Historic World Gold Coins

A potentially rich vein of opportunity for today’s gold investors

photo of European gold coin pile

Historic world gold coins from the mid-19th to early 20th century offer one of the great largely untouched and potentially lucrative opportunities in the field of gold investing today. There are four ways in which investors might benefit from owning these items beyond their appeal as a store of value.

– At a minimum, because these items historically track the gold price, the owner would benefit directly from a resumption of gold’s secular bull market. Gold is coming off a long period of consolidation and a good many analysts believe it is on the cusp of a major turnaround.

– Second, because the supply is fixed and limited to surviving specimens, premiums could increase as investor demand increases. In the wake of the 2007-2008 financial meltdown, for example, the premium on many historic gold coins in uncirculated condition rose to 30% over melt value. Those same items today trade routinely at premiums of 14% or less over their melt value. Similar instances of premium appreciation occurred in the late 1960s and early 1970s during the period of transition to the post-Bretton Woods monetary system and in the late 1990s Y2K scare.

– Third, many of the historical world gold coins are actually quite scarce by definition even though they trade at only minor premiums over the more common coins from the same era. Accumulating low mintage varieties, items of greater antiquity and assembling sets by mint mark, type and sequential dates are just a few of the affordable and achievable enhancements investors can pursue that might add collector value in the future. The notion that historic world gold coins could become collectors’ items has its origins in the 1950s and 1960s when shrewd accumulators acquired quality specimens of gold and silver U.S. coins from late 19th and early 20th century in bulk at slight premiums over the bullion price. Those collector/investors experienced multiple returns later in the 1970s and 1980s when a strong market developed emphasizing grade and relative scarcity.

– Last, as historic gold coins with a provenance dating before 1933, they fall within the category of items excluded from the U.S. government seizure of gold in 1933 and the subsequent ownership ban of gold bullion that extended to 1975. We view a gold seizure as a possibility, rather than a probability, and see historic gold coins as an important and cost-effective hedge for those interested in addressing those concerns within their gold holdings. Over the years, and particularly since the 2008 financial crisis, our firm has placed tens of thousands of these items with gold owners who are concerned about this possibility.

The “Historic Fractional Gold Coins” section of our Online Order Desk offers a gateway to reviewing and ordering these items. We offer current selections on a day-to-day basis under two broad categories labeled as ‘Popular Choices‘ and ‘Select Inventory‘. Availability on particular items changes from time to time as new lots become available and extant offers disappear into private holdings. We augment our current selections with periodic ‘Special Offers‘ of scarcer, more difficult-to-obtain items. These offers usually sell out quickly so time is of the essence if something sparks an interest.*

A few caveats are in order. First, there is no way of knowing for certain if the advantages of a collector market will develop in historic world gold coins as they did in U.S. coins in the 1970s and 1980s. Second, though premiums can rise during times of increased demand, they can also fall during times of decreased demand. Third, we cannot guarantee that these items would be passed over in the event new capital controls on gold including a seizure or quarantine. [Please see our Full Risk Disclosure here.]


* Please note that Online Order Desk registrants and regular clientele receive notifications of ‘Special Offers’ by e-mail. If you are not a client but would like to receive offer notifications, the best course of action is to sign up for access to the Online Order Desk. By doing so you will be included automatically on our mailing list and also, as an added benefit, receive access to our members only Premium Bulletin Board at no cost or obligation.


Related reading: Preparing for a Potential Gold Confiscation/George Cooper, JD/USAGOLD/2013. Also, The five best options for hedging a gold seizure/Michael J. Kosares


You can review and order historic European gold coins anytime
at our Online Order Desk

photo of three pre-1933 European gold coins - British sovereign, Swiss 20 franc, Dutch 10 guilder Phone Orders
1-800-869-5115 x100
(8am to 7pm MT weekdays)


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Disclaimer – Opinions expressed on the USAGOLD.com website do not constitute an offer to buy or sell, or the solicitation of an offer to buy or sell any precious metals product, nor should they be viewed in any way as investment advice or advice to buy, sell or hold. USAGOLD, Inc. recommends the purchase of physical precious metals for asset-preservation purposes, not speculation. Utilization of these opinions for speculative purposes is neither suggested nor advised. Commentary is strictly for educational purposes and, as such, USAGOLD does not warrant or guarantee the accuracy, timeliness or completeness of the information found here. (Please see our Risk Disclosure here.)


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