Bullion Coins

Bullion coins are coin that are minted from precious metal, bullion coin are commonly struck from gold, silver, platinum and occasionally palladium. Many countries have produced bullion coins, some of the most famous example includes the American Silver Eagle, the Chinese Gold Panda, the Canadian Maple Leaf, the British Sovereign and the South African Krugerrand.

Bullion coins differed from gold or silver coins that are used in day to day commerce whereby their value is determined by the amount of precious metal content in the coin, rather than the face value that is minted on the coin, in most cases the bullion coin often has a actual value far exceed its face value. As such, many investors often purchase bullion coin as a hedge against inflation as gold prices often move inversely with the stock market.

The South African are the first to produce bullion coins with the introduction of the Krugerrand, although the circulation of the Krugerrand was not legal in many countries until after the 1990's due to the apartheid policies then.

In addition as an investment, bullion coins are hot collector item as most series that are minted often features beautiful design, and quite a few of the series like the Chinese Gold Panda have designs that changes every year. The Canadian Maple Leaf series even includes variation of the designs including the coloured maple leaf and the holographic enhanced version. Bullion coins also tend to be rare with most series having mintages that are less than 10,000. However note that collecting bullion coin for investment and collecting it for its collectible value differs considerably, an investor who collects bullion coins only for its inherent gold/silver value would buy only coins that carries a lower premium, refrained from purchasing any proof or rare coins as they demand a high market price due to is additional collectible value, also the condition of the coin does not matter too much as the coin is only valued for its precious metal content. On the other hand, a numismatists that collects bullion coin as a collectible would search for rare coins or any special issue (proof version etc.), and extra care would be taken to preserve the condition of the coin.

Watch the video below for the difference in collecting gold coins as a bullion or for its numismatic value. Don't forget to browse our store pages for great deals and learn more about different series of bullion coins.

More information about different series of bullion coins can be found here