Modern Commemorative

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THE PRIVATE GOLD alternative to Bullion or high priced certified coins. These coins do not have the reporting requirements like bullion products. They offer privacy and liquidity yet trade primarily based on gold content. 

Barber Coins & Collectibles, Inc.-Modern Commemorative Gold

Throughout this century, commemorative coins have been used to honor special events, projects or individuals. All are of the standard weight and fineness of traditional coinage and all are legal tender. Typically produced by the mint in both uncirculated and proof strikings, they are offered at a premium over their intrinsic gold or silver content to help defray the cost of the occurrence being celebrated. Being of a different design than the day's regular pocket change they are usually cherished by a few in the know and rejected by the majority of dealers who avoid these issues because they cannot mark them up like they do other coins. In the earlier part of this century many gold coins were so issued to help commemorate events of a very proud nation. Sometimes not all were sold. The remaining coins were returned to the mint where they were melted down for bullion coin.

(None of those outstanding commemoratives, by the way, were legally confiscated when gold was recalled in 1933 because they were, and still are, true numismatics.)

But, as is often the case, what was undesired by one generation became the treasure of the next. For example, take the case of the 1915-S Panama-Pacific $50 gold piece. In 1915, an International Exposition was held in San Francisco to celebrate the opening of the Panama Canal and the rebirth of the Golden Gate City from the ashes of the April 1906 earthquake and fire. To help defray the cost of the Exposition, these massive pieces were sold at $100 each- twice face value. Only a little over 1/3 were actually sold to the public with the vast majority being returned for melting into bullion.

These older commemoratives are currently trading at premiums in the estimated $50,000+++ range each!

A similar story exists for all the other gold & silver commemorative coins of yesteryear: Production with good intentions, rejection by most, then later "discovery" by a new generation at premiums never thought possible by those who rebuffed them when they were "a dime a dozen."

Now "fast-forward" yourself to today's situation with our "modern commemorative" gold coinage.

Being the first gold coins issued by this country since the gold confiscation of 1933, they are the only non-bullion, legal tender gold coins this country has produced in over half a century. Like their predecessors they were issued at a premium to help a particular cause, and likewise not enthusiastically received by the majority of people because of the added premium and also the public's unfamiliarity with them. Thus, the mint began issuing fewer types and numbers of them as time went on (many have a mintage less than that of known MS-64 $20 Saint Gaudens). Today they sell for much less than their pre-1933 counterparts in the lower grades of worn condition. If history repeats itself you can count on these selling for many times their current price (because so few were issued) even though they now trade at a price closer to bullion than does any other numismatic gold coin on the market today! It's a win-win situation!

To reserve your mixed rolls (20 coins per roll) of these "sleeper" issues please contact me at your first convenience. Quantities are limited and will be sold on a first come basis. These prices are subject to availability & change without notice.