I was at work today and got a call from my wife who was with a friend shopping downtown, they had stopped by a jewelry store and she told me that there were several gold pandas set in rings being sold as jewelry and sent me this iphone picture. Intrigued, I drove down to see what the guy was selling and was surprised that not only did he have all of these gold panda rings but several coins still untouched in his safe. I asked if I could have a look at what he had stored so he retrieved the other gold pandas. There were not many that were extremely rare but I did manage to pick up a nice 1/10th 1990 small date (how odd, I had been looking for this one !) and a 1/10th 1994 large date ! He had bought these years ago and had them in his safe with other coins and has others that he is going to get for me to look at, hopefully he has something rare !!! The guy has no idea about rare coins as he bought them years ago for using in jewelry and also has some 1 oz's in his bullion collection. It would be sweet to pick up a few rare pandas at slightly over spot ! Of course if he would have something extremely rare I would give him a fair price anyway. On a side note, he asked me to look at a coin set that he had stored away for years to see if I knew anything about it. What he had was something I have never seen it was a very nice green box labeled something like "Australian 1994 set" or something like that. Inside this set are two 1994 Silver Kilo Kookaburra, one 1994 1 oz Platinum Koala and one 2 oz 1994 Kangaroo. All four coins are in mint condition and have never been handled, still in plastic capsules. The box and entire set are pristine. Obviously the melt value of the set is about $7,000 but if anyone has any idea about this set or the approximate numismatic value, it would be greatly appreciated.
I did a little research and found that guys Australian set ... looks like he may be able to make some money on it. Maybe not what this set is auctioning at but I will keep an eye on it http://www.coins-auctioned.com/auctions/rare-diversified-the-aussie-investment-portfolio-117
O to walk around the coin dealers of Melbourne and hit on such a find! Americans have it so so good when it comes to Pandas, just imagine how many are in possession of them who don't know what they are! Pity these are set in rings though, sooo off putting for me. Good luck on the others Randy
I bought my two 1/10s very close to spot. I imagine if Gold and the Panda market ever tanked I'd make a ring for myself and one for my wife.
In fact I've just had the idea to be on the look out for scruffy 1/20s so I can make rings now. Seems I've seen some before and surely will again.
correction ... I picked up a 1991 small date !!! Even better The story even gets better ... so I just found out that one of the 1 oz pandas that this jeweler has stored away is a 1996 and he only wants $2,000 for it Reading Peters book he states that while the 1996 may not be as elsusive as the 1995 or 1998 it is quite difficult to find and among the most uncommon of all 1 oz gold pandas. I hope it's the large date !!! Well just another horrible day for me having to drive 5 miles downtown to the jewelry store to spend some money on gold pandas
