The Investment of Kings and the King of Investments

CLIENT ALERT

Beware MS70, MS69, PF70 ‘Perfect’ + ‘Certified’ + ‘First-Strike’ + ‘First-Release’ Gold and Silver American Eagles and American Buffalos

In 2006, the US Mint produced its first-ever .9999 fine gold coin in the form of the popular American Buffalo. The goal was to offer investors an American-made alternative to popular pure gold products like Canadian Maple Leafs, Austrian Philharmonics, and gold bars. While numerous dealers (USAGOLD was one) offered Buffalos as an alternative bullion coin at a competitive rate, the novelty of the coins coupled with feverish demand helped spawn a whole new spinoff in the gold business – the independently graded contemporary bullion coin.

On the surface, there is nothing wrong with having one’s contemporary bullion coins graded and housed permanently in hard plastic containers. It is when these items are then promoted as exceptionally rare and desirable and priced at very high, and often unsustainable, premiums over their gold content that it becomes a problem. In reality, as you will read below, the graded item, in most cases, is not substantially different (except for the container) from the typical bullion coin purchased daily by thousands of investors around the world.

After Buffalo hype wore off, our feeling was that this promotion, like many others that came before it, would fade away with waning interest. Yet here we stand many years later, rather than fading away, it has expanded and proliferated to include American Gold Eagles, American Silver Eagles, and US Mint Commemoratives. One need only search MS70 or PF70 “Perfect” American Eagles to see just how many companies offer these fictional “numismatics.” (MS is an abbreviation for mint state and PF for proof)

At USAGOLD, we could not be more emphatic in our warning against paying significant premiums above the metal content for these products. This includes common contemporary items sold as “first-strike,” “early issue,” “first release,” Mint State 69, Mint State 70, Proof 69, and Proof 70, as graded by the independent grading services, including the Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS) and the Numismatic Guaranty Corporation (NGC). Below we have published the U.S. Mint’s official statement regarding “First Strike”/”First Release” designations and production quality controls.

The statement of ‘consistently high quality throughout the course of production’ is critical. For example, at one of the top grading services, 100% of the one-ounce gold 2021 American Eagle (Type 2) business strikes submitted for review graded either Mint State 69 or Mint State 70 – the two highest grades at the services. Almost 95% of submissions received a Mint State 70 grade, the ultimate rating. As for the 2021 silver American Eagle one-ounce coins (Type 2), 99.9% of submissions made the top grades of Mint State 69 and Mint State 70, and a similar percentage of proof silver Eagles made the top grades of Proof 69 and Proof 70.

With the mint continually producing new coins at the same high quality that they always have, year after year, there is literally an ENDLESS supply of product. To be clear, you do not have to avoid buying these coins altogether. You just have to avoid paying an egregious dealer premium to do so. In fact, if you were so inclined as to desire ownership of graded bullion coins for future numismatic potential, we’d recommend simply purchasing bullion coins from us at our competitive premiums and submitting them to be graded (certified) on your own.

Content last updated on 11-12-2021

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Looking to include gold and silver in your retirement plan?
DISCOVER THE USAGOLD DIFFERENCE
ORDER DESK:1-800-869-5115 x100/orderdesk@usagold.com
ONLINE ORDER DESK-24/7

Need more information? Try – 
What you need to know before you launch your gold and silver IRA