US St. Gaudens Ultra High Relief Double Eagle Reproduction 2009

This is a beautiful coin; breathtaking, really. But it is simply a modern digital reproduction of the popular 1907 double eagle. The US Mint produced these coins for one reason: to make oodles of money. And so they did.

If you have a normal St. Gaudens gold piece, dated between 1907 and 1932, click to our regular appraisal page here.

The Grey Sheet, a conservative price guide for US coins, reports a catalog value of $2200 US dollars for the UHR Saint. This is high price, as the coin contains only one ounce of gold. Go to kitco.com (or a similar web site) to find the current price of gold. Value over and above the current gold price is artificial.

Please note that our questionnaire explicitly asks that coins be dated before 1940 to qualify for a free appraisal. Coins dated after 1940 can be valuable, but they derive their value from subjective properties like certificates of authenticity, super-high numismatic grades (like MS69 and PR70), slick packaging, and intense marketing. Before 1940 most coins derive their value from objective factors such as dwindling supply of coins and strong demand from coin collectors.

Governments of (just about) all countries in the world have figured out that people are willing to pay dearly for commemorative coins. So governments issue them and sell them at very high prices. This is practiced extensively in the US, Canada, and Europe, but it is certainly not limited to these countries.

Minting technology has progressed to the point where modern coins can be made artistically beautiful. Some are abosolutely exquisite. Modern commemoratives, especially proof issues, make wonderful collectibles, and they should be purchased as such. Modern commemoratives should not be purchased for collector value, for investment, or for gifts to the grandchildren with the hope 'this will be valuable some day.' In all likelihood, it won't be.

We have a somewhat lengthy discussion of buying gold and silver coins as investments at this CoinQuest link. It does not apply to modern commemoratives, but to standard bullion coins made out of gold and silver which do not carry hyped-up premiums. Remember, however, that we are just coin collectors, not investment advisers!

Sometimes governments limit supply of modern commemoratives to force price upward. At CoinQuest we have decided not to follow such movements because the fluctuations are artificial.

In summary, your modern commemorative coin makes a nice collectible. Unless the value has been raised by artificial means, the value of your modern commem is equal to its bullion value.
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