Well Mike, I’m far from expert on this, having just recently begun my research, but from what I’m gathering – and anyone who knows more, please do jump in:
Gold Sovereigns have been being minted for over 500 years and there are many millions of them around. There are some coins that have “numismatic” or “collector” value, but there are also a large number of common “bullion grade” coins that sell for a very small premium over the market price of gold.
Krugerrands are also tightly tied to the market price of gold, but sell at a somewhat higher premium than Sovereigns. Also, they sell for around $450 as opposed to the slightly over $100 price of the Sovereigns, making smaller purchases easier.
I’m also finding that most places require you to buy 10 or more Krugerrands at a time to get the advertised price – individual sales command a very high premium – and I’m really looking for something to buy a couple hundred or couple thousand dollars at a time, whenever there are excess poker profits ... maybe that’s going to turn out to be an unrealistic goal ... maybe silver?
I’ve found that the US pre-1965 bags of silver coins are bags of $1000 face value and are selling at about $5200 right now, so that one isn’t exactly what I’m looking for right now, either. The price of the bags does seem to outpace the price of silver bars during times of economic uncertainty, though ... sometimes by a margin of 30 to 40%. They are considered by some as “survival coins”, something that will still “spend” in the face of economic collapse. British Sovereigns are also sometimes considered survival coins.
“Survival” investments aren’t only for the paranoid end-of-civilization crowd, by the way. Warren Buffet and Bill Gates both took very large positions in silver a few years ago as a protective measure in the event of an economic collapse. My personal thinking on the matter is that stock prices (US in particular) have been pumped so high by the billions of dollars of 401k and IRA money (recently adopted American retirement investment plans) being dumped into the market every month that an eventual collapse is inevitable ... the real question is when?
Ah well. I’m rambling. It’s snowing and my connection isn’t stable enough to play poker. And I still want somebody to tell me about
Tanzanite as an investment ... before this thread goes down the tubes.