Gyroscopic Investing

I saw in an old thread that MediumTex wrote a suggestion that if one were to hold numismatic coins as part of the PP, that only the bullion value should be recorded in the portfolio. I also agree with him that there's nothing wrong with using them, if you like them, and exclude any collector value from the PP.

I can myself finding some cool or interesting numismatic gold coins, allocating the gold portion to the PP, and allocating any collector's premium to the VP or simply to my "fun collectibles" portfolio. Imagine if half the cost of your TV was able to go into your PP because whatever happens, you can sell the scrap TV for half of your purchase price. That makes the TV "cheaper" in terms of discretionary income required to buy it, because you are investing at the same time.

This would of course depend on how big the spread is between the coins and gold spot. If the coins sell for 10x spot, then it's virtually meaningless that you include less than 10% of their cost into your investments of the PP. If the coins sell for 2 to 3x spot then it seems feasible to think of it as getting a "discount" on buying something cool/fun that you want to own.

Are there any really cool numismatic coins out there, that don't trade for too many multiples of spot? Maybe some old greek or roman coins? Coins minted from native american reserves stolen by the europeans?

MediumTex has recommended British Sovereigns, and these are really numismatic coins (i.e. they were intended to be money) that have reasonable premiums.

U.S. Double Eagles (the original $20 gold piece) do not have "horrible" premiums, provided you do not buy graded, slabbed coins and stick to common dates.  They are beautiful coins.

There are a bunch of real, old European gold coins from Austria, France, Switzerland, etc. as well.

You probably don't want to stray too far from commonly available gold coin types.  One problem with "off brand" gold is in selling.  There is a ready market for most bullion coins, for old US gold, British Sovereigns, etc.

I would say hold just a few British Sovereigns if you want to go that route.  It's certainly not mandatory to step outside only the popular one ounce coins, but Sovereigns tend to have the smallest premiums for coins under one ounce. 

I think the British Sovereign is also the most common gold coin in the world in terms of the total number minted.

Occasionally, they can be had for only a little over spot.