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Wednesday, March 27, 2024

BULLION VS COLLECTOR COINS: ABOUT 5000 YEARS OF HUMAN HISTORY TO COLLECT

 


The old question for those who know they want gold is simply to store your weath in gold bullion, or to veer off into the 5000 years of gold coinage that defined, described, illustrtated and chronicled the waxing and waning of human political culture.

Bullion is the safe bet.  So if what you're doing is safeguarding your wealth that's your best bet.

Collector coins are close to collecting Old Master Art; there's a lot to know, there's risk involved, and there's potential for great appreciation.

The drawbacks of bullion are 

1) storage.  It's best to store it accessibly.  If the world devolves and your gold isn't accessible it may not serve its purpose.

2) Portability.  If you have a lot of bullion it is very heavy and tough to move.  But if you can afford a lot of bullion you can probably affford and armored  courier service.

3) It's not as easy for the government to track as say electronic tranactions.  But storing a sizable amount of bullion or converting it to currency may attract the attention of the Government.  You may be fine with that.  It bothers some people.

The advantages of bullion: it is a global market: bought and sold fungibly in all the major urban centers on earth.  The price is set by weight.  Everyone knows it.

Collector coins are interesting for all their drawbacks.  In fact it is largely on account of these drawbacks that many people are attracted to them:

1) Very few people know their value.  However they do have a value within a set range but this will vary with condition, availability and demand.  If you happen to be expert on those elements, that value can be known fairly precisely to you.

2) Coin and medallions of great value can be very portable.  That doesn't mean you wouldn't prefer to send them with an armed courrier.  But, in a pinch, you can put them in your pocket and flee.

3) They are just as difficult for the government to understand and track as they are for the average collector.  Few people (in the government) are even aware of the difference between, for example, a Ptolemaic Oktodrachm and a donative of mulitple ducats of Antonio Venieri.  It might take quite a long time to explain the difference in type, place of issue,  value etc.  This opacity makes them quite attractive to people who don't mind putting in the time to learn and especially attractive to those who value privacy.

And the thing about collector coins are that there are as many types as there have been local centers of  commerce in the entire world over that last 5000 years. That's a lot of types.  And there tend to be a lot of collectors for each type.  

The trick is knowing where they are, and how they value their particular pieces of history.


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