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Jan
22
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Although you may think of gold coins as being very old and outdated, the United States – and many other major countries around the world – are still minting gold coins today. These coins are known as bullion coins because they have the same purity as bullion, although the purity of coins from different countries can differ somewhat. Gold American Eagle coins are some of the most popular gold coins for investors, although some of them are even collectibles, which have more value than simply that of the gold that goes into their making.
The Gold American Eagle coins do not have a long history, although it is interesting. In 1985, Congress passed the Gold Bullion Coin Act, which stated that the government had the power to mint bullion coins and to assign them a face value that was different from the value of the troy ounces of gold that they involved. The face value of a Gold American Eagle is fifty dollars, although they sell today for about one thousand because the price of gold has been driven so high over the past five years.
When the government began minting these coins, its purpose was not to create coins that would be widely circulated, although they are still considered legal tender in the regular market. Instead, the coins are made from American-mined gold as a way for the United States to gain money – at home or abroad – on the gold it was producing. Coins sell better than bullion sometimes because they are smaller, opening sales up to more people, and because they are also collector’s items and not just blocks of gold that are valuable only because they are gold.
The obverse side of the Gold American Eagle features a design by Augustus Saint-Gaudens, which was originally created for a nickel in the 1800s. The picture is of Lady Liberty with a torch in one hand and an olive branch in the other. A tiny figure of the capitol building is in the back of Lady Liberty, and the edge of the obverse is ringed with fifty stars.
The reverse of the coin features a more recent design by Miley Busiek. The picture is of a male eagle carrying an olive branch to his mate and their hatchlings, which rest in a nest below him. Interestingly enough, the reverse is different from that of the Silver Eagle, but the obverse sides of both coins are very similar.