Decisions, decisions

Looking at my Tuesday morning email, it would appear that many hobbyists did indeed do something other than think numismatic thoughts over the weekend.

If it weren’t for spam, there would be very little for me to tend to.

However, now that summer has unofficially ended with the passing of Labor Day, collectors have decisions to make.

The first very likely might be whether to buy the U.S. Mint’s new 2013-W reverse proof Buffalo gold one-ounce coin.

It goes off sale at 5 p.m. Eastern Time on Sept. 5.

Because gold has been rising since it went on sale nearly a month ago, the current price of $1,740 is higher than the initial price. That should make the early orderers happy. It might deter the fence sitters from acting this week.

With the running order tally displayed on the Mint’s website at almost 41,000, the question is will the desirability and satisfaction of owning the first reverse proof gold Buffalo trump a realization that 41,000 of a one-ounce gold coin is a rather large number.

No one will ever be able to call this coin rare.

One factor in the calculation of any would-be buyer is the question of where the price of gold bullion is going to go.

A continuing upswing in the price of bullion would support the secondary market price of the reverse proof no matter how common it turns out to be.

On the other hand, a declining gold price would likely be reflected in the price of the reverse proof rather quickly.

Speaking of gold, today is an important date for the price of bullion, if it continues to follow the pattern of 1980, a correction is about to set in. I will offer more thoughts in the next few days when the mental dullness induced by a long weekend wears off.

At this point, all I can write is that the autumn collecting season begins.

Where will it take you? What decisions do you need to make to get started?

Buzz blogger Dave Harper is winner of the 2013 Numismatic Literary Guild Award for Best Blog and is editor of the weekly newspaper "Numismatic News."