Rare Coin Dealer

The US Treasury has, since 1986, offered the American Eagle gold coin as among its gold bullion coins. There are other designs available, as well, and all of them exhibit the characteristics that make US gold coins desirable. Among the current offerings are different grades in bullion and very diverse designs. Any gold bullion coin from any nation is backed by that nation’s treasury as being of the stated purity and weight. The Treasury of the largest economy in the world, obviously, enjoys a great deal where credibility and collectability are concerned. It also produces some of the most beautiful coinage in the world.

The Gold American Buffalo coins have two aspects that make them particularly attractive. First, the design is an American classic, from the same artist who designed the famous “buffalo” nickels in the early 20^th Century. The obverse features a Native American man in profile and the reverse a buffalo. The nickels which bear similar designs are highly sought-after by collectors, and including this art on a gold coin was a natural choice. The coin is also .999 fine gold, the first gold coin of this purity produced by the US. Continue reading

Everywhere you turn, you hear the advice “Buy gold!” or “Buy silver!”  That leads one to wonder: why not also buy platinum coins?  What is the difference between platinum, gold and silver?  All of these are considered precious metals.  However, platinum is in a slightly different category than the Big Two.  Socially speaking, platinum has long been regarded as a step up above the finest gold.

Platinum is actually more expensive than gold.  Platinum currently sells for $1,614 per troy ounce, though it sometimes spikes to almost twice the amount of gold.  Like gold and silver, this is a ductile and lustrous chemical element.  Like silver, it is used in a variety of industries including the medical profession and in electronics.  This can be a disadvantage however, as this metal will fluctuate with the rest of the market.  Remember this fact when you think about the option to buy platinum coins. Continue reading

Before you start collecting coins, you need to spend some time learning about coin collecting in general. This might seem silly, but it can keep you from making major mistakes and spending money on coins that aren’t worth your while. Since this would be a pretty silly thing to do with all the available resources on numismatics, you should just take the time to learn a few terms from numismatics and a bit about how coins are graded and priced. Like most other hobbies, numismatics involves a whole bunch of unique – or uniquely used – terms, and here are just a few to get you started.

There are all kinds of terms describing tiny marks on the surface of coins. An abrasion is a light scratch or scrape that will lower the grade of a coin. An adjustment mark is a mark that is made on the coin when it’s being minted, and back marks are dings and nicks that are inevitable in coins that have been bagged. A coin with bulged die marks has a wavy surface caused by a defective stamp, and die cracks are tiny lines on the surface of the coin that are caused by the die cracking under pressure when the coin is being minted.
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