American Eagle Gold Bullion Coin Experiences Unprecedented Demand - Proof Versions Suspended

By Brian Cheek -

The American Eagle Gold Bullion Coin has experienced tremendous demand in the past year. In fact, the US Mint recently announced on its website that it is suspending production of the American Eagle Gold Coin Proof and version in order to focus on the production of bullion coins to meet the current demand.  The mint is also suspending the uncirculated versions of the coins.

Mint Must Strive to Meet Demand

By law, the US Mint is required to supply enough American Eagle Gold Bullion coins to meet the public demand. The problem is listed as a blank problem–there seems to be a shortage of blanks that are used to make both American Eagles and the 24K American Buffalo Gold coins.  It does not appear that the supply of the standard bullion coin product has been affected (regular American Eagles are available.)

When Will Production of Proof Coins Resume?

The mint will resume production of the gold coins as soon as inventories of gold blanks can be acquired to meet the demand of all three American Eagle Gold Coin Products. Uncirculated coins in fractional sizes have been discontinued indefinitely.

Could Be Bullish for Gold

A shortage of these blanks and a high demand for the American Eagle Gold Bullion Coins could be bullish for for the coins. Unprecedented demand could be stemming from the worldwide fears of inflation and a weak dollar. Should these factors occur, the price of gold could rise substantially. Many gold experts are calling for a gold spot price of $1,500 to $3,000 in the coming 18 months to 2 years. This would mean the current gold bullion coins could triple in value!

A Good Time to be in the Mint Business

American Eagle Proof coins should be available in the latter half of 2009 (this summer perhaps?) once the mint is able to get their hands on some more blanks. It appears to be a good time to be in the mint business, as investors are clamoring for protection from an economic downturn and possible inflationary responses to the borrowing (and money printing) spree of the US Government.

Brian is an expert on gold investing and gold prospecting. His website, The Gold Spot is a comprehensive guide to gold investing and gold mining for hobbyists.

For more information on Gold Investments, go to http://www.the-gold-spot.com/american-eagle-gold-bullion-coin.html]the-gold-spot.com/gold-invesments

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Brian_Cheek

Why Invest in Gold - Why You Should Buy Gold

By Fred Peters -

Why invest In gold is a common question that more and more people are asking today. With interest rates at all time lows and the United States economy in a recession, people are looking at alternative stores of value other than paper currency.

However, prior to going out and buying gold, or shares in gold mining companies or in gold ETF funds, it is important to understand the reasons to own gold. Gold is not an investment like buying shares of stock. It is a storer of value. It will not be worth more tomorrow than it is today. What? The value of gold is constant. Instead, it is the value of the dollar and inflation that makes the price of gold go up and down. Fundamentally it offers a way to protect the value of your savings.

As the value of the dollar goes down, it takes more dollars to buy one ounce of gold. The value of gold is not going up. Instead, the value of the dollar is going down. This means that a gold dealer will want more dollars to buy the same ounce of gold because the dollar is worth less.

Two Reasons To Buy Gold

1. Gold serves as a protection against the collapse of financial markets and the stability of paper currency. This collapse can be caused by economic problems like recessions and depression or due to government instability.

2. It offers protection from inflation. Inflation occurs when it costs more paper money to buy a product. Owning gold protects against inflation.

There are multiple ways to buy gold. Some investors buy gold ETF funds, gold mining companies or gold bullion. Other investors like rare gold coins as collectibles with the hope that such coins go up in price as their numismatic value increases.

For more information about investing in gold coins, check out my coin collecting blog. You will find great information amount gold bullion coins and rare gold coins.

