If you are interested in investing in gold and silver coins, then you are probably interested in numismatics as well. Numismatics is the study and collecting of coins. Coin collecting can be an extremely enjoyable and fulfilling hobby for men and women of all ages. Investing in coins for your collection can also be extremely profitable. Gold and silver coins are international possessions that are traded on a daily basis and can have prices that change daily. A person can look up the daily prices of metal on the world wide web (MONEX is a good source for this type of information). There are also a few other things you should do to invest in gold and silver coins properly.
Gold is s precious metal that has been used as a form of currency since ancient times. The Romans and Greeks minted gold coins and special mints were even established in Spain to produce Spanish gold coins. The United States has had gold and silver minted coins since the 1780’s. During the 1800’s, gold was traded at $20 per ounce. In the 1930’s, the price of gold rose to $35 per ounce. During the Great Depression, the FDR administration made it illegal for people to own gold coins and most of them were melted. In the 1970’s, when owning gold coins was legal again, the price was approximately $200 per ounce. During the 1980’s, the price rose drastically to $800 per ounce and since then, it has even increased to $1,000 per ounce a couple of times, depending upon the supply and demand of gold.
Silver is one of the most coveted types of coins a collector can buy. Since silver is an abundant commodity metal and has many purposes, from jewelry to electrical devices, the demand for it never lowers, making silver coins extremely valuable. During the 1960’s, the price of silver rose and the United States government stopped using it to make circulation coins. In the 1980’s, the price of silver was $50 for an ounce and since 2000, the demand for this type of precious metal has peaked at $20 per ounce.
The first thing that you can do to invest in gold and silver is to establish exactly what types of coins you will want to collect and buy. Knowing this can enable you to concentrate on buying specific coins to add to your collection and easily form a budget that you want to stick to.
Visit local coin shops and even attend local and national coin auctions. Here, you can talk to experts about what types of gold and silver coins are the most valuable and what they should be priced at. You will also be able to learn how to grade coins by going to a lot of coin auctions and window-shopping. Learning how to grade a coin properly is a very important skill to have and can help you save lots of money in the long run.
