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Requesting advice on where best to sell gold proof coins


elvee426

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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!

 

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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. 

👌🏽

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Do some research with the coins that you will be selling to see what reasonable selling price can be expected and this will depend greatly on the coin itself and the condition of the coin as this is a very important marker with proof coins.

Selling to dealers will not be a good option for the reasons that you have already mentioned.

I would certainly recommend having a go at selling one or two on this forum first and he how it turns out. 

Edited by Fivepoundfred
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58 minutes ago, Pete said:

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.

Did you try @ChardsCoinandBullionDealer at the time?

Chards

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1 hour ago, Pete said:

I am afraid you may end up facing reality

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.

 

Edited by elvee426
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1 hour ago, elvee426 said:

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.

 

9 times out of 10 you will make a profit dealing in gold when spot moves higher.
Margins are typically only a few percent, perhaps up to 10% for special releases etc.
If you have bought your gold near its highs then you will be hoping for a steady rise but there is always risk that it could fall of course.
Proofs as I mentioned ( for me anyhow ) have been a lesson so happy to share my experience.
Silver does still look cheap by comparison were it not for UK VAT and high dealer margins at the moment.
There are bargains to be found so monitor the buy & sell section on this forum.
I think that because silver is trading on the low side right now ( does this mean much more upside ? - flip a coin for your answer - but I think it will creep up ) it seems a better bet for speculation. Once again avoid the proofs unless you see a great deal. Silver is prone to random milk spotting so a stunning flawless silver proof might one day disappoint and for this reason I also got rid of most of my silver proof coins, selling many at a nominal loss but before the "pox" sets in.
Again, many exceptions with some coins fetching eye-watering prices but I still remember the Britannia / Horse MULE selling for £1,000 on eBay and you can probably pick one up today for around £40.

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7 hours ago, elvee426 said:

Auctions I know very little about and do not know how likely they are to achieve a good price

You might want to look at this auction house.  They get high looking prices because they have no buyer's premium.  I think the seller's commission is c 10%

Upcoming Auctions | The Coin Cabinet Auctions

Of course I may think they get high prices but it does not stop other people complaining about how low the prices are!

Other auction houses are available eg @CoinsOfTheRealmAuctions

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3 hours ago, Pete said:

9 times out of 10 you will make a profit dealing in gold when spot moves higher.
Margins are typically only a few percent, perhaps up to 10% for special releases etc.
If you have bought your gold near its highs then you will be hoping for a steady rise but there is always risk that it could fall of course.
Proofs as I mentioned ( for me anyhow ) have been a lesson so happy to share my experience.
Silver does still look cheap by comparison were it not for UK VAT and high dealer margins at the moment.
There are bargains to be found so monitor the buy & sell section on this forum.
I think that because silver is trading on the low side right now ( does this mean much more upside ? - flip a coin for your answer - but I think it will creep up ) it seems a better bet for speculation. Once again avoid the proofs unless you see a great deal. Silver is prone to random milk spotting so a stunning flawless silver proof might one day disappoint and for this reason I also got rid of most of my silver proof coins, selling many at a nominal loss but before the "pox" sets in.
Again, many exceptions with some coins fetching eye-watering prices but I still remember the Britannia / Horse MULE selling for £1,000 on eBay and you can probably pick one up today for around £40.

Your comments mirror my experiences with respect to selling proofs. Hard lesson.  

Not my circus, not my monkeys

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Folk seam to be assuming that your coins are bog standard sovs etc? If that’s the case , advicecabove will no doubt be sound. 

Can you list some of your stack as you say they could be rare? Collectors will pay big time for desirable coins. 

Edited by Stu

“Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing.” Oscillate Wildly

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@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

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11 hours ago, Stu said:

Can you list some of your stack as you say they could be rare?

Yes there are some rarer proof sovereigns - for example a QEII Special Reverse Sovereign Set and a 2017 sovereign 5 coin set.  I've heard that taking the trouble to do NGC grading can make a big difference

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18 minutes ago, elvee426 said:

Yes there are some rarer proof sovereigns - for example a QEII Special Reverse Sovereign Set and a 2017 sovereign 5 coin set.  I've heard that taking the trouble to do NGC grading can make a big difference

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. 

“Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing.” Oscillate Wildly

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Yes - it can make a huge difference to the price you receive Stu - We have sold these coins in our past auctions so please do take a look at our past auction prices. Always happy to have a chat, no obligation to sell through us but 

happy to help if you want to throw some questions my way- 0800 169 1066 (after 9am- as on the school run lol) Best regards Louise

Sorry I mean't @elvee426

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21 hours ago, elvee426 said:

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!

 

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.

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The 2017 five coin set is highly desirable (the quintuple, especially) and it's probably quite a good time to be considering selling, with the current interest in the 2022 special reverse sovereigns and the spike in the spot gold price. 

What else have you got?  I'm not in the market for your coins, but I'm definitely curious!

Edited by Stuntman
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11 hours ago, Stuntman said:

The 2017 five coin set is highly desirable (the quintuple, especially) and it's probably quite a good time to be considering selling, with the current interest in the 2022 special reverse sovereigns and the spike in the spot gold price. 

What else have you got?  I'm not in the market for your coins, but I'm definitely curious!

Hi Stuntman, yes unsurprisingly I have been contacted about the 2017s from this forum, and they are already sold.  I'm learning now that Royal Mint coins are the real collectables and other mints seem to be of very little interest for the most part.  However I do have a 2019 St Helena 5 Pound Una and the Lion as part of the 2019 EIC Queen Victoria sovereign set.  I'm currently considering getting that NGC graded, and perhaps other coins in that set (not sure if the other coins are desirable or not).

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