Spotlight

Photo Credit: Liberty Coin

NGC & PCGS Certified MS-64 $2.5 Indian Head Gold Coins

Buy It Now Price: $623.54 each (price as of 2019; item no longer available)

Pros:

-Pre-1933 NGC and PCGS certified U.S. gold coins – like these random date $2.50 quarter eagle MS-64 $2.5 Indian Head pieces – represent exceptional investment value in the hard asset space.

-Each coin measures 18 mm (0.71 inches) in diameter and weighs 4.18 grams (0.1344 troy ounces), giving a net gold content of 3.76 grams (0.1209 troy ounces).

-Buying an NGC or PCGS certified MS-64 $2.5 Indian Head piece means you are guaranteed to get a genuine, problem-free and stunningly gorgeous coin.  In addition, enough of these coins have survived to drive institutional interest and liquidity among large financial firms once hard assets become more popular.

-The $2.50 Indian Head gold coin series had fairly low mintages, especially compared to larger pre-1933 gold coins like the eagle ($10 piece) or double eagle ($20 piece).  The total mintage for the entire quarter eagle Indian Head series was only 7.25 million, with no single year even reaching a mintage of 1 million.

-Even though the NGC or PCGS MS-64 Indian Head quarter eagle coin you will receive is a random date, it is probable that you will get a common date from the 1920s (a 1925-D, 1926, 1927, 1928 or 1929).

-The surviving population of $2.50 Indian Head gold coins is much lower than the gross mintage figures would lead you to initially believe.  This is because huge numbers of these coins (along with other pre-1933 gold) were melted after President FDR nationalized the United State’s gold currency during the Great Depression.  According to PCGS and NGC population reports, a grand total of only 331,034 specimens have been certified between the two companies.

-Many pre-1933 generic slabbed Mint State U.S. gold coins have declined precipitously in price over the last ten years.  For example, between the summer of 2009 and the summer of 2019, common-date MS-64 $2.5 Indian Head gold coins have plummeted by 50% to 60% in value.  But prices have now bottomed and are beginning to rise, providing a phenomenal buying opportunity for the savvy investor.

-These random date MS-64 $2.5 Indian Head gold coins are eBay Bucks eligible!  That means that if you sign up for the eBay Bucks program and are patient enough to wait for an incentive period, you could get a 6% to 15% rebate on the purchase price of these coins.

-Generic U.S. gold coins are a wonderful bargain right now.  And these random date MS-64 $2.5 Indian Head coins are unbelievably cheap at only $624 each.  As an added bonus, MS-64 coins are generally the highest available grade before prices begin to rise exponentially with MS-65 and better examples.

Cons:

-Because they are random date coins, you don’t know exactly what you are going to get beforehand.  But the price is so low that I see this as a non-issue.

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Photo Credit: Enjoy Treasure

1890 French Agricultural Medal by Hubert Ponscarme

Buy It Now Price: $50.97 (price as of 2019; item no longer available)

Pros:

-This solid silver French agricultural medal from 1890 features the winged bust of the Roman god Mercury on the obverse and his caduceus (staff) surrounded by farm bounty on the reverse.

-This antique silver medal measures 40 mm (1.57 inches) in diameter and weighs 38 grams (1.22 troy ounces).  This is impressively large, surpassing both the size and weight of a U.S. silver dollar.

-The designer of this French agricultural medal, François Joseph Hubert Ponscarme (commonly shortened to Hubert Ponscarme), was a French sculptor and medalist who worked from the early 1850s until his death in 1903 at the age of 75.

-The inscription on the reverse of this medal reads “Cercle Agricole de Rethel Ardennes 1890”, which roughly translates as “Agricultural Cooperative of Rethel Ardennes 1890”.

-Hubert Ponscarme won several artistic awards during his life, including placing in the prestigious Grand Prix de Rome competition in 1854, 1855 and 1857.  He was also one of the French Emperor Napoleon III’s official medal portraitists during the 1850s and 1860s.

-Rethel is a small town located in the Ardennes department of northeastern France.  Purportedly founded by the Roman general Julius Caesar in the 1st century BC, Rethel was a center for wool-spinning and the manufacture of woolen fabrics in the late 19th century.

-Created near the end of Hubert Ponscarme’s career, this French agricultural medal reflects his technical maturity as an artist.  This can be seen in the marvelous details of Mercury’s bust and also how the grape vine clings to the presentation plaque on the medal’s reverse.

-This French agricultural medal comes straight out of the country’s famous Belle Époque period, which stretched from 1871 until the outbreak of World War I in 1914.  This cultural golden age produced many notable French people, including the chemist Marie Curie, the artist Paul Gauguin, and the mathematician/physicist Henri Poincaré.

-Ponscarme was known for using typography as a central feature of his medal designs.  This is clearly visible in the example above, where the bold, Roman-inspired font frames the medal perfectly.

-The $51 asking price is unbelievably cheap for a 130 year old, solid silver French medal in absolutely superb condition.  I have absolutely no reservations about recommending this piece as a top-notch investment.

Cons:

-Agricultural medals are not as popular as transportation-themed medals showing automobiles, trains or airplanes.  But with a buy-it-now price of only $51, it is tough to go wrong with this beautiful antique silver medal from the height of the French Belle Époque.

Read more fascinating Antique Sage numismatic spotlight posts here.

-or-

Read in-depth Antique Sage investment guides here.