Precious Metals Thread

[rookhawk]

That’s my second point exactly.

My first point being mint/bullion coins are generally uncirculated with little to no premium for being uncirculated (and are generally .9999 pure).

The St Gaudens motif is on a 2009 double eagle mint coin, a $50 American eagle and, of course, the original pre-33 double eagle. While you’re more likely to find pre ‘33 MS60+ double eagles, than say the contemporary peace silver dollar, as the gold coins just didn’t circulate/trade as much as currency when issued, if uncirculated, they carry a premium. If you find those “St Gaudens Double Eagle 1oz” coins (and not the 2009 bullion coin) at true spot, that is a very good deal.

It’s a little like BPE and NE double rifles, but the timeline is in reverse

The four double eagles I received recently were all estimated MS62-MS64. I have a coin guru slated to look them over. I think I'll pay $45 to grade them if they are MS64s that carry about a $400 premium over spot, then trade them off for more bullion. I'm just not a coin collector at all and I want to lock in any surprise numismatic upsides I come across.

 

[deewayne2003]

There is something to be said about this @SETH RINGER . A friend of the family is a deputy sheriff and a dyed in the wool coin collector. (he wears "old coins matter" t-shirts) When they were a struggling family barely making it, his wife would make his sack lunch, recharge a pen light, and bought him $200-$300 in sack coins every week. Every week she'd go back to the bank and re-deposit the coins. He'd sit in his cruiser on graveyard shift doing traffic enforcement looking through every penny, nickel, dime, and quarter in the sacks.

Today he has amassed a substantial coin collection. He found many silver coins in the bags over the years. He found many collectible coins over the years too.

I love when I hear people that are very thrifty finding A.) A free hobby, and B.) A way to create a nest egg out of thin air.

People like this are the best part of the American dream.

P.S.- He's coming over for BBQ brisket tonight so I get to hear all his latest coin exploits. He's also a fortune hunter, pans for gold, and has a metal detector. The guy literally finds value for free everywhere he goes.

When I was in elementary school I noticed a table at the local gunshow with an old Winchester wooden shotgun shell crate sitting on it and looked inside; it was 3/4 full of Mercury head dimes and a card that said “Silver dimes $0.25each or 25 for $5.00”.

I remember my grandfather showing me a mercury dime he got in change and telling me about silver coins and how they were worth more than face value.

As the show was shutting down that Sunday I walked by that table again and the old man offered me $5 to help him load up all his many tables of guns and coins out to his van; I countered with $10 worth/50 Mercury dimes, he chuckled and said deal.

So every 3-4 months I’d take home a roll of dime for helping him load out and this went on for years until they bull dozed that old mall where the gunshow was held but yeah it started me into silver and by the time I graduated high school I had a respectable hoard of 90% coins.

Those of age at the time to buy guns cannot imagine the envy I had being underage at a pre 1994 gun show in Texas; those were indeed magical times.

 

[318AE]

The four double eagles I received recently were all estimated MS62-MS64. I have a coin guru slated to look them over. I think I'll pay $45 to grade them if they are MS64s that carry about a $400 premium over spot, then trade them off for more bullion. I'm just not a coin collector at all and I want to lock in any surprise numismatic upsides I come across.

If those are pre 33 and you got them at spot, you got an incredible deal. Well done.

 

[rookhawk]

If those are pre 33 and you got them at spot, you got an incredible deal. Well done.

Obviously, double check URLs and the source, doing your own diligence. The source I got them from is bullionexchanges.com

These four arrived today:

 

[Ray B]

For you coin/metal experts- This is a coin that was part of my wife's inheritance. Mostly the coins were old US silver but a few oddball ones on which the writing to us indicated a country in the mid-East but otherwise unknown. What is it?

 

[Betterinthebush]

Both 1927 Eagles are remarkable strikes. Congratulations

 

[318AE]

Both 1927 Eagles are remarkable strikes. Congratulations

Agreed- both the 1927s, particularly the 2nd one (3rd coin shown) - it should grade very well.

 

[rookhawk]

This is a teaser deal, limit one, but passing it on. 2026 1 oz Silver American eagle coin. Bullion Exchanges allows you to buy one of them at Spot price:

https://bullionexchanges.com/silver-at-spot-2026-1-oz-silver-american-eagle-1-coin-bu

 

[Betterinthebush]

I much preferred Silver Eagles with the older design on the reverse side with the crest and shield.

 

[deewayne2003]

One thing to note about the Saint Gaudens double eagles - They were counterfeited in real gold for the jewelry trade in the middle east as well as counterfeited in base metals as well in China.

The real ones weigh 33.44g

There are other scary good fake gold coins out there

FYI - There are a SHIT LOAD of fake Morgan silver dollars out there and some are good enough that they can be hard to spot.

The real Morgan silver dollars weigh 26.73g - maybe a little less if worn, but I've never seen a worn fake; but I have seen some with artificial patina to make them look old.

GOLD & TUNGSTEN CORES - FYI Gold has a density of 19.25 and Tungsten is 19.32
In 2012 10oz & 1kilo Pamp Suisse gold bars in the New York diamond district were found to have tungsten cores - These bars had authentic serial numbers and had pass x-ray tests before entered into inventory.

