I had a conversation with a real big wig in PCGS that truly is a giant in numismatics. My question, "why doesn't PCGS teach their graders how to grade circ. Type accurately?" His response was "a finalizer knows how to grade circ. Type." I said "as long as graders look at cleaned coins that are XF and are willing to call them VF, they are on the wrong line for grading an original VF coin." He said oh, "we do net grade for cleaning." I said "that is wrong and shouldn't be done because future buyers, like now, will never learn how to accurately grade." He gave me no response.

A dealer friend of ours sent in an MS-64 Bust Half in holder review for an MS-65. The response back was: too much friction for MS-65. Read again: too much friction. No wonder we can't buy Bust type for the clients that trust us, almost every single piece has friction! And yet these coins are graded MS60 to 65!!

A collector asked Paul Battaglia if he could see our 89-CC Dollar in XF-45. He said "what a nice original coin but I have to pass because I want my coins lighter. "Look what I just bought!" He proceeds to show Paul a horrible cleaned certified 93-S that I could see from ten feet away was cleaned. Oh well, such is the new era of coin grading. Just pray that the grading services have enough coins to grade for a long time. If one or both go out of business, people will rue the day they bought the plastic and not the coin. Paul had to have a TUM after that.

Baltimore was active and we acquired some very nice coins. Thank God for the dealers that hold the "real thing" for us.

Best Wishes,

We ask a very small service charge over our wholesale cost, usually in the amount of 1% for gold and 2% for silver transactions. The only other fee involved is that of the postage cost involved in sending your package to you and varies depending on the weight and value. This charge ranges from $5-25 for most orders, particularly heavy or valuable deliveries may be more. We ship through the U.S. Postal Service and all packages are discreetly marked for purposes of confidentiality and fully insured for safety.

If you would like to discuss bullion ownership in more detail or to request information on ordering please call us at 800-225-7264 and speak with one of our numismatists who will be glad to answer any questions you may have.

Bullion on the other hand refers to gold, silver and platinum coins or bars whose value is directly tied to the price of the underlying metal they are composed of. If gold fluctuates by $5 on any given day for instance, one ounce gold bullion products will move accordingly. These items are not rare, nor particularly collectable and thus maintain very little premium over their intrinsic value.

The most commonly traded forms of gold bullion are American Gold Eagles which come in coin form and are available in weights of one, half, quarter and tenth ounce denominations. These are 92% pure or 22 carat gold. Usually the smaller the denomination, the higher the premium and thus the less gold you will be getting for your dollar. Smaller denominations however can come in handy for those who may be in need of small change or even as great gift items.

The Canadian Mint produces Maple Leaves which come in the same denominations as the Gold Eagles described above with the primary difference being that they are 99.99% or 24 carat pure gold.

In addition, numerous manufacturers produce gold bullion in bar form, usually in weights of one and ten ounces. It is important to own bars made by widely recognized refiners such as Credit Suisse, Johnson-Matthey or Englehard and that they be a minimum of 99.9% purity.

All of these items are comparably priced with each other in relation to the price of gold, and recently have been hovering at close to $15 over spot. Neither really has an advantage over the other in terms of investment potential, ownership is really just a matter of preference.

The most commonly traded form of silver bullion are American Silver Eagles which are about the size of a silver dollar and contain one ounce of 99.9% pure silver. These are very popular as a form of silver ownership and also make great gift items. There are certain refining and manufacturing costs involved in the production of Silver Eagles which is passed along to the end user, usually resulting in their price running about $1.75 over the spot price of silver.

Various manufacturers also produce silver bullion in bar form, usually in weights of one, ten and one hundred ounces. It is important to own bars made by widely recognized refiners such as Johnson-Matthey or Englehard and that they be a minimum of 99.9% purity. These bars often trade at prices much closer to spot than the Silver Eagles, often just a few cents over as they are treated more as a bulk item and have smaller production costs involved.

Please note, certain marketers send these items to third party certification services whereupon they are encapsulated in a tamper proof holder and assigned a technical grade. These sellers may then offer them at inflated prices while extolling the virtues of these rarities which are now officially bestowed with super high grade designations such as Mint State or Proof-69. Understand that these are not rare, as a matter of fact the vast majority exist in this approximate condition due to strict production standards. It is our opinion that this is a poor form of bullion ownership and that you will be better served by ignoring these products. Except in very rare cases, certifying bullion does not increase the value and any premium paid at the time of purchase will usually be completely lost when it comes time to sell.