Coin minted in gold. Bullion coins are minted by governments and are traded mostly on the value of their gold content. Major gold bullion coins include the American Eagle, the Canadian Maple Leaf, the Mexican Peso, the Australian Kangaroo, and the South African Kruggerand. Other gold coins, called Numismatic Coins are minted in limited quantity and trade more on the basis of their aesthetic value and rarity, rather than on their gold content. Numismatic coins are sold at a hefty markup to their gold content, and are therefore not as pure a play on gold prices as bullion coins.
A gold coin is a coin made mostly or entirely of gold. Gold has been used for coins practically since the invention of coinage, originally because of gold’s intrinsic value. In modern times, most gold coins are intended either to be sold to collectors, or to be used as bullion coins, coins whose nominal value is irrelevant and which serve primarily as a method of investing in gold. Gold coins then had a very long period as a primary form of money, only falling into disuse in the early 20th century. Most of the world stopped making gold coins as currency by 1933, as countries switched from the gold standard due to hoarding during the worldwide economic crisis of the great depression. In the United States, 1933’s Executive order 6102 forbade the hoarding of gold and was followed by a devaluation of the dollar relative to gold, although the United States did not completely uncouple the dollar from the value of gold until 1971.