What is a safer investment - Numismatic or Bullion gold?

Go with bullion coins at the lowest possible premium to the gold spot price. Numismatic coins often carry a 20-40% spread between bid and ask, or you will have to find another coin collector who is willing to pay you that outlandish premium. I got suckered into it once before. I was shown the fantastic price rise numismatic coins had back in 1981 and bought some expensive graded and slabbed coins. I needed to sell in 1996 I could only get 30% of what I paid for 15 years earlier. Talk about a bad investment. I would have lost substantially less on plain no frills bullion coins.

BTW, gold is not something that is safe and lets you cash out at a premium 2 years from now. Look at the historic graph below, and my interpretation is that we will see lower prices than today, based on a steadily improving economy. See that peak on the chart last year? Stick with that worthless dollar, because if it collapses no one is going to buy your gold or silver either.

http://www.kitco.com/scripts/hist_charts/yearly_gr...

Bullion is a more direct investment. The value of bullion is directly linked to the market price per ounce of gold on international exchanges (the $/oz value you read in the newspaper and see on tv).

Numismatic gold value is heavily weighted on the historic and cultural value of the item itself. Also, demand and liquidity for such items is extremely variable. Generally it is much easier to purchase numismatic items from dealers at or above "market value" than it is to resell them anywhere near market value (market value being the value of the gold plus the cultural/historic value). Chances are if you "invest" in numismatic gold, you will pay a high premium and not be able to recuperate that premium upon resale.

The bottom line is you should pay the least amount over spot that you can get away with. Having a recognized named attached to the item will help when it comes time to sell. Before you buy make sure you have an exit strategy for when you want to sell. The differences in cost relate mostly to labor costs related to producing the coins and to some extent the demand for that particular product.

Cash is safer than gold.