Los Angeles-based precious metals firm Lear Capital said this week that it has acquired a historic 1915-S $50 Panama-Pacific Octagonal gold coin, according to Kevin DeMeritt, the company’s founder and chairman.
The coin possesses a unique historical background. Panama-Pacific coins were produced by the U.S. Mint in limited quantities to commemorate the Panama-Pacific International Exposition that was held in San Francisco in 1915, which celebrated the opening of the Panama Canal.
The result of the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty of 1903 — which provided the United States with a 10-mile wide strip of land and involved a $10 million initial payment and a $250,000 annual payment to Panama — the Panama Canal was built between 1903 and 1914 to facilitate quick, inexpensive shipping between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, according to the U.S. Office of the Historian.
Its construction served as a monumental engineering and policy achievement for the U.S. The canal was viewed as a symbol of American ingenuity and progress.
The $50 gold Panama-Pacific coins were the largest and most valuable type of coin created for the Panama-Pacific International Exposition. Numerous collectors and investors consider the octagonal version to be highly desirable, due in part to its limited mintage.
Only 645 Panama-Pacific Octagonal gold coins were produced, which has made the design one of the rarest coins in numismatic history.
Owning a Piece of the Past
Lear Capital obtained the 1915-S $50 Panama-Pacific Octagonal gold coin, according to DeMeritt, as part of its ongoing effort to provide significant precious metal market opportunities for investors.
“Acquiring this rare coin is a testament to our dedication to providing our clients with access to the most exceptional and valuable precious metal investments,” DeMeritt said in a press release about the purchase. “This coin is not only a significant piece of American history, but also a highly sought-after investment due to its rarity and historical importance.”
The large Panama-Pacific gold coins are known for having an intricate design and substantial weight. Their size and composition, however, can make them susceptible to potential wear and damage. As a result, coins that are in exceptional shape can be extremely difficult to find.
Most surviving items, according to Lear Capital, are in Mint State condition and are typically graded at MS63, with a very few outstanding items in existence that are graded at MS66. Lear Capital’s Panama-Pacific coin bears a green Certified Acceptance Corporation sticker that notes it has a grade of MS64 and is in exceptional shape.
Lear Capital plans to offer the 1915-S $50 Panama-Pacific Octagonal gold coin to investors for $130,000.
A Focus on Providing Coveted Items
In April, Lear Capital announced it had made another prized acquisition: a historically significant 80.3-ounce gold bar that was put into circulation more than 90 years ago.
Marked with the number 33, indicating it was the 33rd bar the manufacturer created, the bar was also stamped with the manufacturer’s logo, a pine tree, according to DeMeritt.
Its certificate of authenticity listed its weight in grams — 2,500.5 — as well as the name and signature of the essayeur juré, or sworn tester, Léo Matthey, a descendant of the famous Matthey assaying family that helped found precious metal analysis provider Johnson Matthey. The gold bar’s certificate of authenticity also states that the item was assessed on May 2, 1933, in Switzerland.
That same year, following the financial crisis of 1933, which drained the Federal Reserve’s supply of gold — and affected its ability to convert currency to it — U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt began enacting policies that restricted the private use of the precious metal.
“This is a rare piece of history,” DeMeritt said earlier this year at the time of the bar’s acquisition. “[We] would love to sell it to someone who appreciates the history and wants to hold on to it for its historic value.”
In addition to the unique historical items Lear Capital has recently obtained, the company — which has handled more than $3 billion in trusted transactions and served more than 90,000 satisfied customers since its 1997 start — offers a wide selection of physical gold, silver, and platinum precious metal assets. The company’s currently available items can be viewed on its website.
Lear Capital’s inventory of bullion, bars, and other precious metal items includes a number of physical precious metal assets that contain the required composition to be eligible for inclusion in a self-directed individual retirement account. According to Internal Revenue Service regulations, gold items must have a fineness of at least 0.995, and silver must possess a fineness of 0.999 or greater, for inclusion.
“The government has made these rules,” DeMeritt says. “If it has that quality, then you can add it to an IRA; if it does not, then you cannot — with the one exception being an American Eagle coin, which does not have that fineness.”
Investors sometimes opt to invest in physical precious metals, according to DeMeritt, along with other items, such as stocks, to diversify their portfolio.
“Gold has an inverse relationship to stocks and other types of assets; in times of war or terrorism, usually you’re going to find the markets become extremely volatile,” DeMeritt says. “Nobody knows what’s going on from day to day. The asset that gives you some stability while all of those things are happening typically is gold. Diversification usually works out much better over the long term than a put-one-egg-in-your-basket-and-watch-it-closely mindset.”