1 oz American Eagle coin direct from the mint? $1,490 [2]
That's a 23% "transaction fee". You'll get much much lower buying gold (or bitcoin) from somebody else.
[1] http://www.kitco.com/charts/livegold.html
[2] https://catalog.usmint.gov/american-eagle-2018-one-ounce-gol...
You buy them at only a bit higher than spot price from 3rd party distributors. For example: https://www.apmex.com/product/1/1-oz-gold-american-eagle-bu-...
American Eagle coins have a slight premium, due to their guarentee by the USA Mint itself. If you don't care about serial numbers and want to just have bullion, you can buy other gold coins. But American Eagles are great because they are enforced by the powers of the US Government itself. So you get a bit of security (and therefore, the price of the coin is slightly higher compared to gold).
But not much higher. Really, it isn't. Checkout 3rd party sites like apmex or your local gold shop if you don't believe me.
They also make a non-collector version and sell them to bullion dealers, who then mark them up modestly for retail. To get access to them direct, you're probably buying hundreds of coins at a time.
Created by the US Mint, you have strong assurances that you are recieving in fact, 91.67% gold / 22 karat (an alloy, because pure gold is too soft for the typical consumer).
If you do want 99.99% Gold / 24 karat, the US Mint also makes the Buffalo coin. But that's usually harder to store.
American Eagle coins are super easy to obtain and trade. Just go to any gold shop and ask for an American Eagle gold coin.