Bullion coins, although essentially made from gold and silver, can be made from other precious metals too. This gold and silver traded in the bullion market can sometimes be used as a hedge against inflation or as a safe-haven investment. If you’re thinking of investing in HM bullion coins, the Federal Trade Commission always says that the best way to buy coins is to first do research on your options.
Being ill-informed about HM bullion coins or any bullion coins for that matter can have serious financial consequences for you. You need to do research about them, where they come from.
The price of this gold and silver is driven by the industrial use of metals. Gold and silver both have some attractive features. Gold is always going to be a better investment for the regular metals investor. Gold is less volatile than silver. Probably the biggest benefit of silver is that it is a lot cheaper than gold, and more accessible to investors, especially smaller investors.
Many banks offer gold bullion, and if you do research you may find that their bullion is often at a lower mark-up than dealers. There is always the chance to put in the name of the coin online and compare prices from different dealers. You can also get an independent appraisal of the specific asset you’re considering.
Physical bullion offers less trading flexibility than other silver and gold investments. The reason for this is that it is a tangible object that is available as coins and bars in various sizes.
HM bullion is a long term investment
As a new investor, you will discover that it pays to buy larger bullion bars. This is because the cost per ounce of the gold in the bullion bars is lower than the cost per ounce for smaller bars. You pay a premium when you buy smaller coins and bars and these costs vary according to factors. Smaller bars and coins are easier to sell, and they fetch a higher premium, costing more per ounce to buy.
People invest in bullion which is seen as a long-term investment. They have a place for it in their investment portfolio. They believe that gold bullion protects them against inflation and global economic catastrophes.
When they do research on currencies, they see that all have failed except for gold and silver, Gold and silver are the longest standing forms of currency because of their finite and physical quality. Bullion is seen as a stable investment when looking at how investments can lose their value, and when fiat currencies have let people down, they resort to gold and silver.
It doesn’t really matter where your gold coins come from as gold is gold but you need to know that not all gold investment items are made of 24k gold. Many gold coins have small amounts of other metals in them to make them more durable and that is why some popular investment coins such as the South African Krugerrand and the American Eagle are made of 22k gold.
The coins each weigh 1.09 troy ounces, containing each one troy ounce of gold. There are some counterfeit bars that look like the real thing. However, there are techniques that people have to identify these counterfeit items. One is to hold a bullion bar to a magnet and if it is attracted to the magnet it means it has an iron inner core. This means it is counterfeit as gold is a non-ferrous metal that doesn’t attract a magnet.
The best and truest way to test is offered by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). They advise you to always deal with a reputable dealer. Before you buy any bullion have the items examined by a qualified appraiser.
There are some decorative and commemorative coins that the mints bring out and these do contain smaller amounts of gold. Once again, everything you are interested in must be carefully reviewed by the dealer or the mint before you invest. When you’re talking around rounds and coins, there is a simple difference. Coins are minted by countries and rounds are minted by companies. Just like coins, rounds have the same amount of silver purity, but they lack the legal tender denomination.
As a safe-haven asset, gold is a good way to generate wealth. Gold is unique as an asset because an ounce of gold will still be an ounce of gold in 20 years’ time. When you buy gold now, it increases in value, unlike other physical assets that can degrade. It is why gold is always. If you buy gold now and wait for the market to increase, it will accrue value over time just by existing. Next to other physical assets that can degrade over time or more risky intellectual assets like stocks, this makes it attractive for nest eggs.
HM bullion coins from Highland Mint
The Highland Mint as an example is one of America’s top private mints. The mint excels in the production of different precious metal products. They range from fractional weight silver rounds to 1oz silver rounds.
You will find HM Bullion at many premier destinations for investing in physical gold and silver bullion. These HM bullion destinations allow investors to purchase precious metals and also have them delivered to their door. These e-commerce websites allow you to place orders for HM Bullion based on live spot prices from exchanges all over the world. These destinations source their bullion products from reputable mints so investors can rest assured that the precious metals they purchase are authentic.
Silver rounds are limited
Because the mint is centered around sports medallions, the range of the silver rounds is fairly limited. There are just 2 readily purchasable rounds on the open market. The first of these silver rounds is a bigger replica of the famous Buffalo nickel.
The obverse shows the Indian head, with the word ‘Liberty’. The reverse shows the buffalo design and reads ‘One troy ounce 999 Fine Silver. The 2nd round is a design based on the walking liberty coins from the world wars. It replicates the legal tender of the USA from 1916. It avoids the chance of counterfeiting with a border that says the round is to be no more than a commemorative copy.
