The History of Gold Coins and Understanding Gold Coin Values

According to history, King Croesus of Lydia was the one who introduced gold coins around 643-630 B.C. A pale yellow mixture of gold and silver called the electrum was a natural resource in Lydia. As people did not know how to separate these two metals, the first gold coins were a mixture of gold and silver.

In 560 B.C., the Lydians found out a way to separate gold from silver. At last, real gold coins were produced along with silver coins, although gold was considered to be more precious than silver. In 546 B.C., the Lydians captured Persian army and when the Persians walked around the Lydian kingdom, they were astonished with the gold coins. The Persians started learning to mint gold coins and after some time they used them for trading.

In the past, one of the most progressive nations in the world was Persia and they popularized the used of gold coins around the world. As a result, gold coins became an important currency for commerce. Many nations used them for trading and for some people, collecting gold coins became a way to accumulate wealth.

After many centuries, gold coins were stopped being used as a currency in 1933 because most countries considered them too expensive. There are some gold colored coins today, but they do not contain any gold.

How to determine gold coin values

As gold coins are not circulated anymore, they become valuable. Many collectors are chasing them to add their collections and to gain profits from them. If you want to gain profits, it is essential for you to understand factors that affect gold coin values as discussed in this section.

The first factor is age where the older the coin, the higher its value. These coins are antique artifacts and their age can reach centuries old. Some tests can be done to check the coin's authenticity and age if you want to determine gold coin values based on this factor.

The second factor is condition. Weathered coins will have lower values than good condition coins. There are some qualities that collectors look for to determine gold coin quality, such as the sharpness of the relief, the text, and the edges. Normally it is more difficult to sell weathered coins than coins that are in a relatively good condition.

The last factor is its rarity. When a gold coin is extremely rare, its value will skyrocket. In general, there are two factors that affect rarity. The first is the number created and the second is the number of coins that has been lost, damaged, or destroyed. There is a rare double eagle $20 gold coin minted in 1933. It was worth more than $7 million in an auction.

Cindy Heller is a professional writer. To learn more about gold coin values, please visit famous coin collections.