$5 Liberty Gold Coins - an Alternative to Bullion

The United States Mint made a variety of different gold coins throughout its history, from $1 to $20 denominations. One of my favorites has been the $5 Liberty, made from 1839 to 1908. There are two distinct types of $5 Liberties, the 1839 to 1866 “No Motto” and the 1866 to 1908 “With Motto.” The basic difference is that in 1866 the motto “In God We Trust” was added to the reverse.

Specifically I favor the more common circulated examples, usually VERY FINE to EXTREMELY FINE condition. One of the reasons I like these specific grade coins so much lies in the fact that they are easy to buy and sell, popular with both collector and investor, and at present time can be purchased for a rather small premium over their intrinsic or “gold” value. In other words, the “collector premium” for these coins is quite low. Mintage figures from the late 19th century to the early 20th runs fairly high, so you can assemble quite a few different dates from the 1880’s to 1908, i.e. a “collection”, without much trouble. It is a great way to own gold if you’re growing weary of bullion coins. (Usually “No Motto” types will draw a larger premium, but not unreasonable given their lower mintages and greater popularity.)

$5 Liberty Gold pieces present an exciting and fun way to buy gold.

PCGS introduces New Technology to marketplace

Just recently the grading service PCGS announced that it created a new software technology capable of producing digital fingerprints of coins. Code named the “Coin Sniffer”, this remarkable technology will be able to detect “foreign materials and other enhancements to a coin’s surface”, such as putty, laser etching of coin surfaces, retooling details, or adding any foreign substance to make a coin appear better through chemical “enhancement”. Under the banner of PCGS Secure Plus the grading service unveiled this news at a press release the end of May.

In conjunction with this announcement, PCGS also revealed that it filed suit in Federal Court against several individuals, claiming that they engaged in “a pattern of racketeering activity, breach of contract, conspiracy, unfair competition and fraud” for allegedly over the years submitting these types of “doctored” coins for grading.

PCGS has always been on the forefront of the coin industry in trying to stop such malfeasants from occurring, and now finally will have a better set of tools at their disposal to deal with the problem. However, my question is this: Will this news affect the market in any way, i.e. prices, buyer confidence, or overall mood in the marketplace? Is publicizing the dirty laundry that coin “doctors” exist in the business, and have apparently thrived up to this point, a good thing to expose, or not? Thoughts?



Reference: Coin dealer Newsletter June 4th, 2010 edition Torrance, CA
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