Protecting your investments
You need to think of extra costs associated with your HM bullion investment. Have you thought about insurance or a place where you can safely store your bullion? There are some people who even rent storage off-site to protect their HM bullion. Be careful of buying bullion that isn’t delivered to you. When you buy metals that are never delivered, it’s quite possible the metal didn’t exist in the first place.
Always review the company selling the HM bullion. You can do this by typing in the name of the company and checking it out. Put in the name HM Bullion or Highland Mint as an example and see what other people say about their dealings with them.
Always get a certificate of authenticity
Always ask for a warranty or certificate of authenticity. If you’re determined to make sure you have the real deal, do research on the business that issued the certificate or guarantee. You need to know that in this industry, there are fake certificates about the authenticity of the bullion.
Bullion scams can mean you’re getting false information about the value of the bullion. There are unscrupulous sellers who will ask more for their coins than they are worth and not reveal the correct information about the bullion’s content. Many a time they try to sell ordinary bullion coins, making out as though they are some unusual collectible coins.
Other shifty dealers will attempt to sell bullion that has the same design as US coins. You can’t even trust some of the private mints that there are as they can well give coins that look like coins that come from elsewhere and that have no gold in them at all.
Have you heard of leveraged investment hoaxes? They are investments that come with high risks where you can lose a lot of money. With this type of scam, a website will tell you that the price of metal is about to go up and that now is the time to make big profits by making a small deposit. They tell you that by paying only a small percentage of the buying price, say 20%, you can score with more metal, but this is not so. These kinds of flashy investments are considered high-risk.
To help you understand some gold terms –
- Bullion – these include metals such as gold, silver, platinum that are found in different shapes – bars and coins.
- Collector Coin – coins where its rareness determines its value and the mint where it was produced.
- Premium – This is when the coin’s market value exceeds the actual value of the coin’s gold content.
- Troy Ounce – This is the unit of weight for gold, silver, and all precious metals.
What exactly is HM bullion?
HM bullion is a bulk quantity of precious metal. This will usually be gold or silver coins or bars. HM bullion coins are minted from precious metal and then bought for investment purposes. You can buy bullion coins from leading banks, coin dealers, precious metal dealers, or brokerage firms. Their value is based on the amount of silver and gold in them.
Prices fluctuate daily but will depend on silver and gold’s price in the world markets. Some of the best-known bullion coins are the South African Krugerrand, the American Gold Eagle, the Canadian Maple Leaf, and the Australian Gold Nugget.
About the Highland Mint
HM bullion coins come from Highland Mint. The mint was established in early 1980 in Melbourne, Florida. It is one of the most reputable private mints in the United States. Their large facility mints round in a variety of metals, with gold, silver, and bronze being the most popular.
With the passing years, the mint has expanded its production base to a full line of medallions and it has also added creative elements to its metals.
Sports memorabilia
In addition to minting rounds, the mint also offers custom cards and memorabilia, which is one of the reasons that it is officially licensed by North America’s four leading sports leagues, the MLB, the NFL, the NBA, and the NHL. The mint is American and its products provide a wonderful service to collectors, even those on a tight budget. It’s the place to find classic American designs.
The Highland Mint is known throughout the world for minting these official sports coins, medallions, cards, and other memorabilia and also for making silver HM bullion products for investors.
You can say that these coins are the mint’s claim to fame and for decades the mint has brought out the coin used for the toss of the coin at the Super Bowl. Everyone who knows the sport well will know that when they toss the coin up it is to work out which team gets control of the ball first.
The coin is roughly the same size as a silver dollar. One thousand copies of the coin are made for each Super Bowl. The particular coin used in the Super Bowl is then sent to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Others to players and the NFL officials and remaining coins are then sold to the public.
They haven’t got the largest mint facilities, and yet HM bullion products are still sought after for being of the highest quality. Many people particularly look for the services of the Highland Mint for custom products in pure silver or gold or one of the other precious
In fact, they have the facilities and skills to create custom products from precious and non-precious metals. Everything is done in the mint which means they are able to keep costs as low as possible.
All silver bullion is 99.99% pure
The professionals at the mint start with design and then comes sculpting and die making before casting the products. They finish off the entire process with quality control and custom packaging, with some products being treated with special color customization and sandblasting. All their silver bullion products are guaranteed to be 99.99 % pure.
True, the Highland Mint is well known for their custom minting services and sports collectibles, but they also have their own silver bullion products. Some of the more popular of these include the Morgan and Walking Liberty Silver bars in different weights, Morgan Silver Rounds, Walking Liberty Silver Rounds, 1-oz Horse Silver Rounds, and 10-oz Horse Silver Bar.
