Yes—it’s that bad in Europe. While European leaders continue to attend meetings and argue about how to solve the Euro crisis, here’s what’s actually happening in Greece, according to German magazine Spiegel.

Many Greek residents are having to use their savings to pay routine bills because the economy there is so terrible; they are also facing rising taxes and financial uncertainty. As a direct result, Greek banks are having to reduce their lending—thus worsening the recession in that country. Money in Greek savings accounts has decreased 30% in two years. And it’s a situation that could happen soon in Spain and Italy.

Financial and political leaders in Europe are seriously starting to consider printing money as one way to get out of the crisis. This would start once Italy, Spain, and other countries adopt austerity measures. While this will provide some much needed liquidity, it also poses the threat of inflation. And when there’s a serious threat of inflation, then it’s a good time to buy gold. Historically, gold has been one of the most effective ways to protect savings from inflation.

And there’s absolutely no guarantee that printing money will solve the crisis.

“When there’s concerted action by central banks, it’s definitely good,” Jens Sondergaard, senior European economist at Nomura International told Bloomberg. “But are liquidity injections a game changer when the heart of the problem is in European sovereign debt markets?”

A further problem on the horizon is the potential downgrading of credit ratings for 15 out of the 17 Eurozone countries.

“We are therefore also placing the ‘AAA’ long-term rating on the EU on CreditWatch negative,” announced credit rating agency Standard and Poor’s.

And it’s understandable. Italy is precariously close to defaulting on its debt of 1.9 trillion Euros. If even one of the current Eurozone countries decides to stop using the Euro, this decision could create a financial catastrophe by triggering sovereign debt defaults across Europe. The choice is stark. Several European countries will have to accept Greek-style austerity measures or the European Central Bank will have to print Euros.

There’s a reason the United States is extremely worried about the Eurozone crisis: many U.S. banks guaranteed European sovereign debt; if there’s a default, then the U.S. government would have to bail out their banks again. To achieve this, the U.S. Federal Reserve would likely have to roll the printing presses and print more money. Again—this significantly raises the threat of inflation.

It’s a mess. And the crisis in Europe is one of the main reasons to buy gold. Right now, it looks like there will be two major problems in Europe: inflation and continued economic uncertainty. Both make buying gold attractive as gold thrives during times of uncertainty and when there’s inflation.

We’ll take a look at the reasons there will be increased demand for gold in a minute but let’s start by taking a look at some big players in the market. In past blogs, we’ve mentioned that Middle Eastern and Asian countries are big buyers of gold.

• Qatar has been buying more than a ton of gold every month for three years.
• Russia recently bought more than 15 tons of gold from its mines.
• The Reserve Bank of India bought 200 tons of gold the IMF sold.
• Even tiny Mauritius bought 2 tons of gold in November.
• And then China plans to buy gold: approximately 6,000 tons in five years.

It’s not easy to find this sheer quantity of gold. The supply of gold remains low. New mines are opening but it takes at least five years for a mine to produce at significant levels. With high demand, low supply, and a volatile global market, there’s a good reason that many commodities analysts are predicting significantly higher gold prices for 2012.

• UBS has forecast $2,075 an ounce.
• Barclays has forecast $2,000 an ounce ($35 an ounce for silver).
• Morgan Stanley predicts a range between $1,819 an ounce and $2,085 an ounce.
• HSBC predicts $2,025 an ounce.
• TD Securities predicts $1,975 an ounce.

With the price of gold hovering around the $1,700 an ounce mark for several weeks, it may be a good time to buy gold.

Five Factors Pushing Demand for Gold

1. The financial crisis in Europe over the Eurozone—which looks increasingly likely to lead to printing money…and inflation.
2. Central banks are buying gold as they move away from the dollar.
3. There’s strong demand for gold for jewellery in China, India, and the Middle East.
4. Institutional investors may start buying gold—especially if global equity markets remain stagnant.
5. The spectre of inflation—not just in Europe but all over the world.

With gold prices at approximately $200 an ounce below the high in September and many major financial institutions predicting prices over $2,000 an ounce in 2012, now could be a good time to buy gold.

In the short term, it will be extremely important for people who are considering buying gold to pay close attention to the news coming out of Europe.

