Cayman Islands Gold $25 Coins

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Cayman Islands Gold $25 Coins are a special highly limited edition coin from the Caribbean Islands just south of Jamaica. This particular piece was issued by the Caymans in order to pay tribute to the Silver wedding anniversary of their sovereign Queen Elizabeth II and her consort Prince Phillip. As the longest ruling members of the British Royal family, they have been the subject of all Cayman Islands coinage the colony islands have issued over the decades. Besides this piece, Cayman gold includes a $250, $50, and another $25 coin from 1990.

Cayman Islands Gold $25 Coins Background and History

It was Christopher Columbus who first discovered the Cayman Islands in 1503. He named the island group the Tortugas, which is the Spanish word for turtles, since he saw a huge numbers of the creatures in the area. The islands became a part of the British Empire in 1670 alongside Jamaica. Great Britain colonized the island group out of Jamaica. Even though Jamaica gained its independence decades ago, The Caymans today are still proudly a British Colony though they are now somewhat self governing. For a time they enjoyed membership in the West Indies Federation from 1959, though the group disbanded in 1972. The Caymans opted for membership in the British Commonwealth instead after the breakup of the federation.

Interestingly enough the Cayman Islands worked and traded with the currency of Jamaica for most of the larger island's independent history. The colony only started authorizing its own territorial coinage back in 1972 at the time it decimalized its currency. Each of these coins they issue pays tribute to some special event they wish to celebrate. The Cayman Islands Gold $25 Coins are actually minted by the Royal Canadian Mint. Their mintage is extremely limited at a mere 7,706 pieces.

Cayman Islands Gold $25 Coins Physical Characteristics

Coin Design

Where investors and collectors are concerned, the obverse of a coin refers to its front side. Cayman Islands Gold $25 Coins have an obverse which portrays Queen Elizabeth II and the prince consort Phillip facing to the right side. They are encircled by the words “Silver Wedding Anniversary 1947-1972.

Coin enthusiasts all call the backside of coins by their official name “the reverse.” Cayman Islands Gold $25 Coins showcase the typical British Commonwealth image of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II wearing her crown. Below her image is the date of issue.

Specifications

The Cayman Islands have issued four different denominations of gold coins, including an over one ounce $250 coin, a roughly fifth of an ounce $50 piece, a tenth ounce $25 Cayman Islands issue, and these quarter ounce $25 commemorative silver anniversary gold coins. The standard specifications of this 1972 silver wedding anniversary gold piece are as follows:

• Mass:  15.75 grams
• Diameter: 27.3 mm
• Thickness: 2.5 mm
• Gold Content: 0.2222 troy oz
• Purity: 50.0% gold fineness

Cayman Islands Gold $25 Coins Pricing

Cayman Islands Gold $25 Coins have a legal tender face value of $25 Cayman Dollars which is still accepted today within this Commonwealth colony. Thanks to fiscal responsibility and discipline in the islands, inflation has been tame and these coins' face value is still relatively worthwhile. Still it does not compare to the intrinsic value of the gold in these gems. This intrinsic value is based upon the daily spot price of gold. They enjoy a significant collector's premium because of their incredibly limited mintage, a trait these coins share with the other Cayman Islands gold coins.

The two components of gold content and collector premium add up to the market value price of the coin. This gives the value which the coins contribute to any portfolio or retirement account which holds them. Gold prices gyrate either up or down during the weekly trading days plus Sundays. Gold trades internationally and is priced all over the world, unlike individual exchanges' stocks and bonds. These constantly shifting prices of gold update in real time which you can locate on our homepage. This will help you keep abreast of the spot price of gold.

Can IRA Accounts Contain Cayman Islands Gold $25 Coins?

Cayman Islands Gold $25 Coins are beautiful and memorable, but can they be included in your precious metals IRA retirement accounts? The American Internal Revenue Service decides in their sole discretion if they will permit these coins and all other contenders to be a part of the accounts. They are mostly interested in two considerations when they evaluate coins. These are the purity of the gold in the pieces and the collectable nature and additional premium this imposes on the issues themselves.

In order to finalize the opening of such an account, you have to first deposit $5,000 worth of gold and other precious metals coins which the IRS approves. Once your IRA administrator has completed this task, you can always have them purchase additional metals with only $1,000 increments later. If you already own an existing IRA that does not permit physical precious metals, it is not difficult to engage in a rollover to a self directed precious metals IRA. The task is made fairly easy when you issue instructions to your old and new IRA account administrators to do so.

The answer on whether or not these beautiful Caribbean Islands gems can be included in your Gold IRA comes down to issues the IRS has with both their gold purity and extremely limited mintages. Because the IRS requires .995 gold fineness, and these coins only contain .500 fine gold, they are not close to being allowed in your portfolio. Neither are the other Cayman Islands gold coins that have higher gold purity of over .910 fineness. Even if the gold content was high enough on any of the Cayman pieces, the IRS would still take issue with the highly limited mintages and accompanying premiums. Even though you will not be able to count any of the Cayman Islands' gold among your physical holdings in the IRA, you can still have them in other types of retirement and investment accounts. You are able to purchase them from world coin dealers who will have to track them down for you because they are quite rare.

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