What You Should Know When Selling Your Gold Coins

With the price of gold increasing steadily, many consumers have been considering the idea of selling their gold coins. Whether it’s an uncirculated coin, a proof coin or a bullion coin, you need to know exactly what you have before you sell. Selling your coins can be a great investment, or a great way to get caught up in a scam. To avoid being undersold, here are some things you should know about selling your gold coins: 

Authenticate, grade, appraise

If you have a rare coin, it might be worth having it authenticated in order to sell it to a coin dealer. You can do this through a third party grading company who will authenticate your coin, grade it based on the quality, condition, rarity, interest factor, and liquidity factor of the coin, and place it in a piece of protective plastic. Once you’ve done this, you can have your coins appraised for value. 

Replacement value versus bid value

Replacement value is what it would cost you to replace your coin. Bid value is how much you could be offered by a dealer to buy your coin. It’s important to note that the bid value could be as much as 20% lower than the replacement value of a coin. 

Don’t clean your coins

Cleaning the coins you have may seem like a good idea. After all, you wash a car before you sell it, right? That’s not the case with coins. You could damage or alter the original surface of the coin, which is highly valued by collectors. Don’t risk damaging the coin by trying to clean it. 

Know the gold content

Many gold coins vary in gold content depending on the year. Coins are usually mixed with other metals to make them easier to mint, and it’s important to keep this in mind. The $50 American Eagle coin of 1986 has a much higher gold content than the 1854 $3 coin. The American Eagle has an entire ounce of gold, whereas the $3 coin only has 0.145 ounces. This greatly affects the selling price of the coins, so make sure you do your research on how much gold your gold coins actually contain.

What is a bullion coin?

American Gold Buffalo Bullion Coins

A bullion coin is a coin that is valued by its weight in a specific precious metal, in this case, gold. Bullion coins are strictly for investing in owning gold, so this coin never goes into circulation. Most coins are available in gold and silver, but some are available in platinum, and the Canadian Maple Leaf series comes in palladium as well. When you sell this coin, you’ll be selling it based on the current market value of the gold itself. 

What is a proof set?

US Gold American Eagles Proof Set

Proof coins are manufactured by a special minting process. This starts by manually feeding burnished coin blanks into presses, and the coin is then struck multiple times. They feature frosted designs on a mirror-like background. These coins, like bullion coins, aren’t meant for circulation, so they lack a mint mark. A proof set is a collection of coins packaged by the mint, which include specially produced versions of coins struck in a specific year. When selling a proof set, you’ll be selling it for the value of the metals, not the value of the coinage itself.

Foreign coins

Foreign coins can offer just as much value as U.S coins, if not more, in a collector’s prized collection. So, you shouldn’t strictly focus on coins from the U.S. Mint. Australia, Austria, Canada, China, France, Israel, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Poland, Russia, South Africa, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom all have gold bullion coins that are highly valuable. Most of these countries also have silver bullion coins, some have platinum bullion coins, and Canada has a palladium coin. These coins and their accompanying proofs are all extremely valuable, and would make a wonderful addition to any collection. If you somehow have foreign coins in your ownership, make sure you are selling them to a reputable coin buyer who will give you a fair price based on the gold content and grade.

Ultimately, when selling your coins, knowledge is power. Know what you have, know what it’s worth, and get a second opinion on an appraisal. This will hopefully ensure that you receive the best price for your gold coins.

This post was written by Steven Madar