“We expect gold prices to increase because of fear of a Eurozone implosion,” said Dennis Hynes, chief market strategist at R.W. Pressprich, told Bloomberg. “The only currency that’s stable in this type of situation is gold.”

At the beginning of 2011, the price of gold was $1,421 an ounce. In mid-November, the price was close to $1,787 per ounce and moving toward $1,800 an ounce. The price of gold has increased, despite a dip in September, because of the world economic situation; the factors influencing the price of gold have essentially remained the same—making it a great time to consider buying gold.

The factors:

• Consistently strong demand for gold from India and China.
• A weak dollar.
• Continued uncertainty (and turmoil) in global equity markets.
• No resolution to debt woes in the United States.
• The Eurozone crisis.

If anything, the demand for gold from India and China has increased and the economic situations have worsened.

At the beginning of the year, certain ‘experts’ were optimistic about the economy. In front of the Senate Budget Committee, United States Federal Reserve Chairman, Ben Bernanke, said the U.S. economy was going to be “moderately stronger in 2011 than it was in 2010.” He went on to predict rampant growth between 3% and 4%. Obviously, a lot needs to happen in the month of December for Bernanke’s predictions to prove prescient.

Thankfully, the economists who help investors decide whether or not to buy gold have been more accurate in their assessment of the world economy—and the price of gold.

In December, CNBC mentioned Goldman Sachs:

“Goldman believes low U.S. interest rates will continue to underpin the rally in commodities like gold. The firm expects the precious metal futures to climb to $1,690 an ounce by the end of 2011 and continue to move higher.

The Bullion Research Desk of Commodity Online on December 22, 2010 said:

“Gold price to hover around $1500-$1600 range in 2011. Gold price will go up in 2011, driven by the fluctuations in US dollar and other currencies, dwindling productions, increasing mining problems and rising demand for jewellery and investment for the yellow metal. Gold price is definitely going to cross the $1500 mark per ounce in 2011 and it will remain in the range of $1500-$1600.”

And late last year, Bloomberg analyzed the gold price predictions of almost 30 investors, analysts, and traders. The ‘average’ prediction was $1,500 per ounce.

So…the ‘gold gurus’ were actually wrong—the price has exceeded their predictions. The factors influencing the price of gold have been more intense and are not going away as the headlines from the Eurozone crisis are proving.

So—is it a good time to buy gold? Remember…JP Morgan predicted a high of $2,500 per ounce by the end of 2011. Will they be correct? With the future of the Euro in serious doubt, gold could easily top $2,000 an ounce.

Have you heard the word contagion? It’s an ugly word the dictionary defines as:

“The communication of disease from one person to another by close contact.”

In European countries, the disease is debt—specifically default. Greece is having difficulty repaying its debts and Italy and Spain are extremely close to being in the same situation. The disease is spreading to all the European countries that use the Euro as their currency—which is all the major European countries excluding the United Kingdom.

And even through the currency in England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland is Pound Sterling, the U.K. is being affected by this crisis. The Prime Minister, David Cameron, has been part of the negotiations, the discussions, the summits, and all the meetings. In many cases, he’s been more vocal about the truth about the situation than others, saying recently there was now a “big question mark over the future of the Eurozone.”

Until now, the net result has been uncertainty. And if there’s one thing equity markets hate, it’s uncertainty. And when equity markets are not happy, the price of gold typically rises and it can be a good time to buy gold during uncertainty.

The chickens are coming home to roost for the leaders (and the countries) who got Europe into this mess. Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, has been saying that it’s a good time to ‘allow’ certain countries to leave the Eurozone. That’s a polite way of telling certain countries get out. In Greece and now, Italy, the Prime Minster and President, respectively, have resigned. Both countries now face a difficult choice: pursue austerity measures or get kicked out of the Euro.

With the possibility of two of the larger countries in the Eurozone leaving, the possibility exists that the Euro will collapse entirely. This could be catastrophic for large swathes of the European economy. With Europe moving closer and closer to the precipice, the price of gold has been inching upwards toward its record price of $1,923.70 an ounce on September 5 but dropped to $1,623.97 by early October. The price was back up to $1,787 per ounce on November 11. If the European crisis continues—and it looks likely to keep going—then the price of gold is likely to rise and thus now is an excellent time to buy gold.