For investors who don’t want to buy physical gold bullion, here is an excellent article on gold ETF funds.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Fred_Peters

Investing in Gold Bullion - The Illustrious $5 Half Eagle Gold Coin

By Christina Goldman -

The $5 Half Eagle gold coins were minted in the United States from 1795 to 1929. These gold bullion coins enjoy some of the most illustrious history of gold coin minting in America. They have the distinct honor of being the first ever struck for the United States as a five dollar gold piece. Authorized on April 2, 1792, this beautiful gold coin weighed in at 135 g with .9167 fineness. The $5 Half Eagles were minted with different designs during certain yearly periods of time. These designs include but are not limited to:

Capped     bust to right small eagle (1795 to 1798)
Capped     bust to right small eagle (1796 to 1807)
Capped     bust to left (1807 to 1812)
Capped     Head to left, large diameter (1813 to 1829)
Capped     Head to left, reduced diameter (1829 to 1834)
Classic     Head (1834 to 1838)
Liberty     Head, variety with no motto above the eagle (1839 to 1866)
Liberty     Head, motto above the eagle (18 66th in 1908)
Indian Head (1908 to 1929)

Interesting Facts About the $5 Half Eagle Gold Coin

The     Liberty Head and Indian Head coins are perennial favorite with American collectors and elicit fond memories of grandfathers and  summertime.
The     1822 Half Eagle is one of the most valuable coins in the end United     States in the Half Eagle gold coin series. This particular bullion     coin is much coveted by collectors and investors.
The coins minted before 1807 bear no marks of value.
The only coin minted in all     eight US mints are the five-dollar denominations.

Illustrious, historic, and beautiful. The two-hundred year-old $5 Half Eagle gold coin continues to be an emotional favorite with United States gold coin collectors and investors.

Now you can add the historic  $5 Half Eagle Gold Coin to your collection at a fabulous price. Just go to: http://bullionbargains.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Christina_Goldman

Introduction to Gold and Silver Investing

By Arthur McGuire -

2008 was an interesting year for gold and silver investing. Towards year’s end we saw record numbers of new investors who chose to get into gold and silver investing, forgoing the usual stocks and realty investment options that have become turbulent and unpredictable, to put it nicely, over the last few years.

People have opted to buy into metals for a very simple reason: Metals investing is simply more stable. Stock investments can go belly up, investment banks can close and realty prices can plummet. Meanwhile, while gold and silver do have their ups and downs, the historical tendency has always been for metal prices to rise over time and this is exactly why gold and silver investing is growing in popularity while fewer and fewer companies are offering solid 401K packages.

Most recently, precious metal investment grade coins have become a very popular option for gold and silver investing. This is due simply to their convenience. If you’re new to metals and want to buy gold and silver you might think of bars and bricks, and that’s easy enough if you’re a billionaire, but gold and silver St. Gaudens and similar coins make it easy to put a few hundred dollars into your metals investment at a time. When you see that the prices of gold and silver are about to rise you can simply buy gold and silver coins, just enough to top your investment off and then not worry about it. Likewise if you need a little cash for a rainy day, you don’t need to cash in thousands of dollars worth of metal at a time, you can simply sell as many coins as you need to sell in order to meet your goals or take care of unforeseen circumstance.

It’s simply a smart option. Where stocks and realty have become wild and unpredictable, precious metals have almost always been solid to some extent. Certainly metals do have their declines now and then, but the price almost invariably tends to recover quite quickly. True, the pay off for metals may be less “explosive” than stocks, which have a tendency to rise overnight, but that also means that metals won’t crash overnight either.

It’s certainly a good thing that more and more people are turning to metals as the foundation of their investments and we can only hope that they retain these metals investments. In the past there has been something of a tendency for people to jump into gold and silver investing during times of crisis, only to cash in the minute the American dollar starts to take a turn for the better.

The fact is that you’d be wise to hold onto your metals investments in times of both economic strife and economic ease. Metals are not a “desperation” option, but rather an option to keep investors from ever having to become desperate. By keeping some amount of money in metals as opposed to cash, investment accounts, or other options, you should be able to always have money for a rainy day.

Learn more about gold and silver investing with GoldSilver.org and receive your free “2009 Insider’s Guide To Precious Metal Investing.”

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Arthur_McGuire

Investing in Gold, Silver and Coins

By Barry Unterbrink -

The collecting of coins, gold, silver and other precious metals can be fun and financially rewarding. These tangible items are often referred to as “hard assets” because they are heavier than most other commodities or collectibles. Someone once quipped, “if you drop an asset on your toes, and it hurts, then it’s probably a hard asset and valuable”. Try that with 50 ozs. of silver or a brick of gold - ouch!

