Recently, I had lunch with a long-time colleague in the advertising business. He told me of a dicey experience he once had with a government employee. It was when his agency had created an ad for a client that, purely by happenstance, touched on something quite secret and clandestine. It was entirely inadvertent. Nevertheless, this government agent wanted information.
The agent was from the CIA. At my friends’ office the man left a business card with instructions to phone him. The only printing on it was a phone number. No name. No agency address or info. Just a number. How covert. Even FBI cards have some info. Not this.
When my friend met and spoke with the agent, he said it was uncomfortably frightening how much intelligence they already had. Their preliminary research was detailed and complete....
In the end, the accidental ad thing was cleared up. The agent disappeared as mysteriously as he had arrived. Unquestionably, the CIA was as buttoned-up as could be. Or, maybe not.
A few weeks ago, it was announced a CIA agent named David Rush of Ashburn, Virginia had been charged with stealing upwards of $194 million from the government, including some $40 million in gold bars found at his home. The exact number and weight of the bars isn’t clear. Needless to say, it’s huge. The arrest also revealed the credentials and background he gave the CIA upon his employment were fake. This from an agency whose middle name is “intelligence?” Felonious riches aside, what collector/investors want to know is how one person could fraudulently obtain countless pounds of gold when everyday Americans can barely afford one ounce of it.
Though the price of gold has dropped some 20 percent in the past year, it’s still hovering above $4,000 per ounce. That’s for plain gold bullion. The cost of coins, commemorative or otherwise, is substantially higher.
As of last week, the price for a single American Eagle gold one-ounce coin from the US Mint was $5,050. For a one-ounce gold Buffalo coin it was $5,090. Each of those are in highly polished “proof” condition. Uncirculated versions cost a few dollars less. Of course, from the Mint they all come packaged in presentation boxes with certificates of authenticity. For raw, uncirculated one-ounce US gold coins available from coin dealers the cost is substantially less at around $4,300 per coin.
More staggering to the pocketbooks of average Americans, is the Mint’s current four-coin set of American Eagle gold including 1/10-, 1/4-, 1/2-, and one-ounce coins. The set of four, limited to a mintage of 10,000 sets, has a price tag of almost $9,500. Surely, rarer than the coins are the number of people who can casually afford such a price.
For special commemorative gold issues, prices are even higher. The 2026 half-ounce gold piece minted in the shape of the Liberty Bell was a sell-out priced at a staggering $10,050. Again, that’s for just one half ounce of gold. Crazy? Nope. The similar but larger one-ounce Liberty Bell piece also sold out at just shy of $20,000 each. The alleged reason is that each of those had a low mintage of just 2,026 coins (matching the year date).
Novelty US gold coins have selling prices equally elevated. The new 24 karat half-ounce gold coins saluting cartoons of Batman, Superman and Supergirl with the super dog Krypto have a selling price of $3,350 each, translating to a per-ounce price of $6,700. Those have a mintage of 10,000 and also come in velvet presentation boxes. The question is, what justifies a price almost $3,000 per ounce above the current bullion price?
What’s waiting in the wings is potentially the most intriguing. It is the 2026 Semiquincentennial gold coin featuring a portrait of President Donald Trump. No price has yet been announced for the coin though a mintage of 75,000 has been indicated.
Clearly but confusingly, Federal Law US 31 Code 5112 mandates, “No coin issued under this subsection may bear the image of a living, former or current President, or of any deceased former President during the 2-year period following the date of the death of that President." You’d think there’s no gray area there. Apparently there is. The current administration has already issued a one-dollar “golden dollar” coin with Trump’s portrait and is going full-speed ahead on the pending gold coin.
While the soaring price of gold may seem to put the metal out of reach for many, it’s wise to remember two things: 1. Gold coins come in much smaller sizes of just 1/10 of an ounce. By purchasing those over time, investors can wisely cost-average. 2. Unless you just have to have a velvet presentation box and certificate of authenticity, acquiring uncirculated gold coins from a reputable dealer can save a goodly sum. Even secret government agents can legally profit from that.
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