How To Sell Gold Coins

Last month when my grandfather told me, “I'm going to have to sell my gold coin collection if things don't better soon.” It really dawned on me how hard the recession has hit people. I never in a million years thought my granddad would utter those words. Well since I was pretty strapped for cash as well I decided to help him out the only way I could by helping him find a place to sell his coin collection to. It took us quite a while to find the right place to sell to and we almost got ripped off by one dealer so I decided to write this guide to help others who want or need to sell their gold coin collection.

My grandfather is quite proud of his coin collection that he has been adding to for over 40 years. It was quite sad to see how sad he got when we starting looking around for places to sell it. But what can you do when you need cash to pay bills?

I will walk you through how to sell gold coins using the methods that I tried. The first thing you should do is get your collection appraised if you don't know how much it's worth. Even if you do think you know get it appraised anyway since the value of gold might have changed since the last time you checked. You can and should also do a self appraisal first.

To do a self appraisal you need to find out the gold content of your coins by digging a little and finding the type of coin in a catalog or online. If you have gold bullion coins and not collectible coins you can find the gold content stamped right on them. Bullion coins have a standardized gold content.

Once you know the gold content you need to figure out the weight. Gold is measured in troy ounces, one of which equals about 20 pennyweights. You can use a jewelers scale wich measures in pennyweights or a kitchen scale and then convert from ounces to pennyweights. One ounce is equal to 18.2 pennyweights. Now go here and it will calculate the approximate value of your gold.

So now that you have your own estimate check you your local dealers and see what their estimate is. While you're there you might find one that will buy your collection on the spot. You should check to sell if the dealer is reputable first before you accept any offers though. One of the first dealers we visited gave us an offer that was about 50% of what we ended up selling the collection for.

Who To Sell To?

Well when you finally think you have an accurate appraisal your next step is to find a buyer. My granddad ended up selling to a local dealer in our small town because we knew him and my granddad is a regular in his shop. But there are tons of other options to sell to if you don't know any local dealers or you just don't trust them.

I'm sure you've seen the commercials about cash4gold and other sites like that and they are an option but if you're coins are rare or have any more value than just the gold content in them you are going to want to sell to a collect or dealer. How to sell gold for cash lists some great places you can try to sell your gold coins to like advertising in the paper or on Craigslist (but that's pretty hit and miss). They also recommend eBay or some other reputable online auction site. I personally know some people that have had success with those. There are also some sites that specialize in buying gold coins like onlygold.com.