The renewed interest in precious metals has been built upon their price rise during the past few years. In fact, there’s been a bull market in gold and silver for 5-6 years. Coincident with the lows of the last bear market for stocks in 2002, gold rose from under $300 to just over $1,000 per ounce. That run bested the gains seen by most of the traditional classes of financial assets - stocks, bonds, money markets. Silver, being the main industrial metal, rose almost four-fold, per ounce, equating to a larger percent gain than gold over the past 5 years.

Basically, there are a just a few ways to go about collecting or investing in this arena. You can buy the physical metal and store it hoping it will go up in value, or you can collect numismatic (fancy word for coin collecting) pieces that have either collector value and some gold or silver content value or both. I prefer coins since that is the way I got myself started as a teenager. Of course, back then wages were low for a teenager (as they are today), so I was limited to a few silver coins and some one ounce silver ingots; gold was out of my price range. My father signed up as a silver dealer with a mining company that was riding the wave of investor speculation as silver shot to over $50 per ounce in 1980, so that helped pique my interest also. When I learned to appreciate the smallish cache of coins I collected with my money, my parents later gifted me a bag of silver dollars. During the 1940’s and ’50’s, Las Vegas slot machines accepted them when you gambled. My Grandpa was prescient, he had kept them all those years in his Ohio home and passed them on to my Father. It was fun to sort them and look catalog their value. They dated from the 1870’s to the 1920’s. I considered it a hobby and rarely sold or traded many coins. I understood the United States’ common series of cents, nickels, dimes and dollars, so that’s what I collected.

Gold and silver have not shown us a great track record to profits over longer periods of time, however. The price rises in recent years came after a long period of suffering - gold was $850 in 1980 when the Dow Jones stock index was under 1,000. So overall, you have lost big just holding physical gold or silver the past 25 years because inflation has stripped away your profits if you had any to tally. The metals seems to trade in fits and spurts, and often rise in time of investor panic in other areas of finance (recent mortgage and banking mess). Owning collectible coins, in my opinion, has yielded better and more predictable returns over long periods of time, even coins not containing gold or silver, such as early coppers cents.

This study following that I embarked upon should show you that coins can be fun and profitable if you have some patience. I took a list of a few USA coins that I now own or wish I owned, and computed their rate of return over the past 8-9 years. Surprisingly, a collector can assemble a complete set of most American coins going back almost 100 years in cents, nickels, dimes and quarters because most dates are very common in all but the better uncirculated grades. Few exceptions exist, so I will key on those few semi-precious key dates which are still somewhat affordable today that most collectors need to finish their collection. These are coins with low mintage’s that are the key dates in its collection. I used the pricing at Coinvaluesonline.com, a good and fair reference source. Shown are the date and mint of the coin, the price rise over 8-9 years, and lastly, the compounded price per year average gain, so you can measure the gains apples to apples. Coin grades used hovered around fine to extra fine condition.

1909-S Indian 1 cent, $435 to $950 in 9 years = +9%
1909-S VDB Lincoln 1 cent, $650 to $1,600 in 9 years = +10%
1914-D Lincoln 1 cent, $425 to $1,100 in 9 years = +11%
1921-S Liberty 5 cent, $675 to $1,000 in 9 years = +4.5%
1916-D Liberty 10 cent, $1,250 to $3,000 in 9 yrs. = +10%
1932-D Washington 25 cent, $155 to $400 in 8 years = +12.5%
1884-CC Morgan $1, $55 to $235 in 9 yrs. = +17%
1889-CC Morgan $1, $440 to $2,000 in 9 yrs. = +18%

As you can see, the average price appreciation has registered around 10% or better for most of the selections. The past few years, there’s been a renewed interest in the Lincoln penny, and older Morgan Silver Dollars. Since mintages are fixed and known, once demand picks up, prices rise sometimes fast. The higher grades command king’s ransom’s of $5,000-$10,000. A rare 1804 silver dollar sold at auction this month for $2 million. Its pedigree dates back to 1950 when it traded for $3,250. That’s +11.5% per year gain, also in line with the results above. My study is not entirely scientific, so I’m sure you could punch some holes in it using other coins and time frames. Coin prices move around with demand and investor interest. Also, remember, collectibles should usually not represent a large portion of your retirement assets unless you are an expert in that area. It’s difficult to hold coins and precious metals inside IRA’s for example unless they are US Mint authorized. Coins and precious metals don’t pay any dividends or interest like stocks or bonds. Lastly, as collectibles, coins, gold and even gold funds are taxed at a higher 28% capital gains rate vs. the 15% rate most stock investors enjoy. With all that aside, once you catch the collector bug, you’ll surely enjoy the process of collecting, and hopefully the financial rewards also. It’s a great hobby to pass along to your children someday, or to cash in and retire on.

