elvee426

I assumed his question was for Pete, as he quoted Pete just before asking it

In my opinion there is no risk as a seller on here. The buyer will pay in cleared funds before you send.
I have never had a bad experience dealing on this forum and whilst you don’t get as much for the item, there are no fees.
I won’t touch ebay as a seller.

Those are worth a lot more than spot price mate as I suspected. I don’t have the best knowledge on selling on however so am sure others will chime in from here. And yes, getting a top grade can make a big difference. 

@elvee426  If your interested in auctioning please check out our auction
bidlive.coinsoftherealm-auctions.com
We can discuss reserves, start price and it's very transparent - we take 10% on the hammer and the rest is yours!
Freephone: 0800 169 1066
Regards
Louise

Sorry don't have one of those myself

Hi
I have a few gold proof coins that I would like to sell, some quite rare (all post 2010).  Can you advise on the best options to achieve the best prices?  As far as I can tell I'm looking at either dealers, auctions, ebay (to be honest I don't like that option as it just seems too risky) or this forum.  The problem with dealers seems to be they are very aggressive on price and can sometimes be offering up to 50% lower than they sell them for.  I even got an offer from a dealer which was below spot (and I mean spot before the recent Ukraine related spike).
Auctions I know very little about and do not know how likely they are to achieve a good price.
And this forum, is there an appetite for proof, or is most of the interest in bullion grade?  I do know there is the @BackyardBullion escrow style service, which takes out some of the risk of dealing with unknown individuals.
Any advice gratefully received, especially if you have specifics, or experience of selling similar.
Thanks!
 

Thank you @Pete.  Wow a salutary lesson there indeed!  It's very interesting to hear your experiences, and pretty concerning.  For my part I have no intention of selling at or near spot, as the goal would be to realise some profit in order to buy bullion grade, and end up with more gold weight at the end of the day.  So I may be faced with holding on to items that cannot be sold profitably.  Testing the waters here seems to be the way to go initially.
 

Thanks @Tn21
I am afraid you may end up facing reality when it comes to selling proof coins that you believe are worth much more than bullion.
I tried to sell a considerable amount of stunning, perfect gold sovereigns, boxed sets, Britannia's and boxed sets a couple of years ago.
Firstly on the forum - I ended up selling a significant percentage but at 1% over spot only.
I had regular buyers and they were not interested in certificates or boxes and I thought buying a boxed set would enhance their value but apparently not so.
The best prices from any dealers were 98% of spot whilst the same sets shown on their websites at twice this price, however they were not selling at these prices and one dealer offered me to buy his boxed sets at 3% over spot, regardless of the advertised prices.
In frustration one day I took a large carrier bag of unsold gold coin sets to Hatton Garden in London.
Their best price that day was 97.5% of spot.
Every coin was in FDC condition so I handed them over but kept the boxes thereby intentionally breaking up the sets.
I only wish I had kept the screw capsules as well as I felt I was being fleeced.
I still have a lot of empty boxes and certificates which I would rather sell at some stage rather than scrap.
Times change, prices change, opportunities arise and decline so I can only tell you what happened to me.
I think when gold is at a high, buyers are reluctant to pay much over spot.
If gold plummeted 15-25% from where it is today, then I believe buyers will pay more especially for nicer coins believing they are getting a bargain.
You might strike it lucky but I fell in love with my proof coins, was happy paying a hefty premium at the time of purchase etc. believing that a 20-30% premium over bullion would stick.
It didn't, so I stay well clear of buying premium proofs nowadays as lesson learned.

Some key dates and sought after coins and sets will retain a numismatic / collector premium but you need to research this thoroughly and not just look up well know sites to see what prices they list on their websites as an indicator of value. There will always be the exception to what I describe but that's down to luck and finding a buyer at the moment.

You could list here on the forum as an auction but start at your minimum acceptable price.
For eg if the minimum price you would accept on a coin is £500 start bidding at that. 
You could perhaps try it with one or two of the coins rather than all at once. 
Alternatively you could list at a price you can see the coins selling for (or think is fair) and then reduce the price after a week or two if you have no interest? 
There are other auction sites which might get more traffic but would have selling fees associated which are worth baring in mind. 
Some rare coins are not that popular and some are so I guess it will depend on what you have but it is free to list your coins here, if no interest at a price you're happy with then you could just close your listing and you still have your coins too. 
Another option if you can't get the price you're happy with could be to offer a partial trade with currency and perhaps gold or silver bullion at a rate you and the other party feel is fair. 
👌🏽

This looks like some copper spotting to me, though the one on the obverse shows a blueish hue in the center and I have personally not seen that before. The spot on the reverse does look like a classic copper spot. This can happen (even on .9999 fine gold) due to residue on the dye/planchet during the minting process. It may not be visible for a period of time (can be months or years) but gradually develop.

There are some methods on removing these spots from a coin, but fair warning that this MAY (it doesn't have to) cause some minor damage to the coin, so I would strongly advise to do further research in how to remove them OR have it submitted for professional conservation since it's a proof. If this was just a bullion coin I wouldn't be too fussed about attempting the removal myself, but with a proof I wouldn't want to touch it.

This video from Backyard Bullion explains the above a bit more and shows the method of cleaning spots with tinfoil/bakingsoda and water: 

Best of luck, beautiful coin either way and interesting weight.

Alex