At this time, we are going to take a look at gold investing and take a much closer look at five of the top gold bullion coins available for IRA investors. We focus our attention this way because our website is dedicated to gold IRAs, so we only choose eligible investments for this retirement account vehicle. We focus our recommendations on bullion with IRS approval that is fully in line with the guidelines and purity requirements set forth by the Internal Revenue Service.
The standards of purity acceptable for gold IRA accounts include a fineness of .995, which equates to 99.5% gold purity. It’s also important to note that the Internal Revenue Service has not approved coins from every foreign government, so we focus on choosing coins minted with foreign government approval. And even more important is the areas we avoid which are rare, collectible, or high premium gold coins that do not qualify as official bullion.
A Brief Explanation of Gold Coins
To purchase physical bullion for your precious metals IRA, you can go about it using two ways which include buying gold bars or gold coins. Obviously there are big differences between buying a bullion bar versus a coin, so the decision comes down to whether you prefer owning gold over untrustworthy paper currencies. It doesn’t really matter which type of bullion purchase you make as long as you hold this belief.
In no real order, please take a look at the best five gold coins for your precious metals IRA.
Gold Austrian Philharmonic Coins
The Philharmonic gold coin from Austria is the most popular of its kind in Europe, because it has a rich history, a gorgeous design, and huge name recognition because of its origin, which shouldn’t surprise anyone that it ended up on our top five list. These coins made of bullion were only introduced in 1989, yet the Austrian Mint has produced some of the most valuable silver and gold in the world for over 800 years. Currently, the purity level of the Austrian Philharmonic is 99.99% pure, which surpasses IRS expectations.
Over the years, these coins have received awards at three different times during 1992, 1995, and again in 1996. Out of all of the gold coins in Europe, these Philharmonics seem to have the highest demand across the entire continent. And when they were first released in Austria, their face value was with the Austrian Schilling. But in 2002, they changed the face value over to the euro after the creation of this currency. The face value is now €100 for this coin. And when this first happened, it was the largest face value for any significant gold piece of any major economic force in the world.
Gold American Eagle Coins
In the United States, the American Gold Eagle coin is the official bullion coin of the country, even though they do not meet the 24 karat purity requirements needed by the IRS. In fact, gold eagles only have 22K gold purity and they are made of gold alloy, to provide additional strength and toughness within the metal so they can withstand abuse and wear and tear. But the IRS has made an exception for these coins and they are in huge demand by US citizens and other members of the world population.
Of all the gold bullion coins throughout the world, the American Eagle gold coin is the most popular, and this is particularly true for individuals investing in a precious metals IRA. And this coin is very popular even though it doesn’t quite measure up to the recommended and in many cases required 99.5% gold purity, which is rigorously enforced by the IRS for other coins besides the gold bullion American Eagle.
Besides the fact that the American Eagle is the official gold bullion piece minted in the United States, it also gets a pass from the IRS because of the overall mass of the coin. Their mass is 91.67% pure, because overall the total weight is 1.0909 Troy ounces, so they’ve managed to get a full Troy ounce of gold within the coin even though it contains even higher alloy metal content.
U.S. Congress introduced the American Eagle gold coins and authorized them as well. They are struck in the US Mint as gold, silver, and platinum coins.
Gold Canadian Maple Leaf Coins
The Gold Canadian Maple Leaf coin was the first 24 karat bullion gold coin produced on a national scale, and it’s one of the most recognized and highly touted gold coins throughout the world in modern times. This coin is also incredibly liquid, since there are over 40 million of these Gold Maple Leafs currently circulating today. These coins are often considered the gold standard for coin aficionados. And investors that want to own a high quality coin love them because they are made of 99.999% pure gold and produced by the Royal Canadian Mint.
Out of all of the gold bullion coins in circulation around the globe, the purest option is the Canadian Maple Leaf. It has a purity level of .99999 fine and there is very little metal alloy added to the production of this coin. All of the gold in the Canadian Maple Leaf comes from mines in Canada, according to Canadian legislative requirements.
Believe it or not, the Royal Canadian Mint in Canada was the first of its kind to deliver a .9999 gold coin to use for transactional purposes. It was first created back in 2007 when Canada decided to release a Gold Maple Leaf coin with a face value of $1 million. Even though the coin has a face value of $1 million in legal tender, the content of the gold is worth twice as much as the $1 million that it’s supposed to be valued at. The design of the unique Gold Maple Leaf coin was created by Stanley Witten with a fineness of .99999 purity.
Gold Australian Kangaroo Coins
Although this coin was originally called the Gold Nugget, because the original design showed pictures of gold ore, the Gold Australian Kangaroo now has a picture of a different kangaroo on the reserve side beginning in 1990 on the 1 ounce coins only, and the picture changes every year. That’s why it’s such a good coin for collectors. But the Gold Australian Kangaroo coins also contain 99.9% purity, which makes them a wonderful investment for gold IRA accounts.
The Kangaroo coin is Australia’s official bullion coin. The Perth Mint is responsible for striking them each year. And it’s one of the purest and highest quality gold coins available to IRA account holders and investors all across the world. Originally, these pieces were struck by a subsidiary company called Gold Corporation located in Western Australia and owned by the government. The Australian Department of the Treasury has a unique arrangement with the company and it allows them to mint and market silver, platinum, and gold coins to investors and collectors and they maintain full legal tender.
When they first released the original Gold Nugget coin, they sold $103 million worth of the coin, which equates to 155,000 ounces. These gold bullion coins have continued to be in very high demand for the last 30 years and it doesn’t seem like demand is slowing down anytime soon.
As of today, this series has a wide variety of sizes including a 1/16 ounce coin and a 1 kg coin. Australia set the record for having a gold coin with the biggest size that weighs 1000 kg which is very impressive.
Gold American Buffalo Coins
The United States only releases a single 24 karat gold bullion series and that is the American Gold Buffalo. It was originally introduced as an option for collectors and investors looking for a better purity level than that offered by the American Gold Eagle, and when they released it, it was a smashing success. The US Mint even had to halt the sale of the Gold Buffalo temporarily because demand was so high that they fully depleted their inventory.
Back in 2005, Congress authorized the Presidential $1 Coin Act of 2005, which is when this coin initially appeared. In following along with the Canadians, the legislation demanded that the gold used to mint these new coins must come from mines based in the United States. So every American Buffalo coin is produced in New York from the West Point Mint using real American gold. They didn’t start shipping these coins until 2006.
If you are investing for retirement purposes, make sure you read the following page to learn more about IRA Approved gold.
Why Should I Invest in Gold Coins?
Most investors often wonder why they need to begin investing in gold coins as opposed to gold bars or other investments. For starters, gold coins are unique, attractive, and draw lots of attention from collectors and investors alike. Bars as well as ingots aren’t very noteworthy and you won’t find too many people talking about them the same way you would regarding gold coins. Some things to consider include:
- Gold bullion coins are also legal tender in the United States and other countries of origin. So they possess a transactional value that makes these coins distinguished from other options and they’re a lot easier to use as legal tender when compared to gold bars if a country is going through a difficult financial crisis. You wouldn’t want to use these gold coins as legal tender because their face value is much less than their actual value based on gold content.
- Gold coins are a lot more popular than gold bullion bars, so it’s a lot easier to trade them when necessary. Coins are definitely the greater liquid asset out of the two.
- Gold coins are a collector’s item as well, and much more so than gold bullion bars. So not only will they have value based on their gold content, they also gain numismatic value because of their attractive designs, refined features, and more.