500 and 1000 dollar bills

So you actually can get your hands on very large-denomination dollar bills! At least if you're willing to pay a substantial premium. APMEX has both 500 and 1000 dollar bills from 1934 and earlier. They claim these are still legal tender. The cheapest 1000 dollar bill right now is a whopping $1845! I think I'll stick to a few 100 dollar bills, and maybe a gold coin, for my travels.

Bullion as travel emergency fund?

Traveler checks are dead in Europe, and almost dead in the US. Both the dollar and the euro are now shaky currencies. If I keep a couple of large-denomination dollar or euro bills for a couple of months until the next overseas trip, how much will they be worth by then? Are there better alternatives?

Well, maybe. When I was in Kiev last year I was struck by how gold bullion was treated just like any other currency in the many hole-in-the-wall currency exchanges there. The exchange rate was very similar for bullion, dollars and euros. Why not bring a couple of gold coins on the next trip, at least if your destination is as gold friendly as Kiev?

Here's what a newbie (me) has learned so far about buying gold coins (bullion) in the US. Price comparison done on September 5, 2010. The spot price for an ounce of gold was $1,249. Prices are the lowest buy prices found when comparing Apmex and Kitco. For Kitco, their 0.4% insurance fee was added to their list price. Ounces are troy ounces (ozt), where 1ozt = 31.1034768g. The amount of pure gold in each bullion item is given by the Actual Gold Weight (AGW). For example, the 1 ounce bar weighs 1 / 0.9999 ozt = 1.0001ozt so that its AGW is exactly 1ozt.

Bullion item	AGW	Fineness	Nominal value	Price	Price/ozt	Premium	Relative
1 kilogram bar	32.15ozt	99.99%		$40,325	$1,254	$5	0.4%
100 gram bar	3.215ozt	99.99%		$4,076	$1,268	$19	1.5%
Mexican 50 Peso Gold Coin	1.2057ozt	90.00%	50 Pesos	$1,536	$1,274	$25	2.0%
1 ounce bar	1ozt	99.99%		$1,277	$1,277	$28	2.2%
1 ounce South African Krugerrand	1ozt	91.67%		$1,294	$1,294	$45	3.6%
1 ounce Canadian Gold Maple Leaf	1ozt	99.99%	$50	$1,297	$1,297	$48	3.8%
1 ounce American Gold Eagle	1ozt	91.67%	$50	$1,307	$1,307	$58	4.6%
Austro-Hungarian 100 Crown	0.9802ozt	90.00%	100 Crowns	$1,246	$1,271	$22	1.8%
US Saint-Gaudens' Double Eagle	0.9675ozt	90.00%	$20	$1,398	$1,445	$196	16%
1/2 ounce American Gold Eagle	0.50ozt	91.67%	$25	$665	$1,331	$82	6.6%
Mexican 20 Peso Gold Coin	0.4823ozt	90.00%	20 Pesos	$622	$1,290	$41	3.3%
Austrian 4 Ducat	0.4427ozt	98.61%		$583	$1,317	$68	5.4%
Danish 20 Kroner	0.2592ozt	90.00%	20 Kroner	$344	$1,326	$77	6.2%
1/4 ounce South African Krugerrand	0.25ozt	91.67%		$343	$1,374	$125	10%
1/4 ounce Canadian Gold Maple Leaf	0.25ozt	99.99%	$10	$356	$1,424	$175	14%
1/4 ounce American Gold Eagle	0.25ozt	91.67%	$10	$347	$1,386	$137	11%
British Sovereign	0.2354ozt	91.67%		$322	$1,368	$119	9.5%
Austro-Hungarian 20 Crown	0.1960ozt	90.00%	20 Crowns	$265	$1,350	$101	8.1%
Swiss Helvetia	0.1867ozt	90.00%	20 Francs	$263	$1,409	$160	13%
French Napoleon	0.1867ozt	90.00%	20 Francs	$258	$1,383	$134	11%
Italian 20 Lire	0.1867ozt	90.00%	20 Lire	$253	$1,356	$107	8.6%
British Half Sovereign	0.1177ozt	91.67%		$167	$1,418	$170	14%
Austrian Ducat	0.1107ozt	98.61%		$158	$1,430	$181	14%
Dutch Ducat	0.1107ozt	98.61%		$148	$1,339	$90	7.2%
1/10 ounce American Gold Eagle	0.10ozt	91.67%	$5	$148	$1,480	$231	18%
Austrian 4 Florin	0.0933ozt	90.00%		$136	$1,462	$213	17%
Mexican 2 Peso Gold Coin	0.0482ozt	90.00%	2 Pesos	$68	$1,414	$165	13%

Several fairly common coins were not included, for example Australian Nugget, Chinese Panda, American Buffalo, Austrian Philharmonic, Mexican Libertad, British Britannia. They were at best priced very similarly to the more common "Kruge, Eage and Mape", and often considerably more expensive. Many smaller (fractional) coins were out of stock and were therefore left out of the table.

On a side note, it looks like Apmex are a bit off on the Ducat AGW. The Austrian and Dutch Ducats have an AGW of 0.1107ozt (or 0.110676ozt if you want be a hundred times more exact), not 0.1106ozt as Apmex claims. Similarly for the Austrian 4 Ducat: 0.4427ozt (0.442704ozt), not 0.4430ozt.

Depending on how much you want bring (taxi ride to the nearest consulate or buying new stuff / plane ticket home?), the sweet spots seem to be these. For the largest chunk you can cross the US border with: 100g gold bar, with an overhead of only 1.5%. For a roughly ounce-sized chunk: Mexican 50 peso gold coin with 2.0% overhead. Or is there a reason people pay more than twice that overhead for a contemporary one-ounce gold coin? The Austro-Hungarian 100 crown coin looks interesting. The overhead is even lower than the 50 peso coin, and the 100 crown is a beauty:



For sizes around half an ounce, the Mexican 20 peso gold coin looks attractive (overhead 3.3%). For a really tiny coin, how about the Dutch ducat (7.2% overhead compared to spot price)? Or does the 98.61% gold content make it too soft to mix with your pocket change without bending?

Or maybe these coins are often counterfeited and/or hard to sell? Maybe safer to stay with the Krugerrands of different sizes? This price comparison was also only a snapshot, maybe the prices fluctuate enough so that the conclusion would have been different just a week ago? I guess I'll figure it out eventually.

Heathrow hotels map

Long time, no post!

I unexpectedly made another 1,000+ mile move since my last post. I've now lived at least once in each of the Eastern, Central and Mountain time zones. Who knows, I might move to the Pacific time zone too sometime. I kind of like Portland, Oregon...

The last year, I've spent most of my spare time trying to figure out how best to batten down the hatches and ride out the ongoing economic and financial storms. No time for blogging, until tonight!

For those traveling to European destinations via Heathrow and then by Eurostar train from London - St. Pancras, it might be necessary to spend a night at Heathrow. I did on my way back home last time I did this trip. I think there might have been a hotel at the airport, but I might have found it too pricey? I ended up staying at a hotel very close to the airport, and that worked out well. Here's a map of the hotels closest to the airport:

The map also has the numbers of free public buses you can take from Heathrow to these hotels. Be aware that the bus drivers are less than friendly to Heathrow flyers who don't know which stop to get off at! There is also a bus called the "Hotel Hoppa" for those willing to pay 5 pounds or so for friendlier service. Haven't tried it myself though. I'm thick skinned, do like to use public transport when available, and maybe a bit cheap?