~Barry Unterbrink, Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor

Barry Unterbrink has held postions in the financial services industry since 1982. His experience includes portfolio manager for institutional pension funds totaling $80 million, Investment Advisory President and financial newsletter publisher (Consensus of Insiders). A finance graduate of Stetson University, he currently operates as a fee-based Retirement Planning Counselor. He has resided in Fort Lauderdale since 1968. He can be reached at (954) 719-1151 or at http://www.stetsonwealthmanagement.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Barry_Unterbrink

Three Positives of Gold Investing

By Brian Krassenstein -

Gold has never been more talked about in the last 75 years then it is today. As world economies are crumbling, and the economic future of so many countries remain uncertain, investors have been turning towards gold as a safe haven investment until world economies at least show some signs of stability. Even though the returns on gold over the last 80 years have not been spectacular, every portfolio should have some of the precious yellow metal in it. Here are 3 Reasons why Gold is so great:

The Best Investment for Uncertain times
We have not seen economic uncertainty as high as we have for generations. Gold is easily the best storage device for wealth even if the world was to break into political and economic chaos. For thousands of years Gold has been the standard of wealth throughout the world, and will continue to be for thousands of years to come.

Gold is More than a Storage of wealth
Unlike many investments which tend to have underlying value in an intangible way like fiat money, Gold is not just a storage of wealth, but also a commodity that is needed in a range of products from computers, to automobiles, to jewelry, to the production process of a number of technologies. This means that deamnd for gold is multi dimensional.

Easy to invest into
Gold is very easy to buy. You can buy physical coins or bullion and store them in a safe deposit box or personal safe, or you can invest in exchange traded funds, Gold stocks, or undelivered bullion. The ease of the buying and selling process makes the asset more liquid, and much easier to get rid of if you ever need to convert it to cash.

More info on this article and Gold Investing at the Gold Forum. Also check out Brians Stock Blog

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Brian_Krassenstein

Diversified Investing the Gold Coins Way

By James Cone -

The thrill of this way of diversified investing is that you are actually investing using one of the oldest ways in the world-gold and silver coins. The thing is that gold for certain is one of the stablest mediums in the world. Imagine that you and Croesus the king of Lydia who lived from 595 BC and died 546 BC actually share something, a desire to store wealth through acquiring gold coins. Actually I will be talking more about coins then bullion but it is equally as financially stable to collect but doesn’t have the numismatic value of coins. So what we are looking at is an investment in a product that you can hold in your hand, has stable value and can be a hedge against severe market or especially economic downturns. Cool huh?

Can you imagine getting the same thrill from a beautiful and expensive gold piece and then hold a notice of the purchase of stock. Although ones value may at that moment be more valuable than the other-for sheer awe nothing beats the feel of a gold coin. a Speaking of awe at the sight of a gold coin, my wife and I visited Charleston, SC last month and were privileged to visit the restoration of the CSS Hunley. For those who don’t know, the CSS Hunley was the first recorded combat submarine that actually sunk a wooden hulled vessel off Charleston Harbor during the war between the states. One of the recovered artifacts was a gold $20.00 piece that the owner had had in his pocket during the battle of Shiloh. He had been shot in the hip the bullet hitting the coin in his pocket. The coin saved his life but was bent. The owner had a jeweler write on the coin the date and circumstances of the battle that stated that the coin saved his life.. We saw this coin 143 years later just as shiny as new but with the marks from the bullet. What do you think that a coin like that was worth? Priceless? It certainly was then to its owner. Or could you even place a price on it?

