I want to discuss pre-33 gold, and three tips I have if you’re thinking of buying it. Personally, I love Pre-33, but of course I can only add so much at a time, because I go for 1oz. coins most of the time. However. if you’ve never bought any let me, give you 3 tips in case, you’re looking into it.
(1) First tip is to buy these coins graded. And I know not everyone is going to agree with this but for me having a company like NGC or another grading company slab the coin helps me feel secure that it’s not fraud. I know it’s possible for the coin to be fake but to me when its encapsulated, it’s very tough to fake the slab. Now I’d encourage you here to check population reports (which show how may coins have been graded at what level) and then naturally you should expect the lower population of the coin, the higher the premium.
Today I buy almost all my bullion online. I wish I had a good store near me, but I don’t.
Last thing I will say is that a slabbed gold coin can make it easier to liquidate if it comes to that.
(2)A second tip is you don’t have to be extremely knowledgeable to buy pre-1933 bullion type gold coins. At least the more popular ones, because the value is based on the metal. This is in contrast to numismatic coins which can often have very little metal relative to their value. Those coin markets you really have to understand market trends, price history and study population reports to get an idea of supply.
The more popular bullion gold coins, they’re considered “semi-numismatic”, but really when you think about the premiums on some bullion coins, they can be the same or even higher. Silver American Eagles, in 2023 had massive premiums, when the spot price of silver was $20-24 an ounce, it wasn’t uncommon to see 1oz. American Silver Eagles being sold for $37 or $40.
(3) Third tip is to ensure premium (amount paid over spot price) or cost is not ridiculously higher with pre-33 gold than gold bullion coins. And to me this is one reason I like buying them. It does fluctuate but I typically see the price around 10% higher than bullion coins of about the same size. So, I’m getting history and it’s really semi-numismatic.
And to me this important, you’re owning a piece of history. The coin had value back then and it still does today. Its value is relatively the same.
Just a reference, up until 1933, the United States Mint issued a number of different gold coins into circulation. The most prominent of these was the US Eagle denomination. From 1795 to 1833, all US gold coins produced by the US Mint featured 22-karat gold. After this it was lowered.
The most popular pre-33 coins back then were the US eagle denomination. There used to be a denomination tied to the size of the coin. In other words, an eagle was $10, a double eagle $20, etc. And for me, I’ve been going after the double eagles mainly. But you definitely can’t go wrong with coins like Indian Heads.
Thanks
