Collecting gold coins

The practice of collecting gold coins has two distinct purposes.

• 1. Purely as a hobby
• 2. As an investment

Either way, you need to know a lot about coin collecting and precious metals before you get into it.

If you are doing it as a hobby, you may initially be interested because you came across a peculiar coin or one that commemorated a special event. If you get this coin free, then it is not a bad place to start. However, if you need to buy it you should find out more about its history, value and above all its legality. Sometimes coins are recovered illegally from dig sites or from the ocean and then sold. In this instance the coins are highly illegal and should never be bought because you may not receive compensation when you are forced to return it. If it is legal, you need to ensure that you are not being fleeced.

If you want to get into gold or silver coin collecting as an investment opportunity, you need to be aware of how the precious metals market functions. Particularly, you need to know how much each metal is worth and what the daily fluctuations are. In recent times gold has stayed fairly stable, so you won’t get big returns when you sell it. Nevertheless, its stability is a great asset; for example $1000 in gold is far more valuable than $1000 in cash, as currency can fluctuate wildly.Selling that gold when the currency dips, will give you far more than $1000 and thereby leave you with a lot more money in hand than you would have had if you put it in the bank.

Gold coin collections and you

Gold has been a greatly sought after material for millennia. Countries have been invaded, people have been enslaved and long wars have been fought over gold and its ownership. Even now, the lure of finding hidden treasure can stir up adventurous feelings in any person.

However, finding hidden treasure containing precious metalsis a long shot and there is a better way for people to endorse their love for gold. Goldcoin collections are not only are a great hobby to have, but they also represents a fairly lucrative investment. Although collections of very rare coins or stamps can yield more, when it comes to their sale it is a bit of a long drawn out process. With gold coins it is much more of a straightforward affair.You also know exactly where you stand with a gold coin collection as you can monitor the price of gold every day.

One of the key factors that affect a gold collection is your source. If you are an expert on coins and the gold market, then this is not so much a problem. You will be able to identify fakes easily and be able to appraise the value of the coin fairly fast. However, if you do not have this knowledge, you will have to rely on the word of your coin dealer. In order to avoid getting fleeced, you need to do some research. Find one or two dealers who have a good reputation in the market and conduct your business with them only. This way you can be safe and enjoy having a great collection/investment at the same time.

Diamonds: A Past and Present Investment History

With the price of gold steadily on the rise since December of 2009, many collectors and investors alike are looking for the answer to the future of diamonds, and while diamonds are indeed a rare stone (the rarest of all), the relative price of diamonds change drastically with that of rare metals and other valuables in terms of their comparative annual returns.

Diamond prices saw the highest rise in over ten year between the periods of March 2005 and November 2008, but have steadily dropped by -10% in comparative annual returns next to platinum and gold since the beginning of the 21st century.

Gold has steadily increased, remaining the most valuable investment since 2001, when gold prices skyrocketed after 9/11, transforming many lucrative investors into millionaires overnight. For the year-to-date, the price of gold has increased by 24% as compared to other major investments. Offset barely by the jumping price of coltanite in May 2009, gold has remained on the rise since July 2009. 

Diamonds have flatlined at a 9% investment return since March 2009, where they have remained torpid. De Beers owns a good 28% of the world’s diamond minds thus owning well over 28% of the world’s diamonds. The rest of the valuable diamonds with lucrative annual returns have landed in the laps of royalty after the Cold War, where they had been captured from Nazi vaults and redistributed throughout banks behind the Iron Curtain as Soviet prizes of war. Other diamonds kept in Western Europe have remained in the hands of millionaires since the beginning of the Cold War.

Personalized jewellery – name bracelets

Not everyone is a fan of sporting their name on their jewellery, but you have to admit that this level of personalized jewellery is very cool. Name bracelets are all the rage these days, with a large number of people opting to sport their names and even their pet names on their wrists and sometimes even on a necklace.

It was not until recently that personalized jewellery of this nature was widely available. It all started with those infamous alphabet beads that we all got for ourselves, when it was introduced, and then the trend slowly transpired to more expensive pieces of jewellery, with it being available only with top-end jewellers. Now, however, name bracelets and other kinds of personalized jewellery are not hard to come by.

Name jewellery makes hot gift items, as are pieces of jewellery sporting a person’s initials or even their birthstone. For a boy, engraving his name on a watch you have decided to gift him on his birthday is a fabulous idea.

