Coins are generally hard round pieces of metal that are used as currency and have ben used this way for centuries together. Coins are issued by the banks or Government . Coins are used for day to day circulation in daily life. Lower denomination are in form of coins where as higher denominations are issued in form of bank notes .The gross value of the metal used in coins is much lower than the face value of the coin.
Exception to the currency coins are the Bullion coins ,coins made out of precious metal like gold silver and platinum. These coins are not used for currency, gold coins and silver coins as currency was ceased in 1933 when the gross value of the coin became higher than the face value.
Gold and Silver coins are not produced only as souvenirs or as collectors item or for investors.
Gold and Silver coins being very valuable are mainly produced for coin collectors ,or for investors who purchase these coins to safe guard their savings. These valuable coins are a good way of liquidating your investments ,in the United States financial planners are known to advice their clients to put at least 40 % of their savings in purchasing these Gold and Silver Bullion coins.
Every country mints Gold coins for their investors as well as coin collectors.United Stats mints the American Gold Eagle.Canada is known to mint the very popular Canadian Gold Maple Leaf.
South Africa is known to mint the not so popular in demand the Krugerrand.
The face value of the U.S Eagle is 10$ ,though In this case the face value makes no difference as the gross value of the coin is much more ,the coin in this case is valued as per the prevailing market price of Gold metal. The Canadian Maple Gold leaf also has a nominal face value.
A great number of metals are used for the production of coins ,metals and alloys of all kinds are used for minting coins , earlier valuable metals like gold silver and platinum were used which then became collectors item or Bullion coins ,for currency the use of copper came into practice this too at some point when the metal value of copper increased had to be ceased after copper Nickel was very popular for small coins of cent and quarter .Nowadays steel is used practically for all the coins ,though plating and coloring of different kinds are given to create differentiation among the coins.
There are many types of coins
Currency coins are the ones used for day to day circulation ,the face value of these coins is the market value of the coin ,the gross value of the coin is lower than the face value.
Bullion Coins -Gold and Silver coins ,the coin value of these coins depends 100%on the market value of the metal ,a gold coin is priced as per the prevailing rate of the gold metal .Bullion coins are valued as per the cost of metal their standard weight as well as their purity. These coins are no more used In circulation, they are used as investors item .
Rare antique coins
These coins are collectors item , the value of these coins is determined by the rarity the age the condition the date of issue the mint mark of the coin . If the above criteria's are not met with the coin ,the coin is graded with a low grade and the market value of the coin is relatively low.
Certain coins have historical significance to their presence and such coins whatever be the condition are well priced n the collectors market.
Coins have been a part of our lives from the 6th century BC ,the first coin was minted by the Mahajanapadas of Indo- Gangetic Plan since then coins are an essential part of lives either in form of currency or In form of Bullion coins as investment.
Coins - go figure - and enjoy!