Either the Euro will collapse completely, the ‘offending’ countries will be booted out, or the Eurozone will follow David Cameron’s suggestion and print money to get out of trouble. The latter will make the currency worth a lot less and inflation could emerge as a threat—inflation makes the price of gold increase.

About five weeks ago, a British politician said the Eurozone had six weeks to resolve the crisis. That ticking sound? It’s a bomb about to explode. And this explosion, however fierce, will likely affect the price of gold.

When should you buy gold? Well, the short answer is ‘now’. When you understand how and why to buy gold, you can begin to buy it.

One of the beauties of gold is the fact that you can buy it whenever you need it. Unlike stocks and other investments, you can buy gold whenever you need it, timing is never an issue.

Ask yourself “Do I believe that I need to own gold?”, if you answer ‘yes’ then there is no reason to delay buying gold. Every day that you wait you are holding off on diversifying your portfolio. Economic crisis could come swiftly, wipe out your assets, and then you would be kicking yourself for not making the gold purchase you were thinking about.

Waiting to need to buy gold is poor strategy. There was a rush to buy gold during last year’s economic downturn, national mints could not keep up with public demand, and premiums went through the roof.

Gold can be almost impossible to buy when it is in high demand. During these times, you cannot just call a gold warehouse and place an order for gold. Even national mints cannot keep up with gold when their is a rush of demand like the ones in 2008 and early 2009.

In fact, Times Online posted an article in February discussed buying gold during a recession.

Even people who collect numismatic (high quality and rare coins) gold will have a hard time buying during these rushes to buy gold. Great demand can make people hold tight to their personal stores of gold. In some cases, the supply of gold can just simply disappear.

That’s why the best time to buy gold is now, global markets are still in an economic downturn, but the increased demand for gold has subsided. Gold will be easier to buy and at a lower premium than it has been recently.

A lot of people wonder how they can protect their wealth. Super rich and ultra wealthy individuals have been doing it for centuries – investing in HARD ASSETS like gold and silver bullion. This short YouTube video is an expert interview by Exponential Growth Strategist Dr Marc Dussault and Peter August, CEO of The Australian Bullion Company. It’s only 4 minutes long, but reveals what high net worth individuals are doing right now.

Video transcript: Gold and Silver Safe Haven Investments

Hi, I’m Dr Marc Dussault and I’m here with Peter August, Managing Director of Australian Bullion Company.  And as you can see I have a blackberry mobile phone and I have some gold and silver bullion coins and some bars as small as this over here, 20 ounce, 10 ounce, I have a 1 kilo here and a 5 kilo which as you can see is quite heavy.

It has a good feel to it.

I know, I just love doing that and I’m sure you can hear that on the video.  Peter, really in the next 60 to 90 seconds…

Sure.

Why would someone invest in gold or silver bullion compared to the stock market or property market?

Safety, safety, safety; okay, you’ve got the ultimate safety, the ultimate safe haven investments here.

Because it’s physical, because you can touch it, you can go to your safe and take a look at your coins and your bars and you know…

You know how much you’ve got in value.

Yeah. Read more…

A lot of people wonder “Why is the price of gold high and how is the value determined?” This short YouTube video answers this and other interesting investment questions. It’s an expert interview by Exponential Growth Strategist Dr Marc Dussault and Peter August, CEO of The Australian Bullion Company.

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT: GOLD PRICE AND VALUATION

Hi, I’m Dr Marc Dussault and as you can see its November, it’s 2009 and I’m here with Peter August, Managing Director of the Australian Bullion Company.  And I wanted us to take some time today to explain something that for you is self-evident but for other people out there who are considering gold as an investment what they might not know is that these are actually gold bars and we have 105 ounces of gold right here, which by the way in today’s price is worth how much?

Over 120 thousand.

Over $120,000, so it’s a great compact way to invest.  Now one of the things that we’ve all done as a kid, and Peter you remember your days back when you were a child and you started investing in coins and collecting coins.

Yes.

There’s this thing called the numismatic value of coins.

Sure.

Can you explain what that really big word is for people.

