sometimes that i might have a counterfeit in my batch (something I dont worry about with the Buffs). Also you can consider buying at least 1 proof of each coin from the USMint as that condition really brings out the stunning beauty of these coins and it's fun to show the proofs to people that no nothing about gold coins (even though you do pay a premium for that condition). It's great to have one or two gold proofs leaning up against your computer screen to admire all day (while the rest of your archive sits tucked away in a bank safe deposit box).
