Gold Coins

Gold is one of the oldest metals used in coinage apart from Silver. Gold was used as coinage because of its durability, and high value-to-weight ratio. It does not lose its value when melted and can be shaped into bars or coins easily.

Some of the first gold coins or more precisely electrum coins (alloy of Gold and Silver) were probably from Anatolia, modern-day Turkey in 6^th century BC. King Croesus of Lydia is most often linked with the invention of such gold coins! When the Persians captured the king, they must have been inspired, as soon enough they started coin production using the metal. The Greeks weren’t left far behind as they started gold coinage for each of their major cities like Aegina, Corinth, Rhodes and Athens. Ancient China also produced coins from the sunshine metal around the same time as the Lydians in 6^th or 5^th century BC. In the New World, the Spanish escudo coins from Cartagena or Bogota were the first gold coins minted.

After the United States of America was formed, the U.S. mint released Gold coins with the denominations of quarter eagle ($2.50), half eagle ($5), eagle ($10). The gold rush of 1849 made possible the establishment of a new mint in San Francisco. The U.S. mint stopped the issue of legal tender gold coins in the year 1933. The Modern U.S. mint issues Gold bullion coins and other commemorative coins for investors and collectors.

Gold Bullion

Gold Bullion is gold in the form of coins, bars, and ingots. The U.S. mint releases the American Gold Eagle and the American Buffalo as the country’s Gold Bullion. The American Eagle is also available as Silver, Palladium and Platinum bullion. The bullion coins are priced based on the market price of the metal.

@CSN we have a good collection of American Gold Eagles released recently. We also have unique and rare coins like the 1906-S $20 Gold Liberty minted the year of the San Francisco earthquake, the 1926 $10 Indian Head and a “Pinch of Gold” from the California Gold Rush.