Now for anyone to find the idea of gold coin collecting as a means of diversified investing, archaic and very old fashioned let me further relate events that occurred in the 1980s, not so long ago. During the four years of President Carter one of the favorite hedges to inflation and the general instability of the economy at that time was gold coins.

The coins most easily available in large lots was the Krugerrand from South Africa. I am sure that you are aware that during the height of the inflation that occurred in the Carter years, the severe rationing of gas from OPEC during that time and the economic downturn, the choice of the Smart Money Crowd was Krugerrands. They were easily available of high quality (.917 purity) and the government permitted their purchase.

All though the American Government did not allow private ownership of what was termed “bullion” but did allow ownership of foreign coins this soon became an all-time favorite of many professional men and women.. The Krugerrand was first minted in about 1967 and soon fulfilled the need for a stable and easily portable one ounce coin with a purity factor of .917. Its sort of amusing to me that Paul Kruger’s likeness was on a coin which was probably made from the gold discovered at Witwatersrand in South Africa and for which he once said that the discovery ” will cause our land to be soaked in blood.” How right he was. But gold has always had that reputation.

A careful check of the spot market for gold on the day this article was written shows that the bid was $662.83 and the ask was $665.63. To give you some thoughts about the stability and usefulness as a hedge against economic fears-this comment came from a precious metal trader in Europe, “if we can get above the resistance to an increase in gold prices from 667.00 it should easily run up to the $700.00s in price.” And a comment from a bank in Europe suggested that recently precious metals fell somewhat due to the quarter-end squaring by funds (that invest heavily in metals) after the metals failed to break above the resistance levels. Further the situation surrounding the incident of the seizures of the British Navy personnel by Iran continued to fuel safe-haven interests and supply concerns for crude oil should the situation escalate.” For what it is worth most analysts are bullish on the near-term effects of the bid and ask prices of gold and take the longer view that gold remains the place for the safe-haven of money during troubled times. And I might add a worthy asset to your diversified investment portfolio.

Check back if you will to this website because I am going to continue to read and write about gold, silver, platinum and palladium as havens for safe money during troubled times. A final thought or two. Ask any family in Europe whose grandparents had to flee from invading armies what is the one thing that always has worth and I suspect they would say, gold. Paper money is easily devalued and debased by printing without pause, but gold?

Jim Cone is an author interested in gold and gold coins for the portfolio and investing basics. His website is http://www.diversified-investing.tapwaterforgas.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=James_Cone

Tips For Investing in Gold Coins

By Dave Simpson

With all of the recent turmoil in the global stock markets, it is no secret that we are living in uncertain times. The more prudent investors have recently been turning to one of the safer forms of investment - gold, and gold coins in particular. Gold has enjoyed a bumper year with prices recently hitting $1000 an ounce as investors buy up stocks. According to the World Gold Council total investment in gold rose by 163% in the first quarter alone.

One of the most popular ways to invest in gold is to buy gold coins such as Krugerrands or Sovereigns.  Items such as Krugerrand coins, which individually are 1oz of pure gold, are easily available from such diverse places as on-line auction site EBay.. Many industry commentators are openly suggesting that investors buy stocks of gold coins as safe, long term investments.

So, what factors should you consider when buying gold coins as an investment?

The main factor is to compare the percentage over the standard market gold price for each type of coin.

Gold Sovereigns

Experts believe that Sovereigns are often worth paying the slight extra premium for. Their small size and historic significance make them very attractive to most investors.. They tend to be better known than say, Krugerrand coins and, if you live in the UK have the added advantage of being exempt from Capital Gains Tax.  It is suggested that if you can buy sovereigns within 2% of the price of Krugerrands coins that this makes them a better long term buy.

Krugerrand Coins

Krugerrand coins are the best known of all the modern gold bullion coins.  Made from one ounce of solid gold, they are generally the most available and best priced coins of their type on the market. In comparison to sovereigns, Krugerrand coins do not look as nice, nor are they of such historical significance, but as a solid investment they are still extremely popular. What they lack in looks, however, they make up for in high production quality and they are a cost effective way for small investors to buy gold.

If you are considering buying gold coins as an investment then I can recommend http://buycheapgoldcoins.com as a good starting place.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dave_Simpson