Virtually every country in the world has at some time made their own gold coins. In the past a lot of these valuable gold coins were essentially used during every day lives as money. At present this type of coins are minted especially for collectors of coins or gold investors. Should you choose to make gold part of your portfolio and would also love a collection that is beautiful to flaunt or enjoy as a fascinating pastime; look no further than starting to collect gold coins.

You might like to start your collection based on recent coins or amass older coins or a mixture of both types. Gold coins are made in assorted values and weights, so you might collect even on a strict budget. Certain net websites or coin retailers will offer to choose a package of these coins originating from various countries and will then send this selection to you. The charge for these packages might be between £500 and £3,000. Within them, the quantity of gold coins you are sent will be dependent upon a number of factors as in: The present gold price; the weight of the gold coins; their rarity and also their carat value.

Chinese Panda gold coins are minted in precise weights; for this coin (the one ounce Panda) it is 31.1036g and with a fineness of 0.999, Pandas are virtually pure gold.

Many places today produce their own gold bullion coinage to compete with the South African gold Krugerrand. Some countries also make special commemorative coins to record the milestone of a special incident or a specific incident itself. Usually, these special commemorative coins can be bought as proof sets, and can be a limited edition, which means that only a specified quantity is issued. This concept enhances the future scarcity appreciation and desirability of these commemorative coins.

One more plus point to investing in these coins ought to be that in many places this will be a no tax way for investment as at this point many countries don’t put tax on these coins whilst they could continue to be paid out as money. Realistically though, a person would need to be crazy to hand over a single sovereign in order to buy a few things costing one pound since they are worth nearly £150 at today’s gold scrap value.

If you commence investing in Chinese Panda gold coins you will need to pay more for coins in extra fine condition. Ordinarily, coins are graded for quality and the value of your Panda gold coins varies dependent on this grade. Your collection of gold coins will in the future need to be graded for condition by an expert anytime you decide to sell the gold coins. It is possible to often obtain uncirculated issues of many recent coins and although you are sure to pay out a little more for these, they should be in faultless condition and can be a sensible expenditure.

Early Gold Coins

The Romans mainly used silver coins because the metal was freely available, and could be made into a durable alloy by adding a small amount of copper. They regarded gold primarily as being primarily for jewellery and rarely used it for coins.

From the 6th century BC, coins were struck in relative weights, so that one gold coin was worth 20 of the same weight in silver. Something along these lines survived in Britain until the outbreak of World War I, with one gold sovereign being worth 20 silver shillings.

The fineness or quality of gold was, and still is based on a unit known as the carat which, as well as being a weight, represents a 24th part. Using this measurement, pure gold is described as 24 carat. The purest gold used for medieval coins was 23 carat 3 ½ grains (.997 fine), which was the highest quality that could be produced at the time. English gold was reduced to 20 carat by 1545, but was eventually set at 22 carat (.9167 fine). This was originally known as ‘crown gold’ due to its initially being used for the crown series of coins. The remaining percentage was made up of copper, added to produce a long-lasting alloy with a reddish lustre and this 22 carat gold continues to be used for sovereigns today.

The USA eventually settled on .900 gold fineness. Mexico opted for .875, while France and Germany preferred .900 fine. The first major bullion coin of recent times, the Krugerrand, was also minted to .9167 standard (22 carat; the most practical and hard-wearing quality), but later bullion coins were made for the highest purity. Canada achieved .999 pure gold for the Maple Leaf (from 1979), but improving refining techniques brought the famous ‘four nines’ gold introduced in 1983. Bullion coins now have both the weight and fineness of the metal inscribed on them.

British Gold Coins

Gold Guineas – The gold guinea was first issued in 1663 under Charles II and was named this because most of the gold came from Guinea in Africa. It was valued at 20 shillings, but this increased as the price of gold climbed. The very last guinea was issued in 1813, as the ‘Great Recoinage’ of 1816 replaced it with the pound, though it continued in common parlance valued at 21 shillings, until 1971 when the move towards decimal coinage made it obsolete.

It is important to remember the different finenesses of gold used when thinking of investing in or collecting old coins 22 carat was used for the sovereign (20 shillings), half sovereign (10 shillings) and crown (5 shillings), but 23.5 carat for the noble (6s 8d) and its sub-divisions. The gold guinea (21 shillings) was replaced by the sovereign in 1816.