What is the benefit to buying US gold coins instead of gold jewelry?

While gold jewelry is the clear winner when it comes to fashion accessories, when it comes to gold as an investment, US gold coins have definite advantages:

1)   The weight and fineness of US gold coins are known quantities.  This makes for buying and selling them much easier than jewelry.

2)   US gold coins are valued not only for their gold content, but also their collector ("numismatic") value.  Contrast this with gold jewelry which has little collector interest (save perhaps for the vintage/antique category).

3)   US gold coins are much easier to evaluate than gold jewelry which is more subjective in nature. When purchasing gold jewelry, you are not only paying for the gold content but for the workmanship as well which you are unlikely to recoup when selling. The fact is, those “we buy your gold” programs will not give you anything for the precious stones or workmanship which may be a part of your jewelry's value.

4)   Mintages and values for US gold coins are typically known quantities while the gold jewelry industry doesn't have a system in place to accurately track these figures.