The current books touch gold only briefly, even though a gold coin can concentrate more money and fraud risk in one piece. This guide starts with the essential checks and omits any specification table that lacks named sources.
Key facts
- Karat expresses gold purity in parts of 24; fineness expresses purity as a decimal or parts per thousand.
- Different U.S. gold denominations and series use different total weights and fine-gold contents. Use only specification tables that cite a named source for every figure.
- Because metal value is a larger share of many common gold coins, the buy/sell spread may sit closer to melt than on premium-driven numismatic coins. That is a market tendency, not a guaranteed buy percentage.
- Spotting Fakes chapter 9 puts all gold on the never-raw list: certified or examined by a recognized expert.
- The Weekend Coin Dealer chapter 6 treats certification as especially useful for authentication-risk coins.