coin guide

How and Where to Sell Gold Coins

To sell gold coins, sort each one as bullion or collectible, work out its fine gold weight in troy ounces, and get a bid tied to the live spot price before anything leaves your hands. A 1 oz American Gold Eagle's metal value is 1 x spot. Every bid sits below that by the buyer's spread.

Sort Each Coin as Bullion or Collectible First

Buyers price the two kinds by different rules. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) puts physical metal in two categories: bullion, meaning coins or bars of a specific weight and purity, and numismatic or collectible coins, meaning rare or old coins and newly minted special proofs.

Read the coin itself. A modern bullion coin tells you its gold weight: federal law requires the American Gold Eagle to carry inscriptions of its denomination and the weight of its fine gold content. The grading service PCGS defines a bullion coin as a legal tender coin that trades at a slight premium to its melt value, and "melt" is trade slang for the intrinsic value of the metal alone.

You may also hold coins sold as "semi-numismatic." The CFTC and FINRA call that a made-up industry term with no special meaning: such coins typically aren't rare, and they're likely harder to sell than bullion. Customers can sell almost every one of the gold coins in our catalog on our marketplace, including coins bought elsewhere.

How Buyers Price a Bullion Gold Coin

Spot is the reference point for every bullion bid. In the CFTC's words it's the cash price for immediate delivery of physical metal, quoted in dollars per troy ounce, and our live gold price chart shows it. A business that buys coins doesn't pay spot. The same advisory says a firm always sells metal above the spot price and buys it back below, and calls the gap between its two prices the spread.

A bid, then, is fine gold weight in troy ounces x spot, less that buyer's spread. Fine weight means the gold alone. A scale rarely shows it. Under 31 U.S.C. 5112, a 1 oz American Gold Eagle weighs 33.931 g and contains one troy ounce of fine gold. The U.S. Treasury puts a troy ounce at 31.1034768 g, so the other 2.83 g of a Gold Eagle is alloy: PCGS lists the coin as 91.67% gold, 3% silver and 5.33% copper.

The American Gold Buffalo weighs 31.11 g at .9999 fine and holds the same troy ounce of gold as the heavier Eagle. A buyer starts both of these 1 oz gold coins at 1 x spot.

A kitchen scale sets a second trap. The Treasury gives the everyday ounce as 28.35 g, so a 1 oz Gold Eagle weighed in everyday ounces reads 1.20 oz (33.931 / 28.35). The scale hasn't found extra gold.

Smaller coins work the same way. The statute fixes the 1/2 oz, 1/4 oz and 1/10 oz Gold Eagles at 16.966 g, 8.483 g and 3.393 g, holding one-half, one-fourth and one-tenth of a troy ounce of fine gold. A 1/10 oz Gold Eagle's metal value is 0.1 x spot, and the same sum applies to all fractional gold.

How Buyers Price a Collectible Gold Coin

A collectible coin carries two values: its gold, and whatever collectors pay above the gold for that date, mint and grade. A formula covers just the gold.

Take a $20 double eagle from our pre-1933 gold coins. PCGS lists the Liberty Head $20 as 90% gold and 10% copper, and NGC gives the mint specification as 33.43 g. That works out to 33.43 g x 0.90 = 30.09 g of gold, or 0.967 troy ounce. The later Saint-Gaudens $20 is the same 90% gold alloy. Either way, a double eagle holds 3.3% less gold than a 1 oz coin.

Age alone doesn't add a premium. NGC notes that the 1904 $5 half eagle carries little numismatic premium in most grades, because a mintage of 392,000 doesn't make it a scarce date.

Grade supplies the rest of the price. NGC grades on the Sheldon scale of 1 to 70, with 60 as the threshold for Uncirculated. PCGS describes the Mint State range, MS-60 through MS-70, as running from a coin covered with marks to a flawless example. Two double eagles with identical gold can grade MS-60 and MS-70.

The CFTC warns that numismatic coins are hard to value objectively, and that the market for proofs and rare coins isn't very liquid. One offer on a collectible coin tells you little, and the sale can take longer than a Gold Eagle's.

Where to Sell Gold Coins: Four Channels and What to Ask

The CFTC and FINRA advisory states that no federal regulator covers retail metal sellers. It sends consumers to their state attorney general or securities regulator for a firm's complaint history and, for an online firm, tells them to verify the physical address and how long it has operated. Run those checks before you ship.

Steps to Take Before You Ask for an Offer

Leave the Surfaces Alone

Don't clean, polish or dip anything. To PCGS, a cleaned coin is one whose original surface has been removed. NGC says improper cleaning is among the most common reasons a coin receives Details grading: no numeric grade from 1 to 70, only an adjective with the problem named on the label. Harsh cleaning, NGC adds, isn't correctable with conservation. On a bullion coin, cleaning adds no gold. On a collectible coin, it can cost you the grade.

