What's a Series 1 Lunar Gold 1oz Coin Worth?

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Key Date: 1997 Perth Mint Bullion Lunar Gold 1oz Ox Coin

Although the mintage on the 1oz Gold Lunar coins is set to a maximum of 30,000, many of the Series 1 coins ended with a much lower number of sales (in most cases only around half of the max mintage). See the table below for a complete breakdown:

In comparison Series 2 has seen each of the first 5 released sell out of their full mintage (1oz Gold Mouse, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit and Dragon).

You can view the entire Series 1 and Series 2 Bullion Gold Lunar Mintages on these pages:

Perth Mint S1 Gold Lunar Mintages (Bullion)

Perth Mint S2 Gold Lunar Mintages (Bullion)

So what are each of the coins worth on the market at the moment?

Here is what Bullion Money recently listed them for (specifically for Silver Stackers):

The complete Lunar Series 1oz Gold set from 1996-2007 is available for $21,283.00

The 12 coins are in the original Perth Mint Issue capsules and do not come in the aftermarket presentation cases.

Have a few sets available, this deal works out to be $1773 per coin!

Offer is good as long as spot stays below $1620AUD

1996 – Year of the Mouse
1997 – Year of the Ox
1998 – Year of the Tiger
1999 – Year of the Rabbit
2000 – Year of the Dragon
2001 – Year of the Snake
2002 – Year of the Horse
2003 – Year of the Goat
2004 – Year of the Monkey
2005 – Year of the Rooster
2006 – Year of the Dog
2007 – Year of the Pig

A great price if you ask me (and it included postage and insurance). At the time AUD Gold was around $1610, so the coins were offered at only a 10% premium to spot (although it’s a relatively sizable transaction to buy them all)!

The 10% premium pales in comparison to the Series 1 Silver 1oz set which you would pay around $1000-1100 for, which is almost 3 times spot price (nearly a 200% premium). As I’ve said on this site in the past, I believe the greatest opportunity is in the Silver coins as their lower price point generates a larger pool of buyers to bid up the prices.

A sale which finished around an hour ago on Silver Stackers (won’t post the link as old threads get removed) saw some of these coins sold individually resulting in final sale prices of:

1996 Mouse $1810
1997 Ox $1919
1998 Tiger $1850 (recent sale on eBay $1888)
1999 Rabbit $1810
2000 Dragon $2121 (recent sale on eBay $2225)
2001 Snake $1820

I assume the seller grabbed one of the Bullion Money sets to sell off individually for a profit and they have done reasonably well with this tactic. Making an average $115 profit on each coin. On the initial capital outlay ($10,638 for 6 coins) a $692 profit or a 6.5% return in a week. Nice turnaround!

The final 6 coins (2002-2007) are due to be auctioned off this coming week and I should be able to report on these once completed as well.  As the Dragon (highest priced coin usually) and Ox (key date, lowest mintage) were both in the first 6 auctioned I am expecting the second 6 to go for a lower average price.

As the 1oz Gold Lunar coins don’t come up for sale all that often, these examples have provided a good baseline for their current market value.

Pictures of the first 6 Gold Lunar Coins in Series 1:

1996 Perth Mint Bullion Lunar Gold 1oz Rat (Mouse) Coin

1997 Perth Mint Bullion Lunar Gold 1oz Ox Coin

1998 Perth Mint Bullion Lunar Gold 1oz Tiger Coin

1999 Perth Mint Bullion Lunar Gold 1oz Rabbit Coin

2000 Perth Mint Bullion Lunar Gold 1oz Dragon Coin

2001 Perth Mint Bullion Lunar Gold 1oz Snake Coin

Cheers