So they mill out the gold in the center of the bar, fill it with tungsten and then cover the cavity with gold and polish it to hide the work.

 

[rookhawk]

One thing to note about the Saint Gaudens double eagles - They were counterfeited in real gold for the jewelry trade in the middle east as well as counterfeited in base metals as well in China.

The real ones weigh 33.44g

There are other scary good fake gold coins out there

FYI - There are a SHIT LOAD of fake Morgan silver dollars out there and some are good enough that they can be hard to spot.

The real Morgan silver dollars weigh 26.73g - maybe a little less if worn, but I've never seen a worn fake; but I have seen some with artificial patina to make them look old.

GOLD & TUNGSTEN CORES - FYI Gold has a density of 19.25 and Tungsten is 19.32
In 2012 10oz & 1kilo Pamp Suisse gold bars in the New York diamond district were found to have tungsten cores - These bars had authentic serial numbers and had pass x-ray tests before entered into inventory.

So they mill out the gold in the center of the bar, fill it with tungsten and then cover the cavity with gold and polish it to hide the work.

Is there any precedent of buying fraudulent coins from the top-10 sellers? APMEX, BullionExchanges, JM Bullion, Money Metals Exchange, SD Bullion, etc?

They sell the various tools to detect clever frauds, I had assumed it would be a high trust transaction from a national dealer?

 

[deewayne2003]

Is there any precedent of buying fraudulent coins from the top-10 sellers? APMEX, BullionExchanges, JM Bullion, Money Metals Exchange, SD Bullion, etc?

They sell the various tools to detect clever frauds, I had assumed it would be a high trust transaction from a national dealer?

Don’t know, but those same houses buy and resell all the time.

If slugged gold bars with serial numbers were purchased by and delivered to the diamond district in NYC then they can get into anywhere.

If you look at the first video he puts the slugged coin through electro density tester and it still comes back as .999 and I think you’d have to use xray or density tester.

I’d get in writing from the seller what methods they use to confirm authenticity.

 

[rookhawk]

As an ignoramus, I’ll buy from top-5 sellers and save receipts. I’m assuming everyone else is more prone to fraud. If I ever sell, they have a buyback agreement where they’ll take the same coins back at just under spot.

Too complicated for me to tool up for, it sounds like buying shotguns without wall thickness and bore diameter gauges. (I have those, everyone else buys junk unaware)

 

[Xpraetor]

If there is 1 thing I have learned to be true, which my Father told me & I eventually understood what he was trying to teach me, certain tangibles always hold intrinsic value. Au & Ag always stay relevant in an economy or finances, it will always outlast fiat currencies & despite "inflation" it has the same buying power that it had 100 years ago .....

 

[Betterinthebush]

Interesting the timing of this thread.

Official Reserve Revaluations: The International Experience

The Federal Reserve Board of Governors in Washington DC.

www.federalreserve.gov

I was waiting for someone else to bring this old news up, but guess I had to do it.

@rookhawk seeing as how you started this thread, and I value highly your expertise in the field of finance, debt, money and currency; what do you make of my attachment and what advice do you have for other metal heads in futures positions (whether ETF’s, physical or mining stocks)?

 

[fourfive8]

For you coin/metal experts- This is a coin that was part of my wife's inheritance. Mostly the coins were old US silver but a few oddball ones on which the writing to us indicated a country in the mid-East but otherwise unknown. What is it?

That’s a Turkish (Ottoman) coin with togra symbol. Which specifically? - dunno

 

[rookhawk]

Interesting the timing of this thread.

Official Reserve Revaluations: The International Experience

The Federal Reserve Board of Governors in Washington DC.

www.federalreserve.gov

I was waiting for someone else to bring this old news up, but guess I had to do it.

@rookhawk seeing as how you started this thread, and I value highly your expertise in the field of finance, debt, money and currency; what do you make of my attachment and what advice do you have for other metal heads in futures positions (whether ETF’s, physical or mining stocks)?

@Betterinthebush Thank you for the compliments, but I really don't have the expertise to analyze your question very well. I'm not an economist and I don't necessarily understand the ripple effects of the thousands of Federal Reserve policy decisions they make.

So you can judge my logic which may be very flawed, I asked AI a few questions to make an assessment of your question:

1.) How many ounces of gold does the US government possess?
261.499-million-ounces of gold

2.) What's the value of the US reserves at today's spot price?
$1.21 trillion at today's spot price

3.) What’s the deficit for this year?
CBO projected full-year FY2026 deficit: $1.9 trillion, about 5.8% of GDP

4.) What's the US GDP?
$32.475 trillion

My inference from this data: So the U.S. produces economic output equivalent to the entire market value of its gold reserve roughly every 13–14 days. Whether we reprice our gold reserves from the $11 billion aquisition cost to the $1.21 trillion FMV, any economic benefit to our reserve capital would be nothing put a temporary gimmick. Our deficit spending just in 2026 would undo all the paper gains of marking the gold reserves to market.

Just an ignorant layperson's opinion of the policy.