Sovereigns sold for scrap!

[SovereignBull]

Earlier today I phoned around some local jewellers & the bullion shop to see if they would verify my sovereigns. 

The Bullion dealer wanted to scratch and do a chemical test but one of the jewellers I called has 2 PM testers and they will test my coins for free which is a bonus 😊

While on the phone I asked if they bought gold and said they would offer spot for sovereigns which had me intrigued and lead to me asking if they sell sovereigns! Their reply shocked me and they said they just send them out to be melted!!!! 

I was shocked at the response and offered to buy any sovereigns they get for spot plus 5% premium and they weren’t interested!

I’m still struggling with this and I dread to think of how many rare sovereigns will be melted! Also got me thinking how many other jewellers simply don’t care to look up the coins they receive and simply add them to the melting pot!

 

[harrygill111]

Spot +5% is a bit pricey on the second hand market bud. Unless rare of course. 

They'll be looking to sell at about spot +2 or 3% mark, which depending on the volume may or may not worth the effort VS melting and selling at jewellery at much higher premiums. 

Really intriguing what you say about blindly melting coins - I wonder how many coins vanish in this way 

 

Edited January 22 by harrygill111

[SovereignBull]

1 minute ago, harrygill111 said:

Spot +5% is a bit pricey on the second hand market bud. Unless rare of course. 

They'll be looking to sell at about spot +2 or 3% mark, which depending on the volume may or may not worth the effort VS melting and selling at jewlery at much higher premiums. 

I was trying to entice them with the 5% so I could get a look at them! I’m going in tomorrow to get some coins tested. I’ll bring my 2023/24 coins in and see if they will do a straight swap if they have anything good.

[Orpster]

Jewellers will use the melted gold to make jewellery, the mark-up on that will massively eclipse whatever you offer them mate, been there tried that and only ever found two jewellers that will sell to me and both do it cash only

I was in a jewellers in Lichfield on Saturday and asked if they had any sovereigns, the lad (owners son) told me his Dad keeps them all.  I asked if they buy and he said yes for £280.  I said don't you mean £380 and he said no.  I told him that was over £90 under spot and his response was that the premises were expensive to keep (ignoring the fact they do not sell on the sovereigns).  I basically told him they were sharks taking advantage of the unknowing and that Atkinsons (which is in the next town over from Lichfield) offer spot on most gold coins which he flatly refused to believe.  

[Belmont]

If I remember well it is illegal to melt down any sovereigns as they are still legal tender. Though I believe a coin can come to a certain point when it is so heavily modified, polished, etc that it should be put out of its misery, it is still against the law.

[Spyder]

I think the jewellers you spoke to is not telling you the truth.  Most jewellers will not pay spot or anywhere near it.  Another reason why they will not sell to you is because they already have a contract with a buyer who buys all they have ( who does not melt the sovereign) and will not risk that with someone who might buy a coin now and again.

[dicker]

1 hour ago, Orpster said:

Jewellers will use the melted gold to make jewellery, the mark-up on that will massively eclipse whatever you offer them mate, been there tried that and only ever found two jewellers that will sell to me and both do it cash only

I was in a jewellers in Lichfield on Saturday and asked if they had any sovereigns, the lad (owners son) told me his Dad keeps them all.  I asked if they buy and he said yes for £280.  I said don't you mean £380 and he said no.  I told him that was over £90 under spot and his response was that the premises were expensive to keep (ignoring the fact they do not sell on the sovereigns).  I basically told him they were sharks taking advantage of the unknowing and that Atkinsons (which is in the next town over from Lichfield) offer spot on most gold coins which he flatly refused to believe.  

Whilst the prices are dreadful, it’s their business, and their loss when it comes to flow of business. 

[dicker]

2 minutes ago, Spyder said:

I think the jewellers you spoke to is not telling you the truth.  Most jewellers will not pay spot or anywhere near it.  Another reason why they will not sell to you is because they already have a contract with a buyer who buys all they have ( who does not melt the sovereign) and will not risk that with someone who might buy a coin now and again.

I think you are probably right. 

[GoldDiggerDave]

A lot of sovereigns do get melted down, if they are underweight, unattractive, worn etc as it simply not worth the grief selling on as bullion for some to complain, the  time taken up in dealing with a compliant, return shipping is not with the small percentage on the coin……taking about coin dealers….rarities are checked. 

most jewellers I know will not offer anything close to spot. 
 

There is a gold shop near me with a right “wide boy” dealer,  he’s trying to sell scrap and under weight sovereigns for spot + 10%.

I was in there in my scruffs,  and once he finished his spiel……I gave him an eduction on sovereigns🤣

 

 

[SidS]

I'm glad some get melted down.

I know this is going against the grain for most of you. But whilst many of you will no doubt follow the spot price up and down, there are other factors that can help your sovereigns do better than spot. If certain scarcer dates start becoming more and more elusive due to sporadic melting, then all the better.

Same thing with Georgian flatware, it's melted by the bucket load year on year. It just makes what I hold more valuable to me.

[Petra]

Trouble is people publish figures saying a particular dated sovereign was say a mintage of 2 million, however, they haven’t got a clue how many got melted down due to government policies over time. So your common sovereign might not be as common as the experts say. 🤔😮

[Orpster]

15 hours ago, Spyder said:

I think the jewellers you spoke to is not telling you the truth.  Most jewellers will not pay spot or anywhere near it.  Another reason why they will not sell to you is because they already have a contract with a buyer who buys all they have ( who does not melt the sovereign) and will not risk that with someone who might buy a coin now and again.

