Four Fun Facts About American Bullion

American bullion is undeniably the world’s favorite. Within the last 25 years, the US Mint and other authorized vendors have sold literally hundreds of millions of dollars of platinum, gold, and silver. There is no sign that the world’s fondness for American bullion is going to end any time soon.

Whether you are brand new to bullion investing or a more practiced investor, this article was written to treat you to some little-known facts about these coins.

Fun Fact #1: The U.S. Mint Began Minting Bullion Coins in 1986

Most new investors don’t know that any American bullion available prior to 1986 was in the form of bullion bars or traditional coins. This tended to make it hard for the average person to invest in metals, because bars tend to be heavy and large, and older coins have a higher value as collectibles.

Both of these factors raised the cost of older coins and bullion far above the average investor’s financial limits. All of this changed with the enactment of the Gold Bullion Act in 1985. This made bullion silver and gold suddenly available to everyone in striking forms. Platinum bullion was added to the family in 1997.

Fun Fact #2: Some Native American Tribes Make Their Own Bullion

Legally, most of the recognized Native American tribes are listed as sovereign nations, so they have the right to mint their own coinage. Tribes such as the Shawnee Nation have issued collectible silver coins in one-ounce silver.

Just like the American silver coins, these tribes’ coins have a value of $1 and are composed of 99.9% fine silver. They depict events or people significant to the history of the tribes and country.

Fun Fact #3: Bullion Is Legal Currency

Most of us are aware that US bullion rounds have denominations. The Silver Eagle, for example, has a denomination of $1, while the Gold Eagle coins range from $1-$50, and the Platinum Eagles top the cake with values from $10-$100.

Obviously, the actual worth of these coins is much higher than the face value. So why even give them face value? The answer is because they have to have face value in order to be considered legal tender.

The US Government originally began this for trade reasons because legal tender is not taxed like crazy the way precious metals are. Although bullion isn’t traded daily, the legal function remains.

Fun Fact #4: Originally, the Mint U.S. Gold Coins Were Dated With Roman Numerals

The first five years that these bullion coins were minted, the American Gold Eagles were dated in Roman numerals. This made them easy to distinguish as bullion rather than regular coins.

Those in power in the US Mint decided that this wasn’t necessary in 1992. That year, the coins began being minted with Arabic numerals instead.

And did you know that 93% of new (and even experienced) gold investors make at least one of these mistakes when they invest in gold?� Find out how YOU can easily avoid the 7 biggest gold investing mistakes.

Jeff Grant is the creator of AmericanBullion.org. He is definitely NOT a traditional “gold bug,” is the opposite of a “gloom and doomer.” Instead he is a realist who believes there are times when protecting yourself financially and changing your investment strategy are vital — times like now.