Yeah, absolutely.

Cause I have a coin here, and I have another coin here; so what’s the difference between this one and that one, other than the size?

Sure.  Okay; this particular coin Marc is a 1 ounce gold coin.

Okay.

It’s 4 nines pure so that’s 99.99% pure, and it is bought and sold on it’s intrinsic gold value.

Yeah.  So you’re buying it because it’s 1 ounce?

That’s correct.

Okay.

Now this…

And this by the way is a 1 ounce gold bar.

That’s correct. Read more…

This week’s video is an expert interview with Peter August of The Australian Bullion Company. Dr Marc Dussault, an Exponential Growth Strategist asks Peter why the gold price is high and why it’s expected to continue to rise in the future. If you’re interested in growing your wealth and protecting your investment portfolio, this 40minute YouTube video reveals what the rich and ultra wealthy are doing…

Video Transcript: GOLD PRICE HIGH

Hi, I’m Dr Marc Dussault and I’m here with Peter August, CEO and Managing Director of Australian Bullion Company. And we’re here videotaping a series of YouTube videos to explain certain things about gold investment. And this particular video is focused on why the price of gold has gone up so much, so quickly, at least in the eyes of the public.

This is an ounce of gold, about a year ago how much was this worth? Actually back in 2000 and in US dollars, how much was this worth in more or less the year 2000?

Okay. In more or less the year 2000 this was worth US$258.

So US$258.

That’s the low point that gold got to.

About a year ago how much was this same $258 asset that was purchased in 2000?

In US dollars it was about $800.

About $800; so from 250 to 800. Now how much is this worth today, November 2009, in US dollars?

It’s actually just at an all time high right now, so it’s $1,116. Read more…

This second video follows on from Part 1 that discusses gold versus silver investment. In this second part video, Peter August of The Australian Bullion Company reveals why sophisticated investors buy silver and gold bullion to create and protect their wealth.

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT: SILVER VERSUS GOLD INVESTMENT – PART 2 OF 2

Hi, I’m Dr Marc Dussault and I’m here with the Managing Director of the Australian Bullion Company.

Hi, Marc.

I’m sorry?

I said, hi Marc.

Yes.  And his name by the way, this happens every once in a while when do these…

I do like to be polite.

His name is Peter August.  So I apologize for not using his name because obviously we know each other, but you might not know him.  So getting on to this, we’re doing a few, a series actually of YouTube videos.  And what I have here are silver bars and what I wanted to focus on, you started mentioning something and I stopped you at the end of another YouTube video, we’re talking about silver as another investment.  Now I was in the printing industry where silver was used fro photographic purposes in film.  And a lot of the industry thought, well when film goes the price of silver is gonna plummet; because obviously film was a big user of silver components within the actual film manufacturing process.

Okay, well just…

But that didn’t happen. Read more…

Peter August was recently interviewed by Exponential Growth Strategist Dr Marc Dussault for a series of YouTube videos explaining gold and silver investment strategies and why anyone who wants to increase their wealth should consider gold and silver bullion to protect their investment portfolio. Today’s 4-minute video briefly explains the reasons to invest in gold.

Reasons to Invest In Gold

Video Transcript: REASONS TO INVEST IN GOLD

Hi, I’m Dr Marc Dussault and I’m here with Peter August of Australian Bullion Company.  And the reason we created this YouTube video is I’ve been talking with Peter for quite a while that a lot of people think that gold investment is only for rich people.  So we just want to take 2 or 3 minutes very briefly and you’re gonna see the big words that Peter is gonna be pulling out of the thesaurus today.

I’ll try to keep them small.

Now this is just take 2 of this YouTube video by the way and take 1 was quite funny; and we went through a few points but let’s get started.  First of all there are 105 ounces here on the table and you can see the size cause this is just a regular blackberry mobile phone.  This is 20, 20, 20, 10, 10, 10, 10 and this is five 1 ounce gold coins.

Gold bars.

I’m sorry, gold bars.  So this is what it actually looks like, that’s what it sounds like.  And it’s actually very heavy; it’s an amazing thing to actually touch.  How much is this actually worth by the way?  What we actually have on the table here.

