Coins have been a traditional store of value for millennia, but if you are dealing with a vintage coin, a collectible, or a valuable bullion coin, do you know how to sell coins?
Precious metals and numismatic coinage are the territory of dealers. You cannot necessarily take a Gold American Eagle down to the store and buy your groceries with it. And if you use pre-1964 silver to purchase a candy bar from the convenience store, you will regret it. There are better ways to exchange your bullion coins for purchases.
Coins can be bought and sold for a reasonable price, but you must know where to look. About every place you can sell your coin, it will be under the actual cost of the coin. Since you are usually selling to a dealer, they must be able to make money on the transaction, so they will usually buy for a little less than the going price.
But where do I go?
Pawn Shops
Many pawn shops deal in coins, particularly precious metal coins. However, not every pawn shop employs someone trained in numismatics. Many shops will work off the value of the precious metal in a coin, or the Red Book value if they know enough to check for collectible price. These shops are not primarily in business for coins, and any coin knowledge they have (especially in smaller shops) is usually incidental, as they are much more likely to be dealing with things like guns, musical instruments, and jewelry.
Cash for Gold Buyers
Many cash for gold shops have sprung up since the price of precious metals shot up, and many of them also deal in silver, platinum, and other precious metals. These buyers are looking for bullion and melt value, and though they may have some grasp of numismatic value, it is not their primary focus.
Coin Shops
Local coin shops are a suitable place to trade coins. Since that is their specific function, the owner or proprietor is likely to have a lot more knowledge about numismatic value than someone who is a generalist. Specialty coin shops are usually run by a numismatist who may provide other services like auctions or servicing want lists. Many of these hobby shops also embrace other collectibles like comics, baseball cards, or stamps. If the shop’s primary focus is one of these other collectibles, it may not have someone with numismatic experience to deal with some of the rarer issues you may run into, but they should know their way around common coins.
Vest Pocket Dealers
A vest-pocket dealer is someone who does not necessarily have a storefront but still deals in coins. Many of these numismatists have spent a lot of time doing arbitrage at coin shows or lining up deals between separate dealers while taking a little bit of profit on the transaction. Many of these dealers have websites or Facebook pages where someone can present coins, and they have often been in business for many years and know what they are talking about.
Coin Shows
Coin shows attract a wide variety of dealers in one place. You will usually see many tables with individual dealers that may or may not have storefronts, and there are often smaller vest pocket dealers circulating between the tables facilitating transactions. These are good places to get a variety of quotes and learn about your coins in one place.
Coin dealers are interested primarily in numismatic collectible coins, not bullion coins sold primarily for the value of their precious metal. Even if they deal with them, that is not the primary focus of a coin show. These are only worth your time if you have something interesting, vintage, or rare.
Some dealers will come to you if you have an estate sale or an interesting collection to liquidate. They often will if the collection is impressive enough, especially if they are a larger dealer. Some travel out of state as well, and if they are in the area for a coin show they may schedule side trips.
Auctions
Splitting up numismatic coins one at a time and selling them via auction is the best way to get the most money, but it is also one of the more challenging. Usually, the auction company will take a percentage of the price (eBay also falls under this category). Auctions are primarily used for coins of significant value to collectors that might not get their potential value if sold over the counter.
Online, Mail, or Phone
Selling coins online or through the mail is also possible, but there are a few caveats. Be aware of the issues that you can run into if you are shipping registered mail. You can only purchase up to $50,000 of insurance on USPS, so If the value of the package exceeds that, you may run into trouble if anything bad happens.
Sell to APMEX
APMEX purchases many coins from dealers and private individuals. APMEX has a special relationship with UPS with reduced shipping rates, and when you ship your coins through the APMEX buying program you are eligible for $60,000 of insurance from UPS. One of our representatives can advise you on what to do if you have a coin that may exceed that. Requesting a quote is easy and you can get paid quickly. We buy and sell the widest variety of bullion and numismatic products on the market, so we know what your coins are worth. We buy on a regular basis from many of the coin shops and dealers you would sell to.
There are a wide variety of places where you can sell your coins. Depending on whether you are selling bullion or numismatic coins, there is a dealer out there that is right for you. Consider the best place for you to get the best value and make the right decision.
