BOOK REVIEW: ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO INVESTING IN PRECIOUS METALS

The Essential Guide to Investing in Precious Metals by David L. Ganz is aimed at a general audience interested in adding gold, silver and other precious metals to an investment portfolio. While it's not directly numismatic, there are several parts collectors can relate to.

It's illustrated with plenty of charts and tables, but there's plenty of eye candy as well - gold, silver and platinum coins and bullion pieces, and the $7.59 million 1933 Double Eagle.

I'll stick to the numismatic parts. The chapter on the History of Buying U.S. Gold Bullion Coins discusses the collections of Harold Bareford, Lou Eliasberg and John Pittman. Many of the gold coins purchased by these gentlemen, even rarities, were at relatively small markups over the price of gold at the time. On p100 is a nice chart of several of John Pittman's purchases, most of which were at under $70 per ounce. Many of these coins ultimately sold for a hundred times Pittman's initial investment.

The table also shows Pittman's compound interest rate on these purchases, which interestingly was only in the 9-12% range. The investment performance of these coins is less impressive when viewed in that light, yet it's a powerful statement on the wonders of compound interest. An 1858 $20 gold piece Pittman purchased in 1949 at $60 grew at a compound rate of 12% annually - realizing a comparatively astounding $14,300 when Pittman's collection was sold in 1997-1999.

One aspect of the book took me aback a bit, though. There is a two-page ad for AMPEX at the beginning. There is also a two-page ad for Krause Publications at the back, nothing unusual. Throughout the book, references to prices are based on values from AMPEX, and the web site, www.AMPEX.com is referenced repeatedly. Again, not unusual. But in Chapter 14 "Where to Buy Gold and Precious Metals" Ganz writes: "Since AMPEX (www.AMPEX.com) is one of the largest and most successful Internet retailers, I have constructed the tables of comparison using AMPEX as compared to other coin dealers, whether over-the-counter of telemarketers." The remainder of the chapter consists of six tables with titles such as "Comparison of Convenience of AMPEX to Other Dealers" and "Comparison of Pricing of AMPEX to Other Dealers".

Did I mention that AMPEX and www.AMPEX.com is on the cover of the book, bigger than the author's name? That should have been my first clue. A more accurate title would be "The AMPEX Guide to Investing In Precious Metals."

But other than that jarring promotional stuff, the text is actually very usable and readable, another thorough effort from David Ganz. While not written with numismatists in mind it nevertheless presents a fair and favorable view of the numismatic hobby in the context of precious metal investment.

For more information or to order, see: www.krausebooks.com/product/the-essential-guide-to-
investing-in-precious-metals/new

Wayne Homren, Editor

	NBS (coinbooks.org) Web