Blessing Gold

gold coinsIn an example of how certain categories of antiques and collectibles can increase rapidly and fall, the market gyrations of gold coins is suffering because of the volatility in world commodity prices for precious metals, according to a recent Wall Street Journal article .

Double Eagle gold CoinsBecause collection of the runup in gold prices over the past year, many speculators have jumped on the gold coin market, hoping to use these coins as a bet on the price of gold, or hedge against inflation. But when gold prices plunged in the last month, the values of many gold coins sank quickly. And many of the older collector coins, according to the article, is trading at only slightly above Thira "melt value", or the value of its contents if the gold melted.

This despite the fact that experts say older, more rare coins tend to maintain their value best when the gold price falls (because they still have collectible value). But that did not happen this time.

The recent ups and downs in world gold prices have created a pair of another phenomenon: the rise of fraudulent schemes in which companies to advertise and sell "layers" gold coins with little actual content of gold at high prices, and softening of the traditional market of collector coins, including $ 20 Double Eagle (shown here) as investor attention focuses on the new U.S. administration Bald Eagle commemorative coins and similar issues in other countries.

Moral of the story # 1: antiques and collectibles values rise and fall, often for reasons that can not be predicted in advance. Moral # 2: be sure to be clear why it is collected. For the fun of it or as an investment? Ideally both, but remember that over time many categories of antiques and collectibles have become the global market, while others have done quite well. And in any case, there can be long periods when those values can be very high up or down.