American Eagle Coins

The current recession we're facing has drawn a lot of comparison to the similar economic crisis of the 1970’s. There certainly are quite a few parallels, perhaps most notably in gold, with the metal starting at around forty dollars an ounce at the beginning of the decade and finishing in the six hundred dollar range in nineteen eighty.

However, many are fearing a crash... no, not in gold, but in the paper gold market. If you don't know what this is, it is basically a certified dealer selling pieces of paper, which, legally, hold the same value as an ounce of gold.

Sound familiar? We've just described paper money before the gold standard was abolished in the US. In essence, gold is money, paper is not. Paper is only, well, paper, with a face value printed on the front.

In other words, if you're investing in the metal, it's a good idea to stick with the real deal. Buy American Eagle coins and you won't have to worry about the fate of a piece of paper reading "This entitles the holder to one ounce!"

Many have used the certificate route as a way to get around the pressure of actually holding the physical metal. After all, we don't all have a vault in the basement to horde bars and coins. Of course, this seems a bit odd when you consider that Gold Eagle Coins are so small that you could fit a few hundred of them in a shoebox and a few hundred ounces is plenty for most people building their wealth.

Of course, the convenience of American Eagle coins also negates the problem of the metal being a difficult commodity to easily cash in when you need some money. You can simply purchase American Eagle Coins one or two at a time and sell a few American Eagle coins likewise without having to invest in a forklift and move hundreds of thousands of dollars whenever you need a few hundred to get the car fixed.

And while the certificates are rumored to be experiencing problems in the coming months, you'll hear no such worries regarding Gold Eagle prices. Being the real deal and not simply paper, Gold investments are a tangible commodity and their value has only been going up lately thanks to unprecedented numbers of new investors looking to buy Gold Eagle coins.

The bottom line is that paper is not money. Precious metals are money. Look at the penny. The penny is worth a bit more than its own face value when it comes to metal content, which is exactly why Federal Law has made it illegal to melt them down for their copper. Metal is always worth its weight in metal, whereas, with inflation going as it is now, we may eventually see the day when one dollar bills are discontinued, as a bleached dollar bill is worth more for its paper content than a measly old dollar.

In short, it may be wiser to go with real gold than to try those certificates. American Eagles are real money, paper is not.

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Stewart Lawson

July 1, 2009