The Horse Silver Rounds mark the Chinese Lunar Year of the Horse. These coins are a limited edition and only developed for 2014. The 10 oz silver bars are also from the Year of the Horse. Their Morgan Silver Rounds and Bars are replicas of the Morgan Silver Dollar Coin. This was minted by the U.S. in the late 19th century and at the start of the 20th century. The Walking Liberty design Silver Rounds feature the design of the American Silver Eagle Coin.
Find a list of coins and their details
If you want to see HM bullion from the mint, you will see that they list all their bullion coins, gold- and silver coins that have been issued by the US Mint. You can find the coin values and history. Listed below are just a few of these coins –
- Classic Head Gold Coin (1834 – 1839) This particular coin was designed by William Kneass and it was minted in larger quantities than previous gold coins in a number of mints. The coin didn’t have ‘E PLURIBUS UNUM’ on the reverse. The coin was produced in high volume and there aren’t any distinct rarities.
- Liberty Head (1840-1907) – This coin was designed by Christian Gobrecht and is a coin with the longest continuous production of any design without any significant changes. It is also called the Coronet Head coin. The coin develops a greenish tone as it ages. The 1848 CAL coin was made from the first gold to arrive in Philadelphia from the California Gold Rush.
- Indian Head (1908-1929) The Indian Head design and the half eagle peace were created by a sculptor from Boston, Bela Lyon Pratt. The coin didn’t have any raised edges. The coin wasn’t well accepted by the public who thought it most unattractive. It was the first coin to feature a realistic Native American image on a coin. It is a coin that has been often counterfeited.
- Indian Head (1907 – 1933) – In 1904, USA President Teddy Roosevelt wanted to see more artistic coins coming from the mint and a friend of his, Augustus Saint-Gaudens designed some new coins. He finished a draft of the Eagle and Double Eagle, but because he died soon after this, a certain Charles Barber finished the Eagle but the Double Eagle was never released.
- Gold Eagles (1986 – now) – The US Gold Eagle comes in 4 denominations – $5m $10, $25, and $50. Commencing in 1986 gold bullion coins were minted to compete with the international bullion coin market. Maple Leaf coins and The Krugerrand were popular and brought in plenty of revenue for their respective governments.
- Silver Eagle (1986 – now) Silver has always been the most affordable precious metal. Silver bullion coins were made to compete with the popular Canadian Maple Leaf and other international bullion coins. They are the only silver coins allowed in an IRA.
- Platinum Eagle (1997 – now) – This coin comes in 4 denominations – $10, $25, $50 and $100. In 1997, the United States began striking these platinum coins to compete with other world bullion coins. This particular coin is the first to portray an image of the Statue of Liberty.
Highland Mint’s art department
The mint has an art department that is headed by a top-medallic sculptor. His pieces are found all over the United States as well as in the Metropolitan Opera House Archives, the Cathedral of Washing, in all the major universities and colleges among other places too.
The mint creates silver bullion rounds with designs from America’s history. The Morgan Round is one of the most popular products, featuring the designs of the most popular coins in history. A typical example of this is Incuse Indian Head and Buggalo Nickel Round. The designs of these are similar to the original coins but the inscriptions have been changed because they aren’t a currency.
Morgan silver rounds are minted in pure silver and the coins have a hallmark stamped on them to ensure their weight and purity. The coins carry some of the lowest premiums over the spot price of silver, making them easy to trade. The coins are much the same size as the American Silver Eagle and have a diameter of 39mm.
The lunar year of the Horse round
It was in 2014 that the mint had a theme – the year of the Horse Silver rounds and bars. The Chinese Lunar Calendar is always a popular theme for coins, bars, and rounds, and to celebrate the Year of the Horse, mints produced lots of silver coins with the Horse and they make ideal gifts for horse lovers and for people born in the year of the horse according to the Chinese calendar.
Unlike other mints that have lunar series released each year, the Highland Mint made it a one-year-only issue. The 10 oz Highland Mint Horse Silver bar is part of the Year of the Horse HM bullion product line. The brand new bars were minted in 10 troy ounces of .999 pure silver.
On the front side of the HM Bullion coin is the stallion and at the top of the bar is the engraving ‘Year of the Horse’ which is in English and Chinese. The year of minting is featured at the top as well. The year is 2014. On the bottom of the bar are things such as weight, purity, and metal content. Buying these coins is made easy online by making use of the encrypted checkout process.
