Author Topic: How to sell a gold coin?  (Read 4834 times)

tkaraszewski

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How to sell a gold coin?
« on: September 13, 2012, 08:57:34 PM »
I have a 1oz. American Eagle $50 gold coin. It is in perfect uncirculated condition, but I'm not sure how much that matters, as its made out of one ounce of gold, which has a current market value of about $1,700.

How do I turn my coin into money? The coin was a gift, intended as an investment, and while I appreciate the sentiment, I've come to realize that it's a bit of a liability (several times I've thought I lost it). I'd rather turn it not a more easily handled type of investment (probably index funds), but I don't know how to sell it for a fair price.

I did read the "Selling the Family Jewels" post, but being that this is a coin in perfect condition, I thog the procedure might be different from what to do with scrap metal.

Thanks everyone.

sol

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Re: How to sell a gold coin?
« Reply #1 on: September 13, 2012, 09:03:39 PM »
I'd start by walking it down to a handful of those "WE BUY GOLD" places that you see popping up everywhere.  Looks like lots of places online are selling them for around $1800.

At the very least, someone at one of those places might have a suggestion for you as to where else you might look.

kudy

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Re: How to sell a gold coin?
« Reply #2 on: September 13, 2012, 10:03:46 PM »
There are a number of rare coin broker shops in my city, if it were mine I might start there. I sold a silver coin on ebay a few years back, but that might be a bad option for such a big money item.

AdrianM

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Re: How to sell a gold coin?
« Reply #3 on: September 13, 2012, 10:22:50 PM »
While I think you are mad to sell it right now. As it has just started the next leg up courtesy of mad Ben.

This website is what i use to track the real gold price globally.
http://www.24hgold.com/english/buy_sell_gold_coins.aspx?co_id=0

If you take it to a coin shop or PM dealer try to get a close to spot as possible.

If there is real demand for gold then physical will command a premium over paper.
Just ask them about availability and see how they are placed to meet customer demands.

Stay away from "WE BUY GOLD" shops, they rarley offer anything close to the melt value of gold.

$_gone_amok

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Re: How to sell a gold coin?
« Reply #4 on: September 14, 2012, 12:03:25 PM »
Do you have a safe deposit box that you can keep the coin? Given the recent QE3 decision made by the Fed, gold is a pretty attractive investment right now.  I'd keep the coin if I where you. Sorry, but I have no idea where to buy/sell gold.

MooreBonds

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Re: How to sell a gold coin?
« Reply #5 on: September 14, 2012, 01:49:37 PM »
I have a 1oz. American Eagle $50 gold coin. It is in perfect uncirculated condition, but I'm not sure how much that matters, as its made out of one ounce of gold, which has a current market value of about $1,700.


A true collectible can have value beyond just the melt value (for coins, the "numismatic" value). Since you said it's in "perfect uncirculated condition", I'm assuming it should have value higher than just the melt value of the gold. Is that just your description of the condition, or was it graded by an independent grader, and sealed in a case?

When it comes to collectible coins, there can be several factors that effect the numismatic value beyond just the condition - the year it was struck and which mint struck it (identified by the mint mark on the coin) are two additional common ones.

However, remember that there will be a 'value' price (what you would pay a dealer to buy it), and a 'resale' price (what the dealer will give you for it). There can also be other factors effecting the price the dealer offers you - if they already have 5 gold eagles in their vault, they'll offer you less for it simply because they don't need another one that badly. Conversely, if they know a client that is looking for one, or they don't have any and would want to add to their inventory, they'll offer you more. So be sure you get prices from several local coin dealers (often also high-end jewelrs that sometimes sell rare/collectible coins).

There are coin price guides to give you estimates of your coin, so do a little internet searching to see what your particular coin for the year and condition would fetch and compare that to what the local dealers would offer.

You could look at out of town places - but by the time you insure and FedEx your coin to them, the added costs would likely make a local dealer just about as competitive.

tkaraszewski

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Re: How to sell a gold coin?
« Reply #6 on: September 14, 2012, 04:13:21 PM »
There's only one local coin dealer that seems reputable (I wasn't going to go anywhere near any of those "WE BUY GOLD" places). I called them up and asked for a price quote, and then took it to them to sell this afternoon. They gave me $1785 for it, which seemed fair. The cash from the sale is going straight to my 'stach.

MB

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Re: How to sell a gold coin?
« Reply #7 on: September 14, 2012, 05:33:00 PM »


On a semi-related note, here is a hilarious video where some guy has a 1oz gold coin and he is offering to sell it to random people on the street for $25 (this was filmed back in May when the price was in the high $1500's).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ndshbH3qZ6Y
« Last Edit: September 14, 2012, 09:37:39 PM by MB »