If you are at a loss when it comes to baby gifts, such personalized jewellery is the best choice. You can opt for a simple baby bracelet with his/her name on it. Sterling silver baby bracelets also make good gifts for your children – which can eventually be turned into family heirlooms. These gifts will be treasured for many years and you can be sure they will appreciate these gifts when they are older – and you have to admit, will make perfect keepsakes.

Making jewelry with silver findings

Good jewelry will always be expensive and this is a simple fact of life. However, by making your own jewelry, you can avoid this huge expenditure and have custom made jewelry for a very low cost. The secret to doing this is in the silver findings.

Silver findings are the vital parts that form your handmade jewelry. These include chains,connectors, bead caps, clasps, bead tips, crimps, crimp covers cones etc.All of these pieces can be used in various combinations to form your own unique design. Really, the sky is the limit when it comes to combining findings and creating masterpieces. Even though it is cheaper than buying jewelry, you should be aware that silver findings are made from sterling silver and they will cost you a decent amount of money.

When you are buying silver findings, be a little prudent and don’t go overboard with your purchases. Get a few items and play around with them to see what you come up with. Don’t forget that you can get other pieces like drilled pearls or faceted beads to add to the findings. You should also purchase the proper tools and other accessories like good quality bead wire to ensure that your creative process is unhindered.

If this subject interests you, look online for tutorials and how-to videos to help you get started. You should also look online for reviews of vendors selling silver findings and other accessories. Make it a practice to purchase only from reputable vendors; others may be cheaper but your chances of being fleeced or duped are much higher.

Gold Coins and Silver – 2 Precious Metals That Should Be Part of Your Assets

The dollar may be getting weaker, but the value of gold coins and silver is going up. Experts say that coins purchased from reputable coin dealers are actually the safest investment you can make. That’s why more people are turning to them as part of their investment portfolio.

No matter what happens with the economy, gold coins and silver never lose their value. They are not like stocks that can depreciate overnight. In fact, the price of both gold and silver has been rising for years, and experts say that rise is expected to continue. Even if the worst happens and you lose everything, you can always fall back on your gold coins and silver. It’s almost like having an extra insurance policy.

When it comes to gold, nothing is better to have than a gold coin. After all, if you need money in a pinch, you can sell your gold coins to coin collectors or coin dealers, who have no use for bars. Plus, gold coins are fully-backed by the U.S. government, so they can sell at a higher rate. In fact, one of the most valuable gold coins, the American Eagle gold bullion coin, can only be bought from certain coin dealers.

And, if there is a true emergency, you can always use your gold coins as money virtually anywhere in the world. After all, who’s going to turn down a gold coin?

But what about silver?

In many languages, the word for ‘silver’ is the same as the word for ‘money’, and it is easy to see why. The demand for silver has risen to record levels, and experts say it’s going to keep rising. Silver is much cheaper than gold, making it a much more realistic investment for many people. As an added benefit, silver bullion bars take up less space than coins of the same value, so they are easier to store.

With silver, you have more options to sell, if you need to. Since silver has industrial uses, you can always sell a portion of your assets to a manufacturer.

No matter which precious metal is right for you, both gold coins and silver offer big advantages. If you own them, you can rest easy knowing you won’t lose everything if the value of the dollar, or the stock market, plummets.

BIRTHSTONE BRACELETS

Birthstone bracelets make really great gifts. When purchasing one, keep the following in mind: ensure that you shop at a reputed jeweller – not all jewellery stores stock the best of quality.

When shopping around for birthstone bracelets – first check that the stones used are clear and not murky. They should also not have any streaks in them. This is of absolute importance, especially if the price tag is on the high side. The stones used must be of vivid colours – not poorly coloured or multi-coloured.

Take for instance the birthstone for March – aquamarines: they should be flawlessly smooth and not scratched. Diamonds, the birthstone for April – while being the most expensive, should be inspected quite thoroughly. Firstly, to ensure that the stones have little or no imperfections; and secondly to ensure that they are diamonds after all.

June’s birthstone is pearls – which are judged based on their colour, sheen, shape and size. The more valuable pearls are rounder in shape and of a pure white shade. When setting pearls on a bracelet, each one must match the other and placed perfectly in place. Otherwise, the bracelet will not look good at all.

Opals or pink tourmaline are for October babies. Opals are extremely beautiful gemstones and are great options for bracelets, while pink tourmaline is fairly hard to find.

If shopping for baby jewellery gifts – instead of opting for the usual baby bracelet or name bracelets: choose birthstone bracelets, they will make a fabulous keepsake.