On tips for buying gold

Yesterday The gold price reached an all-time high (Homer Simpson voice: "So far"). As the Royal Mint's latest bulletin summarised: 

Gold surged past $2,580 for the first time on Friday afternoon. In USD terms, gold is up 24% since the start of the year.

You'd be forgiven for thinking that this means it's a bad time to be buying, however, there are a couple of exceptions that I'm going to explain in this post (all prices correct as of 14/09/24, but rounded up or down as appropriate).

First of all, are you looking to invest or collect? I do a bit of both, (silver more for collecting) so I tend to buy what interests me and what I consider to be a good deal. There are two types of businesses I buy from, bullion dealers and collectible coin sellers. Of the former, I usually use Chards and Bullion by Post. The former is usually slightly cheaper, but they charge for postage and capsules, so I usually buy from them if getting multiple items. The latter gives free postage for all items regardless of price, so I tend to use them if there is a single item I want, especially if it is on offer or not stocked by Chards. Their coins are usually based on the live spot prices so can vary considerably, for example, I was looking at this on-sale 1/10th Oz Royal Standard coin this week, on Monday it was around £205, and now is £212. Given this it's not worth buying from them right now unless you think the prices will continue to rise (they will long term, but in the next few weeks might fall back down a bit.

What I do think is worth looking at though are the collectible sellers. Their coins are, as the name implies, geared towards collectors rather than investors, so are usually a lot more expensive than their intrinsic worth. However they usually don't increase prices once put on sale, so this is where bargains can be found. Here are 3 examples that I've found (2 of which I bought this week).

The first is London Mint Office. They often sell, Gibraltar issued quarter sovereigns, at the moment for £108 each (for uncirculated, proofs are a lot more). A few months ago this was over the odds for 2 grams of 22-carat gold but now it's a bargain given a UK Royal Mint coin of the same spec is around £150. I just ordered this one, but it is already out of stock, this one is still available at the same price. 

The latest addition to my quarter Sovereign collection

The second is Hattons of London. They offer eighth sovereigns (1 gram) for £69, currently they are promoting this Flying Scotsman design.

I haven't bought this as I don't like coloured coins much

At current prices is a good way to get a small amount of gold for under the spot price (a 1-gram gold bar will typically cost around £76 (if bought individually), while coins will be slightly higher. Just don;t go for any of their upgrade sets, those are not such good value.

Third and finally, The Royal Mint's Historic sets. When issued these are again poor value compared to the bullion coins, but as they don't revise the prices much they are now a good buy. I just ordered this Gold Standard set:

A topic that interests me and a good value investment

At £1150 for a historic sovereign and a1/4 oz pure gold coin, it now compares favorably to buying separately (a 1931 Sovereign is offered by Chards for £635, and a Gold Standard coin (but a different year) can be had for £575, a total of £1210. The set is actually cheaper now! Plus you get a nice box and booklet, and as its limited edition might be worth more to collectors in the future. Some of their other sets may also be worth looking into.

So there you have 3 tips for getting some golden bargains. As I've heard elsewhere, 'the best time to buy gold was yesterday, the second best time to buy is today'.