A: If you’re looking for a fashion accessory, gold jewelry wins hands-down, of course (although there are jewelry pieces made with gold coins as well).  But when it comes to gold as a collectible or investment vehicle, U.S. gold coins have several major advantages over gold jewelry:

1)   Weight and fineness of U.S. gold coins are a known quantity, making such coins much easier to buy and sell.

2)   Numismatic (collector) value is an added bonus for gold coins.  There is little collector interest in jewelry (except perhaps in the “antique” or “vintage” jewelry categories).

3)   Gold jewelry is harder to evaluate than gold coins and much more subjective in nature. In buying gold jewelry, you are paying not only for the precious metal content but also for workmanship, and you are unlikely to get that back when selling. All those “sell us your gold” sites give you nothing for workmanship or precious stones that may be part of the piece.

      Mintage figures and current values for United States gold coins are a known quantity whereas no such system is in place for gold jewelry.