Coin Collecting Information

Muna wa Wanjiru asked:


I’m fairly fascinated with US gold coins and their history, unfortunately for me it’s a fairly expensive hobby as well as being a fascinating one. I do persevere though as much as I can and try to get my hands on as many gold coins as my budget allows me to! Gold has been used in some form or other throughout the history of the world in many ways and in many forms. From simple gold nuggets to US gold coins to gold bars and even gold biscuits, gold has literally made the world go around.

At least that was the case for mass circulation up until very recently in the twentieth century. At which point I’m afraid that gold was taken out of the loop as a means of daily monies and replaced with other things such as copper, nickel and paper. And whereas with gold it was the intrinsic value that was taken into account when any trading was done, with paper money, it’s the promise of the value to be paid by the government that makes this particular world turn around.

It’s an interesting idea and one which bears further exploration, especially if you’re more into the numismatics side if things instead of solely into coin collecting. And yes, that was a mouthful of a word and I hope you’ll forgive me for throwing it around! However, it needed to be said, and if you don’t feel up to getting your mouth around it I suggest you leave it for now. Even now, after hearing the word spoken and having read and written about it, I still find it hard to get my tongue around it with any sort of dignity.

If I don’t give it due consideration before I speak – the word, not the actual practice of it – I find myself uttering a mouthful of utter gibberish and end up looking like a total dimwit. So take heart and don’t give up hope – if you do like the numismatic side then you have all the time in the world to learn to say it properly.

Unfortunately US gold coins were stopped being minted in 1933 during the depression era in an attempt to bring the US out of its slump. It was then made illegal for anyone to hold any gold bullion or US gold coins, and most gold coins were recalled and melted.

Luckily for the coin collector of today, there were a few hardy coins still surviving and most of these I have to say were probably lurking somewhere overseas. That leads us to where we are now with US gold coins – scarcity and rarity.

To better give you an example of what I’m talking about, a 1933 US Saint Gaudens Gold Eagle went for a whopping seven and a half million dollars. Don’t get your hopes up though, it doesn’t mean that your US gold coins will go for the same price or even a fraction of it.

What it does mean though is that some coins are still rarer than others and more in demand. US gold coins were minted until 1933 but even after the ban was lifted on gold bullion and gold coin ownership in the 1970’s no more US gold coins were minted that would go into circulation.

Tim Anderson asked:


ecting is said to be the “Hobby of the Kings.” Coin collecting is different from money collecting. Collecting coins as an art form can be traced back to the 14th century. Today, people all over the world are collecting coins. Some collect it for their value, some just for the fun that they get from getting their hands on coins.

Most coin collectors, start out as informal coin collectors. They are leisurely collectors which do not have a specific goal in collecting coins. They collect coins from different countries or from different time periods as opposed to

an advanced coin collector who will collect coins with a specific target in mind. He may want to collect coins from a certain nation, or a certain time period. Many coin collectors would want to collect coins from a certain country during a certain period of time. This kind of coin collection lets the collector travel around the globe through the coins. People may want to collect coins from countries they had visited.

Another way of collecting coins is by taking history in mind. Many coin collectors engage in collecting coins during a certain period in history such as wars or Declarations of Independence.

Error coins

There are people who find coins with errors because these kinds of coins are rare now.

There are many ways to collect coins. One must feel the urge to obtain a hobby first before he decides whether to stick with it or not. Coin collecting can require certain amounts of money and the collector must be wise in engaging in such a hobby.

Numismatics today is a hobby that many people enjoy. One of the most cherished and most valuable collections that anyone can ever have are those of gold coins. The most expensive gold coin ever bought was worth around eight million dollars. This was the American 1933 Gold Eagle. This is why the collecting of gold coins deserves to be called the hobby of kings.

Since gold coins are no longer in circulation, the price for one of this rare commodity is quite high. Gold is now used for other things such as jewelry or plates that people retain as an investment.

Since gold coins can no longer be used to purchase merchandise, most coin collectors just keep them to remember that people had once used them.

A lot of people keep gold today as an investment because they assume that the demand will cause its market value to increase. Others hold it as a form of insurance should the financial situation become worse. Even billionaire Soros recommends investing in gold, including buying gold coins this days. Soros is so good at understanding the economy, he was even able to drug down 12% British pounds and make more than 1 billion in one day! This is why when he speaks about economy, the whole world is listening.