Relatively new to the market, American Buffalo investing has hit the mainstream and did so quickly.  These gold coin investing rounds didn’t come on the market until 2006, as 24k coins, when Congress authorized their minting.  The uniquely American design made it almost instantly popular.

While it could be considered somewhat numismatic, enough of these are being minted that American Buffalo gold coin investing is not really collecting, as such.  American Buffalo investing is definitely becoming a great way to get into gold coin investing.

Although minted as “$50″ coins (in the full ounce), these are obviously worth much more than that.  Their current price is just a little above the current spot price for gold, showing that they are an investment.  I’d say a great American Buffalo gold coin investing option.

Whatever your reason for investing, these coins could have some numismatic value in the future, given the uncertainty of their minting longevity.  If the Mint were to stop producing them tomorrow, American Buffalo investing would immediately turn to collectibles.

With that in mind, I would suggest not treating them as you would other rounds and protecting their sheen and unmarred surface.  While they are currently gold coin investing options, they could easily become collection investing instead and you’ll want to keep your options open if that happens.

American Buffalo gold coin investing is a great way to get into gold coin investing, for sure.

This is the first in a 3-part series on this subject.  With this article, we’ll get into the basics of gold coin investing in a generic sense–how beginner gold coin investing can help you.  Later, we’ll look at specific coin types.

Beginner Gold Coin Investing
Gold is an extremely popular investment tool because of its static value, its beauty, its cultural meaning to most of us, and because it’s a universal currency accepted world wide.  Most of us who use gold coin investing (rather than collecting) purchase what are commonly called “rounds.”

These are gold coins of specific size and quality, but made in such large quantities that they have almost no collector’s value and are valued almost entirely for their non-numismatic content alone.  Literally every major nation in the world produces gold rounds of one type or another.

These are usually in specific sizes: 1 ounce, 1/2 ounce, 1/4 ounce, and 1/10 ounce.  Some make all of those sizes, some only a few of those sizes.  When gold coin investing, make sure that the coin you’re considering is 24k and not an alloy mix.  This greatly effects value.  Most gold rounds will be priced at just above the current market price for gold bullion.

These rounds will usually be in plastic sleeves, so beginner gold investing enthusiasts often put them into albums.  This is fine, but storage space is often an issue and since these are not collectible coins, they don’t need to be kept in perfect shape (aka “uncirculated”).  So many will take their coins out of sleeves and stack them in cylindars to compact them and save space.

Whatever you do, make sure you have a safe place to keep your beginner gold coin investing fruits.  The largest down side to investing in physical gold is that it’s imminently portable, so theft is a big concern.  A secure location (safe deposit box, large, bolted safe, etc.) is paramount.

Next, we’ll talk about American Eagle gold rounds for investing.