Why Liberty Gold Coins Are Selling like Hot Cakes

On May 11, 2011, Bob R. Simpson from Texas purchased a collector’s set of $10 Liberty gold coins from David Hall, Founder of Professional Coin Grading Service. This 184-piece Liberty gold coins collection was regarded as one of the finest by Legend Numismatics of Lincroft, New Jersey, which also struck the deal with Simpson. Estimated at $4 million, this transaction has gold coins from as old as 1848.

On selling the Liberty gold coins collection, Hall showed mixed reactions. “While I have a personal use for the money, I really had second thoughts about actually selling my set. I put a lot of work into building it, and it was a lot of fun for a long time,” said Hall.

While this can be a rare instance of a multimillion dollar deal, the general demand for gold coins has soared to new levels in May 2011. According to the US Mint, the agency has sold approximately 85,000 ounces of American Eagle gold coins in the first two weeks of May. At this pace, the Mint would sell the highest amount of gold than any other month since July 2010. To understand the current surge in the gold market, one has to understand the market performance for the last decade.

Liberty Gold Coins: “Real Coins for Real Man”

In late 1980s, Liberty gold coins were one of the most sought after investment instruments. During the boom period, gold coins were actively marketed and one can easily find an ad touting rare gold coins as “real coins for real men." As the prices of Liberty gold coins continued to surge, the market demand slumped by 1998. Market maintained status-quo for about a decade. However, in 2007 the demand and supply matrix took another shift to make liberty gold coins sell like hot cakes.

On the supply side, the market has witnessed some really good collection of liberty gold coins. In January 2011, the Miller collection was displayed during the Heritage 2011 FUN Platinum Night event. Such liberty gold coins with original surfaces are rare and are expected to give a major boost to the market in near future. Dynamically in sync with the supply side, the demand side has also witnessed some action since late 2007. According to the US Mint, a new breed of collector/investors has emerged focussing on beeline route to the Liberty gold coins market.

Liberty Gold Coins: New Breed Investors

The emergence of new breed Liberty gold coin buyers and the fortunate shift in the market is expected to bring more action in near future.

On May 16, 2011, Bloomberg broadcast the industry-wide survey to predict the health of gold market in 2012. According to the survey, the average gold price will remain at $1,750 by December 2011. It is expected to soar in mid 2012. Commenting on the survey report, Martin Murenbeeld, the the chief economist at DundeeWealth, Toranto, said, “There is no sign that gold has peaked. We’re going to find that the U.S. economy is not very strong. A low interest rate environment will remain for possibly all of 2012. The dollar will go down.”

Narrowing down to the Liberty gold coin series, one can expect its popularity to increase further. According to Doug Winter, an authority on gold coin investing, Liberty gold coins are one of the hottest collector’s editions for 2011. As people will become aware of the rarity of these gold coins and the challenges associated with collecting this series, Liberty gold coins will prove to be highly valuable.