We’ve got well over $120,000. Read more…

Watch this short interview with Australian Bullion Company’s Peter August on why you should consider investing in gold. As Dr Marc Dussault’s interview reveals, gold prices have had quite the run as of late, but this candid interview reveals why the trend is not expected to be short-lived based on historical data.

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT: GOLD INVESTMENT: WHY GOLD?

Hi everyone, I want to thank you for taking some time to watch this YouTube video.  I’m Dr Marc Dussault and I’m here with Peter August of Australian Bullion Company.  And I just wanted to take a few minutes and ask him a few questions on why would anyone want to invest in gold.

And what we have here is some gold bars and some gold coins.  And as you can see I just have a regular blackberry mobile phone so you can see the difference in size.  First of all how much gold is actually on the table?

Well we’ve got 105 ounces altogether sitting here Marc.

So this is 20, 20, 20, 10, 10, 10, 10 and then…

Five 1 ounce bars. Read more…

Even though I own and operate the Australian Bullion Company, buying and selling gold, silver and precious metals, I’m also an expert at determining the quality and rarity of coins and bank notes, as well as appraising them for sale or investment.

I use this expert skill every day, sometimes I have to sort a rare coin out of a pile of regular coins.

Many people have jars or drawers full of old coins that they’ve had for many years, or have been passed down from generation to generation. I get several customers who come into my office with jars full of old coins that they hope are valuable. Out of hundreds of coins their might be one that is rare and/or in good conditon.

Every once in a while I find one that can be worth thousands of dollars!

There are many examples of rare Australian coins and notes. We’ve all heard of the holy dollar, that was Australia’s first coin, it was a Spanish dollar that they punched a hole in the middle, hence the name.

The part of the coin that was punched out is also a collector’s piece, called a ‘dump’. Dumps have ‘New South Wales’ printed on them. They were punched out so that coin would be ‘Australian’.

In the 1960’s you could have bought a dump for $165; even in the 1990’s you could have bought that same dump for $20,000 if it was in extremely fine condition.

If you wanted to buy one now it would cost you $210,000!

Yeah I know – you wish you knew then what I am telling you now.

That’s the whole point of this blog – to educate and inform you so you can start to make better investment decision regarding rare coins and bank notes.

Let’s continue with another example…

There are other classic examples such as a 1930 penny, a square penny or a 1937 penny. There are numerous examples of extreme rarities in the George the 5th period; that’s 1911 to 1936. That period has the most Australian coin rarities. There are some sovereigns that go back to the 1850’s, which certainly commands a high premium as well.

If we’re looking at where there’s a lot of investment upside potential right now, that particular period is a very, very good period.

It’s important to understand that coin and note rarity fluctuates with time and demand.

Many Australian’s visit the Australian mint in Canberra as school children, and return with newly minted five, ten, and twenty cent pieces. These coins are not rare, but someday might be.

If only around 2,000 of that type was minted, then in fifty or a hundred years there may only be about a handful that survive. Those surviving coins would be valuable if, and that’s the basis of appreciation IF there was only a few of them. PLUS if for some reason there was a high demand, the price would rise even more. That high demand might be because one investor starts to buy them up, essentially taking them out of the market, or several collectors knowing that scarcity will mean greater returns.

In terms of how they appreciate, it’s quite amazing. I’ve been in the game now over 20 years, since I was a boy, and you may look at something that at one particular time you saw several of them around then they’re gone.

Let’s go back to the dump as an example.

When I first started collecting coins, you could pick an average quality 1830 New South Wales dump for 2 or 3 thousand dollars. You could go to many different coin shops and you’d easily find 1 or 2 in each shop.

Fast forward 20 odd years later, that same coin in average condition is about $30,000; and you’d be hard pressed finding one in any coin shop. They get put away, you have that shrinking pool, and market forces then apply.

Bank notes appreciate in a similar way, but they are worth even more if they are in uncirculated condition because it is easier to disfigure notes. An uncirculated ten shilling note was worth $7.50 in 1957, $120 in 1976, and today it’s worth $9,500.

