With the ANA World's Fair of Money opening in Philadelphia today it's fun to imagine what it would be like hop on a numismatic time machine and visit the 1908 ANA Philadelphia Convention. Of course no visit to an ANA convention in the city of brotherly love would be complete without a visit to the Philadelphia Mint and an opportunity to bring home some souvenirs from the mint gift shop. If you could visit the mint's gift shop during the 1908 convention and had twenty dollars to spend what would you bring home?

Of course Twenty Dollars in 1908 had a lot more bang for the buck than today's dollar. In 1908 twenty dollars had a purchasing power equivalent to approximately five-hundred dollars in today's economy! If you wanted to get the greatest return on a twenty dollar investment what would be your best option; leave the money sit in a bank, purchase gold or silver bullion, purchase mint state 1908 Philadelphia gold coins, or purchase 1908 USA/Philippines Proof Sets.

Just for fun let's play a little game. Following is list of ten options for investing your 1908 dollars. Try listing them by expected rate of return on your investment. The goal of this game is to keep up with or beat the rate of inflation (i.e. be worth more than five-hundred dollars in 2012). After you make your "Top Ten List" I will give you the answers but play fair and don't peak.

INSTRUCTIONS: All of the items in this list would cost you $20.00 in 1908. Assume that all of the gold coins are MS65 and that all proof coins are PF65.

40.49 oz Silver Bullion

.968 oz Gold Bullion

Eight (8) 1908 Indian Head $2.50 Quarter Eagles

Four (4) 1908 Liberty Head $5.00 Half Eagles

Four (4) 1908 Indian Head $5.00 Half Eagles

Two (2) 1908 Indian Head $10.00, No Motto, Eagles

Two (2) 1908 Indian Head $10.00, Motto, Eagles

One (1) 1908 Saint-Gaudens $20.00, No Motto, Double Eagle

One (1) 1908 Saint-Gaudens $20.00, Motto, Double Eagle

Ten (10) 1908 USA/Philippines Proof Sets

I'm no David Letterman but here is my "Top Ten List" ranked from the lowest rate of return (Number 10) to the highest rate of return (Number 1).

Number 10: Silver Bullion -- In 1908 Silver Bullion sold for $ .49 an ounce allowing you to purchase 40.49 oz of Silver Bullion. At today's Silver price of $27.68 an ounce your $20.00 investment would be worth $1,120.64

Number 9: Gold Bullion -- In 1908 Gold Bullion sold for $20.67 an ounce allowing you to purchase .968 oz of Gold Bullion. At today's Gold price of $1608.70 an ounce your $20.00 investment would be worth $1,556.55

Number 8: One (1) 1908 Saint-Gaudens $20.00, No Motto, Double Eagle. The NGC price guide lists this coin in MS65 at $2,400.00

Number 7: Four (4) 1908 Liberty Head $5.00 Half Eagles. The NGC price guide lists this coin in MS65 at $2,880.00. Four of these coins would be worth $11,520.00

Number 6: One (1) 1908 Saint-Gaudens $20.00, Motto, Double Eagle. The NGC price guide lists this coin in MS65 at $14,690.00

Number 5: Two (2) 1908 Indian Head $10.00, Motto, Eagles. The NGC price guide lists this coin in MS65 at $11,780.00. Two of these coins would be worth $23,560.00

Number 4: Eight (8) 1908 Indian Head $2.50 Quarter Eagles. The NGC price guide lists this coin in MS65 at $3,540.00. Eight of these coins would be worth $28,320.00

Number 3: Two (2) 1908 Indian Head $10.00, No Motto, Eagles. The NGC price guide lists this coin in MS65 at $16,880.00. Two of these coins would be worth $37,760.00

Number 2: Four (4) 1908 Indian Head $5.00 Half Eagles. The NGC price guide lists this coin in MS65 at $13,300.00. Four of these coins would be worth $53,200.00

Number 1 (Drum roll): Ten (10) 1908 USA/Philippines Proof Sets. In 1908 you could purchase a seven coin USA/ Philippines Proof Set for $2.00. The 2012 Edition of U.S./Philippine Coins (Allen Catalog) lists a 1908 USA/Philippines Proof Set in PF65 at $6,500.00. Ten 1908 USA/Philippines Proof Sets would be worth $65,000.00

I hope you enjoyed my little game and found the results as interesting as I did. When I started this exercise I had no preconceived ideas as to how the coins in my "Top Ten List" would rank against each other or how the coins would fare against Gold and Silver Bullion.

I was pleasantly surprised by how much all of the coins surpassed the rate of return on Gold or Silver Bullion and how well the 1908 USA/Philippines Proof Set preformed compared to mint state 1908 Philadelphia Gold coins. I always thought that quality USA/Philippine Proof coins were "Worth their weight in Gold" and I guess this proves my point.

The 1908 USA/Philippines Proof Set had a minuscule mintage of 500 sets. All seven coins in this set (Half Centavo, Centavo, Five Centavos, Ten Centavos, Twenty Centavos, Fifty Centavos, and Peso) are PROOF ONLY ISSUES. 1908 was the last year of production for USA/Philippines Proof Sets and the only year that the reduced size & weight silver coins (Ten Centavos, Twenty Centavos, Fifty Centavos, and Peso) were struck in Proof.

For further information on the 1908 USA/Philippines Proof Set visit my number one ranked 1908 Proof Set at: http://coins.www.collectors-society.com/registry/coins/SetListing.aspx?PeopleSetID=143079&;Ranking=all

Photo: Obverse of 1908 Twenty Centavos, NGC PF65.

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