Even the Midas Touch Isn't a Sure Bet

Eagles also slip through a loophole in the tax-reporting law, says Scott Travers, author of "The Coin Collector's Survival Manual." Dealers have to report to the Internal Revenue Service if you sell 25 or more Maples or Krugerrands. They're not required to report your sales of American Eagles and some other coins, although some may do so. (Kitco, in Canada, says it does no tax reporting at all.)

Normally, one-ounce Eagles sell for 5.5 to 7.5 percent more than the gold price, Nadler says. Small dealers might mark up the price even more.

In this buying panic, I saw online dealers charging as much as 13 percent more than spot gold. Their Web sites warned that there might be a wait before your Eagles could be shipped.

On eBay and the Home Shopping Network, coins sell at fantasy prices. A set of Eagles in four weights was offered on HSN at $4,999.99. In gold, it's worth about $1,450. Prices like these take advantage of neophytes. A coin dealer might sell a four-coin set for $1,850, Travers says.

A cheaper way of buying gold is through an exchange-traded fund. The most widely traded fund, SPDR Gold Shares, costs 0.4 percent a year in fees, plus your brokerage commission. You don't own the gold directly. A trust holds large gold bars (warehoused principally in London) and sells shares against them, which are traded on the open market. You can't redeem in gold itself.

It costs even less to buy bullion in a pool account, such as the ones offered by Kitco. Like an ETF, a pool account sells shares in a large bar of warehoused gold. You pay just a hair over the spot gold price, and sell it back to Kitco for just a hair under. There are no annual expenses. For a fee, you can redeem in gold itself. As with ETFs, you depend on the pool's trustee to support its guarantee.

Gold, by the way, is taxed as a collectible -- whether you buy it in the form of coins, ETF shares or an interest in a pool account. Your tax rate on long-term capital gains would be 28 percent, compared with 15 percent on other assets. Only a significant price gain (or currency collapse) redeems your bet.

Jane Bryant Quinn, author of "Smart and Simple Financial Strategies for Busy People," is a Bloomberg News columnist. Alexis Leondis contributed to this column.