Buying physical gold coins?
In uncertain economic times when people are turning to gold for safety, I can’t help but feel that the ultimate in safety would be physically possessing your gold rather than "your" gold simply being a few bytes on a computer somewhere that indicate that some gold in a distant land belongs to you.
What would be the disadvantage of buying coins like this (or bullion if you’re RICH!)…
http://www.mint.ca/store/buy/gold_coins-cat120004
These are from the Canadian mint because I’m in Canada, but I assume the US has similar coins.
Edit:
Scratch my comment about bullion - any size bullion bar is clearly out of my reach - I’m interested in the disadvantages of gold coins.
One disadvantage for some people would be finding somewhere to safely keep it. No problem there, I’ve got a good hiding spot. 
Edit2:
Thanks for the answers so far. I should have been more clear, the scenario I am considering hedging against is a drastic decline in the value of the US dollar, the USD losing its reserve status and anarchy ensuing. I have plenty of extremely liquid assets for if the economy actually turns around long term, which I think is laughable given the fundamentals of the US economy right now, but I hope that’s the way it goes. If gold were to go to k - k per oz, and it turned out to be a good place to have some money, I was just wondering about the dis/advantages of physically possessing coins. It sound like the primary one is finding a safe spot to keep them. That is not a big problem for me at all. Thanks for the answers so far, some very good points!
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The disadvantages I know of, aside from the risk of theft or loss, are:
Not knowing what you’re doing. You need to research the price history of scarce and rare gold coins to see how these prices have moved in relation to rising and falling bullion values. In certain cases, the numismatic value of some coins has risen faster than gold has. In others, it has risen along with gold, which is to say, no change in numismatic value at all. And in some cases, numismatic values have fallen while gold moved up. Why would this happen? Because collecting is often done with discretionary money, and in tough economic times, there is a shortage of discretionary spending. Values on many collectible items have fallen over the last four years. So, you really need to do your research before buying.
Secondly, there is the risk of governments placing severe restrictions on the ownership of gold - it was never illegal, as is often misstated - as the US did from April 1933 to December 1974. People were allowed to keep $100 face value in gold coin, and businesses that needed gold were allowed to possess gold bars. Anything else was to be surrendered at a fixed price at about $20, which the government turned into a large profit when they fixed the price at $35. The stated purpose of the act was to forbid hoarding, but of course, the real purpose was seizure to help bail itself out.
I do agree with you about paper gold. Those who claim it’s safe cannot prove to my satisfaction that some chicanery can’t wipe out everybody who is in such a scheme. If there is a true world panic and all those people with paper gold demand their physical gold, who is going to get it for them?
I do not agree.
having gold as in ETF is better or having a few bytes on your PC is better since there is not problem of theft or deterioration something like that and there is good resale value for those few bytes.
if you go for physical gold go for jewellery (the lower option)
The problem with owning physical gold coins is that unless you can keep them in a Safety Deposit Box they can be stolen or lost. If you have a broker hold them, you will be charged by the month and by the ounce for storage.
What would be the disadvantage?? How about you are buying gold near an all time high. If the economy turns around, I could see gold losing over 1/2 it’s value.
I have gold. I bought 1/2 dozen krugerrands in the early 90′s at $375 an ounce. I also have another 100 morgan silver dollars. I keep them in my safe deposit box at the bank.
Personally I think my mutual funds are a much better investment.