In 1967 there was a dealer that had three 100 pound notes, (we had notes actually up to 1000 pound denominations here in Australia) and he had three 100 pound notes.  He tried to get 10% over face value for each of those notes.  He couldn’t get 10% over, so he cashed them in at the bank at face value.  Now, if he had them today, each of those three notes would be worth a ¼ of a million dollars, in the condition that they were in!

Australian notes have the signatures of the Governor of the Reserve Bank and/or the Secretary to the Treasury printed on them.

Now, if there is one combination of governor and secretary that are together for only a small period of time that means the notes that were issued during their tenure are only circulated for a short period of time.

That actually happened in 1967 when Coombs was the governor and the secretary was Randolph. That particular combination only lasted for about six months because Combs then retired. Any top condition notes from that period command quite a premium.

Another form of rare notes is the ‘star’ note. The star notes were replacements for notes that had been spoiled, they had the original serial number, but with a little asterisk after it. Any star note is valuable, especially if it is in uncirculated condition. The combination of rare Reserve and Treasury signatures, along with a star, is a rare and very valuable find.

I admit that coins like the dump, the star, and the 1967 notes are unusual situations. For the most part, I recommend buying rare coins, waiting five to ten years for them to appreciate, and then selling them. I do not however recommend holding on to your average coin for forty years in the hopes that it will become valuable.

Stay tuned for more insights to help you make more money from rare coins and bank notes.

A lot of people ask me how coins and bank notes appreciate in value over time. There is an economic science involved in the appreciation of coins and notes. Investment in rare coins and notes may seem speculative from an outsider’s point of view, but seasoned investors and others within in the industry know that coin appreciation is a sure bet.

They know this because rare coins and notes exist in a collector’s market, which behaves differently from other markets.

There’s a big difference between coins, and let’s say, tulips in tulip mania. In tulip mania, the supply of tulip bulbs to the market while the fashion for buying those tulip bulbs existed for a short period creating a price bubble.

But and this is an important but… With tulips there was the ability to grow more tulips.

Once that happened, tulip bulbs flooded the market, the tulip price crashed, and that was it.  However, the difference with coins is that there is a profound lack of supply of quality material, and there always has been, always will be.

In most markets, a rise in demand causes an initial rise in price, followed by a rise in supply as manufactures rush to fill the demand. Then there is an inevitable drop in price as the rising supply outstrips demand. These accepted market laws do not apply to rare coins and notes because there is limited supply. Price rises as demand rises, but there will never be a rise in supply, so prices never go down. This is the benefit of investing in rare coins and notes.

The value of rare coins and notes are usually set in auctions. There are several major auctions each year, and the market prices are essentially set in a true market environment.

Each time a coin is bought for investment, generally speaking they’re taken off the market anywhere from 5 to 10 years. You have an ever-shrinking pool of coins left to choose from. If you want some of those better (rare) coins, the only way you’re going to pry them from any kind of investor or collector is to pay a premium.

In an auction environment, something may have been worth $5,000 2 or 3 years ago, if a number of individuals that want a particular piece and it hasn’t been around for a while, they’ll easily have to pay $7,000 to $8,000.

The appreciation of coins is consistent throughout time. A rare coin that was minted today would appreciate in the same way that rare coins from a hundred years ago appreciate now.

Let’s say you’ve got something that’s 100 years old, they only minted 2,000 and it’s appreciated dramatically. The thought is that if they minted 2,000 of that coin today, it would appreciate the same way.

I have to stress that time alone does not make coins and notes appreciate in value. The coin has to be rare or high quality first then time will raise the premium.

To prove the point, I have Roman coins that I can sell you for five dollars. It’s not age, it’s the rarity and the quality that creates the value that people are willing to pay for.

Don’t ever forget that – Rarity and quality – then time does its magic.

Today’s blog post will cover the basics of coin collection for investment purposes. It can be summed up in two words; quality and rarity.

How to invest in coins: Step 1 Find Quality and Rarity

First and foremost, the coin has to be of the highest quality, or it has to be extremely rare.  Now, an extreme rarity is something they didn’t make many of to begin with. If you don’t have access to rarity, try for the highest quality possible.

High quality coins are coins that have remained in brand new (uncirculated) condition for a number of years. High-quality rare coins are the most valuable. Although, circulated rare coins command a higher price than non-rare uncirculated coins.

