Rare Coin Dealers

If there is one obvious modern market trend, it is the constant increase in the price of most of the precious metals. Just a quick look at the precious metals quotes over the past year for such things as gold, silver, and platinum show incredibly impressive results. The general trend is upward, and somewhat dramatic increases in overall value have been experienced across the board.

While this means that precious metals quotes can be used as a means of illustrating the general intelligence of an investment in gold, silver, or platinum in one format or another, they also can be used for much more.

Let’s just look at the ways in which a “short term” investor might benefit from precious metals quotes around gold. It is bought and traded in a variety of formats that include bullion and coins. For example, someone might want to own a very flexible form of gold such as American Eagle coins. This is usually an option for those who are hoping to “cash in” on sharp increases in precious metals quotes, without also having to sell off their complete holdings.

Just consider that in the past year alone, gold has experienced an increase of roughly 30% in total value. The investor who monitored precious metals quotes on a daily basis would have been able to gauge the daily pricing and could have benefited by trading their coins when they had reached an obvious pinnacle in any one of the “spikes” experienced over the past year.

Of course, the quotes also demonstrate another interesting thing about precious metal holdings – they trade at different rates according to the format selected. For example, someone can usually purchase gold bullion at a lower per-ounce price than they can the various coins into which gold is regularly minted. The Euro Philharmonic, American Buffalo, American Eagle, Maple Leaf, and the Krugerrand will all tend to trade at a higher price than plain bullion, due to the extra costs of minting and distributing.

So, why would someone pay any attention to the market quotes for the coins if bullion is available at a lower average cost? The coins offer investors a few different opportunities that include lower weights and extrinsic values. Let’s first consider the benefits of lower weights; the American Eagles, for example, come as a full ounce as well as a half-ounce, quarter-ounce and tenth-ounce size. This means that someone with a limited budget or someone hoping to enjoy maximum fluidity might opt for the smaller weights.

Additionally, all of the coins offer their holders the extrinsic, or assigned, values that are imprinted in the form of official currency. This means that someone with a roll of American Eagles at the full one-ounce weight would have the market value of twenty ounces of gold, but they would also have one thousand dollars of currency. This means that if gold somehow lost most or all of its market value as a precious metal, the holders of the coins could still cash in their holdings in exchange for the value of the currency. This is like an insurance policy that no other formats can deliver.