Uncle Sam round
The mint also marked a date in American history with an Uncle Sam round, This was to mark the centennial anniversary of the poster’s debut. Many people wanted to order a roll of 20 1 oz. Uncle Sam, I Want You 100th Anniversary Silver rounds struck by the Highland Mint.
Each of the coins is made of .999 fine silver. The coin which weighs 1 Troy oz features a design that celebrates the 100th anniversary of the iconic Uncle Sam recruitment poster ‘I Want You’. It was in 1917 that the posters were first used. Uncle Sam on the coins is pointing his finger at you and the centennial anniversary dates appear at the bottom of the design. The upper portion has the words ‘100TH ANNIVERSARY.
The middle part of the design displays a waving American flag and the HM Bullion mark. If you buy the roll it has 20 Uncle Sam silver rounds.
Custom minting
With HM Bullion’s wide range of stock, they can offer sizes from 10mm to more than 3.5 inches. Their presses range from 350 tons psi t 1600 toms psi. The mint can strike any thickness or dimension required. The mints in-house tool and die makers have the skills and equipment to offer a full service. The mints inventory of non-precious metals and their ability to melt and process silver means that they have the means to complete any job you have.
The mint also offers packaging and costs and lead times are kept to a minimum. The mints fulfillment center handles any size job including credit card processing and serialization. Their computer system can accept any format orders.
Licenses
The Highland Mint holds licenses with a host of baseball associations and leagues. They are famous for their bronze, silver, and gold coins of the sports teams and individual athletes.
The Mint has also joined forces with the licensed companies to produce collectibles. The licenses don’t allow the mint’s products to be used as premiums. The Highland Mint has expanded its productions from the gold, silver, and bronze mint cards to a full line of medallions.
They produce lots of fully licensed sport- and non-sport collectibles and they have added creative elements to their metal products. All products are limited editions and come with a certificate of Authenticity. This makes them highly collectible and valuable, more so when they are in their original packaging. The value is also determined by how well the sports people did during the year.
Many Highland Mint silver bars and rounds are difficult to get hold of, with some of the more common products offered by Highland being the Walking Liberty and Morgan Design silver bars.
Packaging
At the Highland Mint, the fulfillment center handles everything and all products go through a continuity program. This ensures authenticity. All products are carefully packaged to ensure their new condition. The mint’s silver bullion products are unique editions and the mint is known for quality and offers a range of custom products.
Quality
All Highland precious metal products are created with the best craftsmanship. Every detail on the medallions is sculpted by hand into plaster and then into a die. Each of the medallions is struck a number of times prior to going through other finishing processes.
The coins are minted in weights that are fractions of one troy ounce. A bullion market such as HM Bullion is where buyers and sellers trade, with the London Bullion Market being seen as the primary global bullion market trading platform.
There are many of these bullion markets or OTC or Over-the-Counter markets and HM Bullion is just one. Some of the trade 24 hours a day but apart from using the bullion market to invest in gold and silver, there are also EFTs or Exchange-Traded Funds. It is the bullion market that is known as the primary source of gold and silver trading quotes. Bullion markets are found in London but in New York, Zurich, and Tokyo.
Mints produce 2 kinds of bullion coins
- Proof bullion coins – These are produced essentially for collectors and usually packed safely by the mint.
- Uncirculated bullion coins. These are produced for the purpose of investing. The coins are sold to certain buyers according to the market price at the time. This is known as the spot price.
Foreign governments also mint coins, although the standard of these may not be up to the standard of USA coins and they aren’t guaranteed by the US government. The value of foreign bullion coins is reliant on the coin’s melt value. Melt value is the intrinsic bullion value of a coin if it were melted and sold.
Investing in HM bullion or HM bullion coins requires you to do research, and you can always ask for the coin’s melt value which has to be available. You can always get advice from a reputable financial advisor who has specialized investment knowledge.
The Highland Mint is American. The mint with its HM bullion products provides a wonderful service as it enables those on tight budgets as well as those who like to accumulate a lot of silver and gold as possible to enjoy classic American designs. Whether you consider yourself a true American or just a regular collector who would like to admire some extraordinary designs, you can browse through the Highland Mint products, some of which have been listed here, to find HM bullion pieces that should be in your collection.
The use of multiple strikings on their sport medallions gave the mint an advantage in quality. The medallions the mint struck were struck a number of times rather than just once, and this is what has given the medallions such a deep, clear image similar to proof coins.
The Highland Mint continues this method of manufacture to this day. HM Bullion coins from Highland Mint is a sound contestant in the international silver market and as an investor, you can be sure that they offer great HM bullion products.