How to invest in coins: Step 2 Buy and Hold

I recommend that investment collectors wait at least five to ten years to sell a coin after acquiring it. I wouldn’t recommend actively trading coins because you’ll probably only get some appreciation in the first 2 years of an investment in a coin and it’s a lot more unpredictable in the first few years.

It’s more predictable over 5 years and very, very predictable over 10. I advise my client that the 5 to 10 year period is the optimum period to hold a coin.

Of course, there are exceptions to the rule. There are times where instead of holding something for five years, the optimum capital appreciation might have occurred in two or three years. I that happens, I’ll ring my clients to tell them that this is a good time to actually sell this particular group of coins or banknotes because we’ve had a much quicker appreciation.

Usually, the longer a coin or note is held, the more valuable it becomes. If you look at coins over 40 years, the average rare coin has increased at a compound growth rate of 16.1%.  That’s a tremendous capital appreciation.

In fact, when Excess Economics used to do investment reports, ( they stopped doing it several years ago) they would ask what the best investment over 1 year, 5 years, and 10 years was.

Coins and bank notes always rated in the top 10 investments in all 3 categories.

Rare coins and bank notes are a great investment because there will always be a greater demand than there is supply in the market. The nature of rarity makes it so.

There are also many collectors who have collections for their own sake, and not for investment purposes. These collectors will never sell the rare coins in their collections, which puts further pressure on supply, and drives up the price of coins.

My business, Universal Coin Company, helps investors get started with a collection with as little as $1,000, but the recommended starting investment is around $50,000.

My company has collectors from all different backgrounds, there is no typical coin collector.

Although, there are several methods that are typical for buying and selling coins in a collection as well as creating an investment portfolio of coins and or bank notes.

I buy and sell coins at auction, for my business, and on behalf of my clients. There are also many businesses, that like my own, trade privately.

It’s important for collectors to align themselves with coin experts like me, because there is a high level of skill and experience involved in selecting rare coins as well as knowing when to buy and sell.

I feel that all investors should have a portion of their investment in rare coins and notes. The evidence is overwhelming showing the appreciation over time that makes it a great, safe and fun investment.

Hi, I’m Peter August, founder and CEO of The Australian Bullion Company.  You might not know it, but rare coin and bank note collecting has been a lifelong passion for me. It started as a hobby as a child, I used to actually go to all the shopkeepers and they used to put aside all their old pre-decimal coins for me. So, I was a decimal baby so to speak, but there were still some old coins floating around.

For me, I suppose the passion partly comes from the fact that it’s a bit of a treasure hunt. The other part is seeing wonderful rare pieces every now and again. It’s just a sight to behold

I get to fuel my passion everyday.

A normal day could consist of preparing some really nice items for sale, or discussing them with clients and showing them.

The beauty about a rare coin is it has to be of high quality.

For me, the most exciting part of my job is seeking out the quality rare coins and notes that I will later present for sale. When we’re talking about rare coins, we’re talking high quality and rarity. It’s ll about how many were made, or how many still exist.

If we’re looking at a coin that was made in 1915 for example, that coin, for it so survive in brand new condition, or uncirculated as we call it in coin terms, somebody would have had to put it aside 1915, and left it aside.

The chances of a coin of that vintage existing today in that top condition is extremely rare. Hence, they’re highly sort after and command a high premium.

Persuading people to invest in coins is also part of my job. Many investors have various self-managed funds in which they regularly deposit money. A rare coin and note collection is no different for a self-managed fund. Quality rare coins appreciate the same way that bank funds gain interest.

People will come and say, “I’d like a $50,000 portfolio of rare coins and bank notes”.  Now, if they go to a reputable dealer such as ourselves or one of my colleagues, we can show them a selection of quality and rare items that are likely to appreciate in value.

I am adept at choosing the coins and notes that are the most likely to appreciate. I encourage both seasoned and novice collectors to use reputable dealers, such as my own Universal Coin Company, to build their collections this removes a lot of the risk and helps people make better, informed decisions.

Investing in rare coins is not just a passion that is fun, but with the right strategy, can be exceptionally lucrative. Stay tuned for more on this blog and don’t forget to give us a call when you want to buy or sell rare coins!