There are various reasons why both collectors and investors may decide to sell their coins. You may need to raise some quick cash, or perhaps gold and silver prices have spiked and you feel it is time to cash in. Regardless of your reasoning behind selling your coins, you should always seek to get the best deal possible. The coin dealer, naturally, will want to buy the coins from you for as little as possible, so doing your homework before you walk into their shop is essential.

Learn As Much As You Can About Your Coins

Never walk into a coin shop to sell anything until you know the merchandise like the back of your hand. What is the denomination of the coin? Which mint struck it? Are the coins bullion or numismatic? What was the year of issue? What is the purity of the coin? Are the coins graded? Is the coin in proof or brilliant uncirculated condition? If you’re a collector or investor there is a good chance you already know these things. If you inherited the coins and are not familiar with them you should learn as much as you can before selling, or at least have them evaluated by an expert.

Unscrupulous dealers will take advantage of any ignorance you have regarding this subject. They will try to low ball you and get you to sell the coins for a fraction of their true value, if you didn’t bother to do your homework. When it comes to selling coins, knowledge is definitely power, and a lack of it can become a costly liability.

Only Sell To Reputable Dealers

If you’ve received your coins as an inheritance and know nothing about coin investing or collecting, you could be sitting on a small (or large) fortune. It isn’t unusual for a single rare coin to go for tens of thousands of dollars, and the rarest coins have sold for hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars. The value of a coin depends on its grade, condition, rarity and many other variables that only an expert would know.

Those who know little about the coins in their possession should first have them reviewed by an expert to determine their true value. This expert should not be the same person you sell them to. The reason for this is because it creates a potential conflict of interest where you could be quoted a price which is less than the coin’s true worth.

Take it to a local coin expert (who you’ve researched and know is truly an expert), and then once they give you the value of the coin then take it to another reputable dealer that you’ve researched to sell it. If that dealer offers you a price which is substantially lower than the price stated by the expert they are either trying to rip you off or the value quoted by the expert is wrong. In this case you would take it to a third party, and so on and so forth until you have a consensus as to what the actual value of the coin is.