They all trade about the same price wise. You will always find someone with a preference of one over another though. Given a choice, I would lean to the American Eagles or Buffalos. The buff has a wonderful design and has an advantage of being 24K pure, which some will prefer.What gold coins are the most recommended. Golden Eagles, Canadian, South African, are they all the same?
Yes. Eagles are the traditional 90% gold, 9% copper and 1% silver. Silver is added to make it more 'gold' color instead of the coppery color of a K-rand. This was the alloy used when they were circulating, due to pure being so soft. Pure coins would not last long and would get 'light' way too fast. I have a post card sent out to post masters in the 19-teens when there was a problem with 'sweated' coins. Sweating is a process where the coins were lightened bt various means. They were required to weigh the $20 gold coins that came into the post offices.Buff are pure 24k and Eagles are not?
All of the coins, of the one ounce variety, contain one ounce of gold. The copper and silver alloy is additional weight. There are 20 dwt (pennyweights) in a troy ounce. The 999 coins weigh 20 dwt. The 90% coins weight 21.9 dwt. Generally when you see a weight listed, it is the melt value and not the actual total weight. Traditionally, an alloy was used for wear resistance.I'm a little confused. I see from the local coin dealer a 1oz Buffalo is 832.52 and 10z Eagle is 838.34. Why is the Eagle more expensive if the Buffalo is 10% more gold?
Glad to have you on here BTW. Appreciate all the insight.
Shorthand for Kruggerrand, the first 'modern' gold bullion coin from South Africa. They first came out in 1967, when it was 'illegal' for Americans to hold gold made after certain dates. Countries like Mexico and Austria kept making their now non-circulating gold coins in the old odd weights with the old dates on them. South African had the forethought to say 'hey, maybe these would be more marketable if we make them in an even weight, such as 1 oz, 1/2 oz etc' and they found a new market for some of their considerable wealth.What is a K-rand?
There used to be a kit marketed that had thickness and width slots cut into for most of the common coins. Dimension and weight are constant - any variation and it would be verifiable with this test. Not made anymore, as far as I know. You could of course do the same test with a micrometer and scale.Any gold coins to avoid? Gold has always been kind of a mystery to me, I worry about buying gold but it not being as pure as labeled even with coins. Any weight to that thought?
Sure! Gold bullion coin specifications is one of the best lists, and it has measurements as well. Gold Content And Value Calculator is a site that figures melt value. The last 3 digits in the URL are the spot price you want to ask about, and you can click on a box to update it to the current spot price. Bullion coin specifications has some pictures and specs, depending on what they have in stock.Is there a guide somewhere for what every coin should weigh?
Coinguy said it right about what is better and all. It's up to you preference wise. On another note The silver 1 OZ has a face value of $1 U.S. This is legal tender. You can legally buy something with it, unlike the other coins or rounds, you may get. The Gold 1 OZ has a face of $50 and Platinum 1 OZ $100 face.What gold coins are the most recommended. Golden Eagles, Canadian, South African, are they all the same?
I agree at some point people will start taking silver and gold over FRNs however I personally don't think it will happen that quickly... or at least not in the day to day stores. The, shall we say, grey or black market "stores" will probably be the first. How soon the mainstream stores do is hard to say. You'll probably be better off trading wtih mom and pop places, farmer markets or direct with the farmer.I've read where people have speculated that retail stores would start accepting junk silver during hyperinflation. A 1963 dime is worth about $2. That's worth enough money to buy a loaf of bread today. That will most likely be true when a loaf of bread is $20, or $200 or $2000. Hyperinflation is a 100% certainly. It's just a question of when it starts. People need to be prepared for it. Junk silver dimes are the best way to make small purchases.