My Grandpa Was Always Right
 

August Bruning an old German carried a small gold coin. He would vow that as long as you had gold, no matter the size you can always feed your family. besides my first luger, a 1906 Frenchy, took his advice

Eric, do you collect coins, or is it an investment?

There is a ticker symbol that you can buy, which is easy to manage and resale, but the disadvantage of symbol is no weight in hand, in case that ticker melt away (highly unlikely).... disadvantage and advantage. Anyway, here is the symbol, you may interested in:

Link: SPDR Gold Shares (GLD)

Thank You, I'll definitly look it up. My Polish other Grandmother aka 'Stada Baba' would say, "Don't keep all your potatos in one basket'

In theory, ticker GLD is simply gold in modern form.

BTW, beautiful coins, they are gold in classic form. Classic one has one big advantage, it carries collector value. But GLD does not. GLD's mobility is super.

This all scares me! I would rather these intangibles in my grasp. The old bird in the hand!

Never mind then.

I thought an analog of this: Gold coin is collectible, and ticker GLD is shooter. In gun world, both are guns, but have different use. You're a collector, so you like coins. Great :)

Guns are one thing and ammunition another but I sence we are pretty much aware of this. I love my Lugers most of all! Both class and endless utility!

Ammo? No. GLD is not Ammo equivalent. It's cash equivalent, but going up and down with gold price.

Cirelaw: What are those lugers? They look pretty sweet. Is one a commercial?

Ill post the complete ones tommorow
 

A 1913 erfurt, a 1917 dwm. and a sneak with regimental markings

I wonder what such coins cost?

David

Cirelaw,

I agree with your grandfather, people will always recognize the value of gold and silver.

A friend of mine imparted his wisdom of “candy bar social economics” to me a few years ago and it made so much sense that it has stuck. In the theory of candy bar social economics he stated that when he was a kid in the late fifties he could go to a bank and buy a silver dollar for $1.00. With that same silver dollar he could go to the store and buy 20 candy bars. Most people don’t realize it but the US Mint still produces silver dollars called Silver Eagle’s with a face value of $1.00. For the purchase price of that Silver Eagle he could today buy 20 candy bars.

It amazes me that every time there is economic fear, there is a run on silver coins. I do wander if this is to ensure the stability in the price of candy bars. :)

The argument for silver coins is that they would be more useful in day to day life after a currency crash, ie you couldn't trade a gold coin for a tank of gas, but a few silver coins, maybe. I'll leave this in the realm of conjecture. I knew a man who thought that alcohol and tobacco would make better barter items than metals.

The gold etf's (GLD and also SGOL, maybe a few others) have the advantage that they are more liquid, there is no shipping cost and you don't have to fret about physical security.

Very late in this game. But these coins do bring in more fun than ETF ticker symbols:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=et0fsyKfjzw