In just one short month, the spot price of gold bullion has risen more than $75 per ounce from a low of $657.50 during mid-August to $735 in intraday trading during this writing in mid-September.

One of the reasons stated by economists and precious metals' specialists for causing this rally is a record low exchange rate between the U.S. dollar and the European Union's euro – now at about $1.40 per euro.

Another reason is the recent U.S. Federal Reserve interest rate cut of .50 percent to help boost the U.S. economy. The price of oil also hit a record of more about $82 per barrel recently, and using gold as an inflation hedge is often initiated by a higher oil price.

The price of gold hit a record high of $850 per ounce during January 1980. It then quickly retreated and bounced around during the next several years between about $500 and its low of nearly $250 during spring 2001. But since then, the price of gold has been on a fairly steady climb to the levels it is now hitting, after briefly reaching a 2006 high of $725 in May and then falling to $560.75 during October 2006.

Since then, it's been on a slightly erratic rising trend to where it has now reached, taking along with it the price of common-date gold coins and design type gold coins. However, as Doug Baliko, director of the U.S. Gold Department for Heritage Rare Coin Galleries, has said, "The premiums on most items (gold type coins) are still vastly lower [than] they were last year."

So in relative terms, this may be a good time to make your common-date U.S. gold coin purchases if you believe the price of gold bullion is destined to rise even higher. There is high sentiment among gold buffs in general that this scenario will occur.

If it does, one can benefit in at least two ways by purchasing the pre-1934 U.S. gold coins versus buying the strictly bullion-related products.

One, rising gold prices will carry the prices of the gold coins' metal content higher, and two, the probability is that the premiums over the melt values of these pre-1934 gold coins are likely to rise as well.

Gold type coins, or the most common-date coins in a series, often referred to by dealers as "generic gold," are most likely to be affected in the following series: Coronet and Indian Head $2.50 quarter eagles and $5 half eagles, and the Coronet and Saint-Gaudens $20 double eagles.

It is important not to confuse these series with the American Eagle bullion gold coins, minted since 1986 to give Americans a way to own bullion.

Proof American Eagle coins, and those Mint State coins that have been graded by third-party grading services, do not normally fall into the strictly bullion related category. They are collected in similar ways to how other numismatic items are collected.

The Coin Values Web site, at www.Coin ValuesOnline.com, is updated regularly and will list our most recent valuation up¬dates, including any changes to gold coins brought on by the rising bullion price.

The magazine edition of Coin Values captures a monthly "snapshot" of our values for U.S. coins.