Best pricing I have ever known from a Jewellers is one in town that pays £20 under spot and sells at £20 over - cash only

They were decent when premiums were much higher but now I just pop in to see if they have any shields or rare dates as they don't differentiate, not had anything for a long long time though as someone started buying everything they get in

 

[SovereignBull]

40 minutes ago, Orpster said:

Best pricing I have ever known from a Jewellers is one in town that pays £20 under spot and sells at £20 over - cash only

They were decent when premiums were much higher but now I just pop in to see if they have any shields or rare dates as they don't differentiate, not had anything for a long long time though as someone started buying everything they get in

 

Did @james32 find out where the shop is? 🤣

Im calling into my jewellers at dinner so will update on pricing and how it went later

[cjbcomm]

Can't be a supply issue at the moment. Chards selling them at spot + 3.5% for most denominations. There choice of year I think so you just choose the monarch

[SovereignBull]

Update! A complete waste of time!

The jewellers didnt have a verification device and simply send them off. Wouldnt consider selling any they had or doing a direct swap with the ones I had!

I then tried 4 other jewellers and not one had any means of testing other than the scratch and sniff method! 

Bullion dealer was the same story and wasnt prepared to negotiate on sell price of Sovereigns (They have them listed at £465). I may call in again and ask to see their stock to see if they have anything in there thats decent as I assume they have the same sell price regardless.

Back at work now with no dinner and very wet from this second lovely storm thats blowing in!

[Sovhead]

18 minutes ago, SovereignBull said:

Update! A complete waste of time!

The jewellers didnt have a verification device and simply send them off. Wouldnt consider selling any they had or doing a direct swap with the ones I had!

I then tried 4 other jewellers and not one had any means of testing other than the scratch and sniff method! 

Bullion dealer was the same story and wasnt prepared to negotiate on sell price of Sovereigns (They have them listed at £465). I may call in again and ask to see their stock to see if they have anything in there thats decent as I assume they have the same sell price regardless.

Back at work now with no dinner and very wet from this second lovely storm thats blowing in!

Stick to here mate they places are just at the rip off you’re wasting your time even going in.

[AdamDutton]

1 hour ago, SovereignBull said:

Update! A complete waste of time!

The jewellers didnt have a verification device and simply send them off. Wouldnt consider selling any they had or doing a direct swap with the ones I had!

I then tried 4 other jewellers and not one had any means of testing other than the scratch and sniff method! 

Bullion dealer was the same story and wasnt prepared to negotiate on sell price of Sovereigns (They have them listed at £465). I may call in again and ask to see their stock to see if they have anything in there thats decent as I assume they have the same sell price regardless.

Back at work now with no dinner and very wet from this second lovely storm thats blowing in!

I'd pay spot for all sovereigns at the moment

[AdamDutton]

I'd also pay a lot more for numismatic pieces than all gold coin dealers. All the big boys never take that into consideration.

[Kitalon]

I checked out all the jewellers in my town when I was first looking at sovereigns. The most expensive jewellers was/is trying to sell some standard sovereigns (no special dates or mintages) as 'pre-loved coins' at £550. I thought I might be on to a winner if they were asking so much they might pay a bit closer to spot. They offered £276 for my sovereign, I gritted my teeth smiled and walked out the shop. The best place in town says he has no problem getting sovereigns in for about +5% over spot. However I have since given up on trying to buy sovereigns as there are just too many variables to take into consideration and I'm focusing on other things now.

@SovereignBull I don't know if it's any use but if you're interested in scrap sovereigns then I know that Chards have created a Grade C category for what might be considered less than best value if/when they come in. https://www.chards.co.uk/gold-sovereign-secondary-market-grade-c/3351

[SovereignBull]

53 minutes ago, Kitalon said:

I checked out all the jewellers in my town when I was first looking at sovereigns. The most expensive jewellers was/is trying to sell some standard sovereigns (no special dates or mintages) as 'pre-loved coins' at £550. I thought I might be on to a winner if they were asking so much they might pay a bit closer to spot. They offered £276 for my sovereign, I gritted my teeth smiled and walked out the shop. The best place in town says he has no problem getting sovereigns in for about +5% over spot. However I have since given up on trying to buy sovereigns as there are just too many variables to take into consideration and I'm focusing on other things now.

@SovereignBull I don't know if it's any use but if you're interested in scrap sovereigns then I know that Chards have created a Grade C category for what might be considered less than best value if/when they come in. https://www.chards.co.uk/gold-sovereign-secondary-market-grade-c/3351

Thanks Kitalon. I like my Sovs in good condition and hopefully in 20 years if I’m not dead and broke I’ll have completed a really good date run! The modern special dates are now becoming expensive and it’s gonna hurt limiting my buys to 1 sov a month but once the 1989 & 2017 are out of the way I can stack some cheap years for a bit! Saying that I need to try and find some funds to pay Zeaton for a Sigma tester! 

[Spyder]

2 hours ago, SovereignBull said:

Update! A complete waste of time!

The jewellers didnt have a verification device and simply send them off. Wouldnt consider selling any they had or doing a direct swap with the ones I had!

I then tried 4 other jewellers and not one had any means of testing other than the scratch and sniff method! 

Bullion dealer was the same story and wasnt prepared to negotiate on sell price of Sovereigns (They have them listed at £465). I may call in again and ask to see their stock to see if they have anything in there thats decent as I assume they have the same sell price regardless.

Back at work now with no dinner and very wet from this second lovely storm thats blowing in!

It a lesson we have all learnt over time, you will not get a deal at a jewellers.   Try and see if there is a local stamp and coin shop near you, if there is, you'll be on to a winner. Visit a few times, build up some trust and the deals will come your way.  

I had one of the best, but sadly due to ill health, he closed up.

You will probably get your best deals on this forum. By the way 2017 with the 200 privi mark is an easy coin to get for £400-410.

Anyway good luck

Edited January 23 by Spyder