It was an eventful year for precious metals.
As the spot price of gold and silver oscillated in response to economic uncertainty and concerns over stimulus tapering, some investors urged the selling of precious metal assets. Others — looking for a hedge against inflation — nabbed as much as they could at low prices.
Yet while gold bullion may be a hot topic for TV analysts and stock market bloggers, you shouldn’t forget precious metal coins and the role they play in an investment portfolio.
In today’s market, gold, silver, and platinum coins are valuable to collectors and investors all over the world — and the precious metals make sensational headlines.
Here are five of our favorite stories from last year.
5. Pulling a Fast One On Debt with the Trillion Dollar Coin
Early last year, the absurdity around solving the debt ceiling crisis reached a fever pitch when, instead of hammering out details on spending cuts and reductions, pundits proposed minting a $1 trillion platinum coin.
Though creating a coin composed of $1 trillion in platinum would be impossible — and it would require more platinum than has ever been mined — a loophole would have allowed the United States Treasury to mint a standard-sized platinum coin, stamped with whatever value it pleased. Thankfully, the gimmick was short lived and the loophole closed before inflation was given a go.
4. Where Are the Pennies, Eh?
In February, Canada finally said goodbye to their one-cent piece. While consumers are allowed to use any pennies they still have, the Royal Canadian Mint has stopped distributing them and merchants are rounding to the nearest nickel.
So does this mean a Canadian’s thoughts are worth five times more than everyone else’s?
3. America’s First Curved Coin
In commemoration of the National Baseball Hall of Fame’s 75th anniversary, the U.S. mint plans to produce the country’s first curved coin for 2014.
The obverse will be concave and the reverse convex, and the coin will be offered in $5 gold, $1 silver, and half dollar clad coins.
2. The Bitcoin Bubble & Bust
Back in 2009, a Norwegian man working on his thesis purchased 5,000 bitcoins for about $27. He then promptly forgot about them.
Four years later, Kristoffer Koch randomly stumbled upon a story about the Bitcoin bubble and checked his balance, and he found that they were worth nearly $900,000.
Experts are unsure how long the windfall will last, and by December the bitcoin tumbled close to 30 percent. Some forecasters predict it will plummet down to $10 by mid-2014.
1. Danish Teen Discovers Viking Cache
Sixteen-year-old Michael Stokbro Larsen happened upon a hidden Viking hoard in a northern Denmark field using his metal detector. Together, all of the items found — including 60 rare coins — make the site the largest Viking hoard discovered since 1939.
Not bad for a kid with a metal detector.
What is your favorite coin story of 2013?
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