Americans are investing in gold like never before.  With the weakened dollar, people are finding that investing in gold is a smart decision. 

Probably the best selling gold bullion coins are the American Gold Eagles that were introduced in 1986.  These coins are minted at West Point, NY and come in four sizes:  1 ounce, ½ ounce, ¼ ounce, and 1/10 ounce.  The 1 ounce coin is the most popular and seel at a bit of a premium because of it. 

These coins are 22 karat gold.  This means they contain over 90% gold and about 8% copper/silver alloy.  It is a misconception though to think that you don’t own an ounce of gold because of this slight mixture of metals.  The 1 ounce coin is definitely 1 ounce of gold. 

The coins actually contain exactly one ounce of gold and the fraction of copper/silver alloy causes the coins to weigh slightly more than 1 ounce. 

Gold Eagle coins that were minted from 1986 - 1991 are dated with Roman numerals.  In 1992, the U.S. Mint switched to Arabic numbers for dating Gold Eagles.  These coins sell at prices that reflect the current value of gold and also have a premium for being stamped into coins.

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