Three months ago, CMIGS posted an article about The Perth Mint’s plans to close its Lunar Series. At that time, final orders for the Series were to be taken the last week in June. Now, final orders will be taken the last week in August.
The extension came about because the Treasury took longer than expected to approve the minting of the silver rat, ox and tiger coins, which were needed to complete the silver coins in the Series. The twelve gold coins were minted in their respective years.
The Lunar Series gold coins became popular with both gold investors and gold coin collectors worldwide. The exquisite quality of the coins and the popularity of the Lunar Calendar appealed to collectors. Bullion investors were drawn to the Series 1-oz gold coins because they were priced competitively with the best-selling American Eagle gold coins. In addition to gold coins from a recognized mint, investors also received the potential for the coins to pick up collector premiums, which they did.
CMIGS started recommending the year 2000 1-oz Gold Dragon coins when gold was trading in the $300 area. Today gold is trading in the $650 range, but the 1-oz Gold Dragons are $900 coins. The year 2002 1-oz Gold Horse coins also have tacked on big premiums, but the Dragons remain the key coins in the Lunar Series.
