ResearchAmerican Gold Coins - What Capitalism is For
You don't have to be a coin collector of any type to appreciate a solid chunk of gold in your hand. Never mind those little bits of jewelry you've handled. A minted gold coin is a whole new kind of gold - bullion with American designs stamped on it. It weighs heavy. It flashes in the light. Coin collectors who acquire many gold coins, after a certain limit, tend to not get out much. After a while, it's just too much fun to sit in your keep and gloat over your horde chortling in your Scrooge McDuck voice. Let the stock market and the economy do what it will - you've got your stash!
The United States Coinage Act of 1792 established an independent monetary system with the dollar linked to the value of 24 and 3/4ths grains of fine gold, based on the then-world price of $19.39 per troy ounce. Minting of United States gold coins began shortly afterward, and has continued in fits and starts ever since. Congress has changed the gold specification a couple of times trying to keep the amount of gold in the dollar to the amount of one dollar, but it quickly threw up it's hands in disgust at this hopeless prospect and now a "dollar" gold coin from the early years is worth hundreds to thousands of dollars.
In 1934, for some arcane economic reason, United States citizens were prevented by law from holding monetary gold while in the country, and this was even extended to apply to citizens abroad in 1961. All restrictions of this type were lifted in 1975, and you can now own and flaunt all the monetary gold that you want.
United States gold bullion coins today follow the "eagle" system, a sneaky way to dodge around the idea of tying it's value to the dollar. What would have been called $2.50, $5.00, $10.00, and $20.00 pieces are now referred to as quarter eagles, half eagles, eagles, and double eagles. With the price of gold being such a volatile critter, spiking all over the charts, it can currently be pegged down only to around $580/ounce. Oops, make that $582. Nope, wait, that's $584. Oh, just go check whatever it is currently.
The United States Gold Double Eagle is .9675 ounces - a dense, meaty chunk to clench in your fist. To even own one is to belong to a private club - the top of the coin collector's market. But besides the raw value, gold eagles have the additional value of numismatic value. And so, various dates and strikes throughout history have value much esteemed beyond the value of mere gold. A 1907 double eagle proof (proof being a special high-quality strike which the mint does just for collectors, God bless them) traded at $825,000 at a 1996 Sotheby auction. A mere four-dollar gold piece from 1880 with the coiled hair design, having been minted in the quantity of just ten specimens, goes for $500,000.
All values here are of course subject to change as time goes by. If you really have your heart set on collecting the top valuable pieces, you're probably wealthy enough already that money is no object to you and you're just in it for the sport. But for the current year's mintage, eagles of any denomination may be had for a price well within the working-class wage, if you save up a little. If your timing is good, you could end up with a piece that matures in value at a top rate. Then let somebody pay you ten times what you paid for it. If you can bear to part with it, that is.