The U.S. Mint just announced that it will begin taking orders for its 1-oz American Buffalo gold coins October 15. CMI Gold & Silver Inc. will take orders for Gold Buffaloes now but does not anticipate having the coins for shipment until the last week of October.
Right now, Gold Buffaloes are priced the same as new 1-oz Gold Eagles. If demand exceeds supply, Buffs may pick up premiums as did 1-oz Gold Eagles during the 2008 financial crisis.
The Gold Buffaloes present an interesting situation. Federal law requires the Mint to produce Buffs every year, but the law does not state the quantity. Further, the Mint did not disclose the number of coins it plans to produce. However, the announcement said that “should demand exceed supply” the Mint will institute “allocation procedures.” Considering the how the Mint worded its announcement, it may not be planning on turning out many Gold Buffaloes.
If the Mint produces only 50,000 to 100,000 Buffalo gold coins, they could be really good buys, with premium potential in future years. Premiums could come from them being a low mintage year as well as from telemarketers promoting them. Telemarketers love to hype low-mintage coins. Of further interest is the Mint’s announcement about fractional ounce Gold Eagles.
Ordinarily, by October the Mint is gearing up for next year’s coins. Actually, in past years in late October and early November, the Mint has stopped selling current-year coins so as to dedicate all efforts to the following year’s production. This year, however, in December the Mint will take orders for 2009-dated fractional-ounce Gold Eagles for the first time this year. As with Gold Buffaloes, mintages of fractional-ounce Gold Eagles coins could be small.
Meanwhile, gold buyers wanting fractional-ounce gold coins should consider the fractional-ounce Krugerrands, which only recently became available. They are priced at government-issued fractional-ounce coin prices. However, the quantity for immediate shipment is not large as the importer has not been bringing in large quantities. The next shipment from South Africa is expected later this month.
If you would like to discuss buying Gold Buffaloes or fractional-ounce Krugerrands, call us at 800-528-1380. Our brokers take call 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. MST, Mondays through Fridays. If you would like to know more about doing business with CMI Gold and Silver Inc., visit our Doing Business with CMIGS page.
