I ran across a string of Austrian coins

The recent decline in Comex gold prices (snicker), sent me back at the gold dealer. It is all on sale people!

This time I got this beautiful 70+ year-old coin.

It is about the size of a nickel and about half as thin, not even a millimeter, weighing in at a bit more than a tenth of an ounce and just short of what is usually considered fine gold.

The front has Franz Joseph - Emperor of Austria on it and the tails side has the two-headed eagle holding the coat of arms of the House of Habsburg. These coins were minted in the 1920s and 1930s, about a million in total.

I saw this coin going for almost $200 on some sites. The value of any coin is higher or lower depending on age, condition and rarity, but I paid the going rate for all of my most recent acquisitions, that of fine gold. If its actual value is two hundred dollars, I would more than double my money selling it to a collector.

Pure gold, marked .9999 or 99.99% pure, is currently worth $1200 per ounce at the current published N.Y. Comex price. A farce really. When gold prices go down, I wonder if my paper dollars have gotten thicker or heavier? Maybe they buy more things than yesterday.

Fine gold, marked .999 purity, costs a bit less but is slightly more durable at 99.90% pure.

Most of the investment bullion, laminate and coins I buy are of .999 quality with a few exceptions, those being of the Swiss and South African variety. Posts forthcoming.

Anything is better than just plain paper.

Cheers.