Wisdom in a gold collection

Timing counts for a lot in life. If you owned gold on the last day of December, you have a tidy little profit to show for it already.

If you collected gold coins over a lifetime and put them on sale with a major auction firm, the results would probably be stunning.

Come June 5-8, 2016, Goldberg’s will hold its Pre-Long Beach Sale.

Going on the block will be a select group of just under 100 gold coins.

These came from an unidentified Midwestern family of prominence.

The Goldbergs say the gold coins were part of a collection formed 50 years ago.

Portions of it were sold in the mid 1960s, when the price of an ounce of gold was $35.

The coins that were retained have been submitted to the Professional Coin Grading Service.

Included in the collection is a complete run of $5 and $10 Indians. The firm says many are in absolute Mint State condition.

The 1909-O $5 and 1929 $5 along with the $10s dated 1907 Rolled Edge and Wire Edge, the 1930-S and 1933 appear virtually untouched, according to the Goldbergs.

Also in the group are some amazing early $20s such as an 1850 and 1851-O.

There are several superb gem proof gold coins, notably a 1866 No Motto $5 and matching $10. A 1879 Flowing Hair Stella and a Panama-Pacific set in the original box of issue round out the gold coins in this special group.

How much will they sell for?

Oh, I don’t know, but the figure will surely be more than they would have brought in the 1960s and the sum that is realized will confirm the wisdom of keeping gold coins as part of your long-term holdings.

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

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