Just Bullion?

[Serendipity]

I’m quick to praise good dealers but cautious about naming and shaming any of them unless they do something really egregious. One of the things dealers always say in order to excuse themselves from replacing or refunding damaged coins is that it’s “just bullion.” 

One reputable dealer has quite rightly explained if it was really the case that it’s just bullion then customers would be buying blank discs or bars with lower premiums. You would expect for the slightly higher premium you pay for the artwork on a bullion coin that it would be undamaged.

 

My own experience of selling badly damaged bullion coins to dealers face-to-face is that they’ll buy any damaged coin from you. I remember selling a sovereign to a dealer with such a deep gash under the Queen’s chin that it looked like she had grown a goatee.

[Notafront4adragon]

I think the fact that they buy very damaged coins kind of entitles them to the stance it's just bullion. They, are in it for the gold, doesn't matter what shape or what it has on it. That is frustrating for those of us that are collectors of coins, that are also gold, but we're not the only customers I guess else the marketplace would be different. Often small bars, even plain designs are just as expensive if not more so than coins. 

There are certainly places that cater to numismatics but often they only have very rare and or expensive coins. It would be nice to see more semi numismatic offerings where condition was guaranteed without a premium or professional grading. It's one of the benefits from buying on here though.