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What is a bullion coin?
Question
#97263. Asked by author. (Jul 05 08 7:11 AM)
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zbeckabee
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Bullion is the pure form of a precious metal such as gold, silver, copper, or platinum, from which coin metal alloys are made. The U.S. Gold Eagle is not really pure bullion; it is an alloy of 91.67% gold, 3% silver, and 5.33% copper, although the total amount of gold content weighs out to a solid ounce. The U.S. Silver Eagle and the U.S. Gold American Buffalo are both considered to be true bullion coins, since their alloy is at least 99.9% pure.
Examples: U.S. coins made of bullion are not intended for general circulation; they are made for the purpose of investing in precious metals.
 http://coins.about.com/od/coinsglossary/g/bulliondefined.htm
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Baloo55th
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Not to be confused with billon, which is a lowish (to very low) mix of either silver or sometimes gold with copper. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billon
Bullion coins are rather the opposite. Their metal tends to be fairly pure, and the metal content of the coin is worth far more than the face value. The Krugerrand was a good example. Issued first when it was still illegal for Americans to hold gold other than foreign coins, it gave an easy way of exporting South African gold to the USA. Each coin contains 1 troy ounce of gold, but as the proportion of gold is about 91% (the rest being copper to give harder wearing) it will weigh over the ounce. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krugerrand
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