helmuth_hubener
Banned
- Joined
- Nov 28, 2007
- Messages
- 9,484
Shipping is not a big cost with gold. Your gold is not going to be very heavy. Shipping is a cost with silver, not with gold.
From whom to make your purchase? Any reputable online company with a good price will do. Perhaps consider Camino Coin, run by libertarians (not the only one -- many gold sellers are libertarian).
You should never pay tax on gold. Tax is stupid. It will totally wipe you out, adding a crazy percentage to your purchase. So unless you have a jeweler friend or pawn shop friend who will sell to you under the table and not charge tax, or you live in a state which doesn't charge tax, buy from out-of-state.
How to make sure it is the real thing in the right amount?
Pawn shops will usually have a gold tester. It measures the resistance to tell whether it's 22 carat gold, 24 carat gold, not gold at all, or whatever. They may have to risk scratching the face of the coin a tiny bit to get a good contact for an accurate result, especially if the coin is old and dirty, with a little bit of build-up of some kind (oils, dirt) on the surface. Without good contact, it will scare you with a false negative. That's happened to me.
But really, the best way to make sure it's real gold of the right quantity is just to buy it in coins. If it looks like a genuine Krugerrand, it almost certainly is. Counterfeit small coins are very rare. Counterfeiting them is expensive.
How much over spot should you spend?
As little as possible. Look around online. As everyone else has told you, less than 6% over spot ($100 would be about 6%) is a deal very possible to get. It's about 3% here, as you can see:
http://www.ajpm.com/gold-bullion.html
Is there any certain preference on who mints and on any amounts that are more preferable than others?
I prefer one ounce. It's standard. It's nice. I happen to like having a few 1/10th ounce coins also, if you can get a good deal on them. Just wait until you find a good deal, there's no hurry. On who mints, I would go with South Africa -- the Krugerrand. That's because it's the lowest premium over spot. If you just want the maximum amount of gold for the minimum price, then you will also probably want Krugerrands, or perhaps U.S. Eagles, or Candian Maple Leaves. If you get Maple Leaves, they should be encapsulated in plastic, because they're very soft.
Hope that helps!
From whom to make your purchase? Any reputable online company with a good price will do. Perhaps consider Camino Coin, run by libertarians (not the only one -- many gold sellers are libertarian).
You should never pay tax on gold. Tax is stupid. It will totally wipe you out, adding a crazy percentage to your purchase. So unless you have a jeweler friend or pawn shop friend who will sell to you under the table and not charge tax, or you live in a state which doesn't charge tax, buy from out-of-state.
How to make sure it is the real thing in the right amount?
Pawn shops will usually have a gold tester. It measures the resistance to tell whether it's 22 carat gold, 24 carat gold, not gold at all, or whatever. They may have to risk scratching the face of the coin a tiny bit to get a good contact for an accurate result, especially if the coin is old and dirty, with a little bit of build-up of some kind (oils, dirt) on the surface. Without good contact, it will scare you with a false negative. That's happened to me.
But really, the best way to make sure it's real gold of the right quantity is just to buy it in coins. If it looks like a genuine Krugerrand, it almost certainly is. Counterfeit small coins are very rare. Counterfeiting them is expensive.
How much over spot should you spend?
As little as possible. Look around online. As everyone else has told you, less than 6% over spot ($100 would be about 6%) is a deal very possible to get. It's about 3% here, as you can see:
http://www.ajpm.com/gold-bullion.html
Is there any certain preference on who mints and on any amounts that are more preferable than others?
I prefer one ounce. It's standard. It's nice. I happen to like having a few 1/10th ounce coins also, if you can get a good deal on them. Just wait until you find a good deal, there's no hurry. On who mints, I would go with South Africa -- the Krugerrand. That's because it's the lowest premium over spot. If you just want the maximum amount of gold for the minimum price, then you will also probably want Krugerrands, or perhaps U.S. Eagles, or Candian Maple Leaves. If you get Maple Leaves, they should be encapsulated in plastic, because they're very soft.
Hope that helps!