Spots aren't always dirt. The same NGC page notes that gold is nearly immune to corrosion and that reddish copper spots often show on gold coins. Leave them.

Keep Graded Coins in Their Holders

If a coin PCGS graded is found non-authentic, PCGS says it will pay the current market value at the originally assigned grade, and that guarantee ends once the coin leaves the holder or the holder shows tampering. Under NGC's guarantee, a coin found not genuine is never returned in an NGC holder. Cracking a coin out before a sale throws that protection away.

Check the PCGS or NGC certificate yourself, because any buyer of graded coins will. PCGS holders made since October 2020 include an NFC chip that opens PCGS Cert Verification when you hold a phone to the holder, and scanning the barcode on the front does the same job. Sealed packs work the same way: The Royal Mint says the serial-numbered pack on its bars acts as a certificate, and that opening it voids the certification.

List the Coins and Collect Bids on the Same Day

Write one line per coin: type (American Gold Eagle, Krugerrand, $20 double eagle), date, mint mark if any, stated gold weight and certificate number. Photograph both sides. Then get two numbers from each buyer: the bid per coin and the spot price behind it. Spot moves all day, so only same-day bids compare. Every firm sets its own spread, which is why the CFTC and FINRA advisory says it pays to shop around.

Ship Insured and Keep a Record

The U.S. Postal Service insures Registered Mail for up to $50,000 and requires you to hand the item to a postal employee. Follow the buyer's shipping instructions where it gives them. Keep your photos and tracking record until the buyer confirms receipt. Our guide explains how selling on our platform works.

Taxes and IRS Reporting When You Sell Gold Coins

Sell a coin for more than your cost and the gain has a rate of its own. IRS Topic 409 says net capital gains from selling collectibles, such as coins or art, are taxed at a maximum 28% rate.

The gain runs from your basis. IRS Publication 551, Basis of Assets, says the basis of property you buy is usually its cost. Inherited coins start somewhere else: the same publication puts the basis of inherited property at, generally, the fair market value at the date of the individual's death, not the original owner's cost. Find your purchase record or, for inherited coins, a valuation dated near the date of death.

A buyer reports your sale to the IRS only in a narrow case. The Form 1099-B instructions make a precious metal sale reportable only if two things hold: the CFTC has approved that form of metal for regulated futures trading, and the quantity meets the contract minimum. The IRS gives its own example: a broker selling a single gold coin doesn't file if every approved gold coin contract calls for at least 25 coins.

Form 8300 is the other form sellers hear about, and it isn't a gold rule. A business files it after receiving more than $10,000 in cash, and the IRS says cash may also include cashier's checks, bank drafts, traveler's checks and money orders with a face value of $10,000 or less. The form covers cash a business takes in, so a check or wire it sends you for your coins isn't its subject.

We're not a registered investment advisor and can't give individual investment or tax advice, so speak with a tax professional or financial advisor.

How Selling Works on Our Two-Way Market

The CFTC and FINRA advisory tells people buying metal to ask how much they'd receive if they had to sell the metal tomorrow. Our two-way market answers on the product page: each coin's bid sits beside its ask, in view before you buy and on the day you sell your gold coins online.

You'll need an account, and our minimum selling transaction is $1,000; quantity minimums and maximums can apply. Run the CFTC's checks on us too: we were founded in 2010, we're headquartered in San Diego, California, and we operate online only. We verify every item with modern testing equipment and numismatic expertise, and we're an authorized dealer for PCGS and NGC. Bullion Standard Pro, our paid membership, gives members live, executable wholesale bid and ask pricing.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you safely sell gold?

Fix the price in writing before the gold leaves your hands. A business should pass the CFTC's checks: complaint history, a physical address and years in operation. With a private buyer, testing and payment risk are yours. Meet somewhere public. Take payment the buyer can't reverse, and insure anything you ship for its full value.

How does the IRS know if you sell gold?

Mostly because you report it. IRS Topic 409 tells taxpayers to report most sales of capital assets on Form 8949 and Schedule D, and that duty doesn't depend on a buyer filing Form 1099-B. The Form 1099-B instructions add two details. One customer's sales within a 24-hour period count as a single sale, and the reporting exception disappears if the broker knows a customer is splitting sales to avoid reporting.

How much is a gold coin worth to sell?

For a bullion coin, multiply fine gold weight in troy ounces by spot and subtract the buyer's spread: 0.1 x spot for a 1/10 oz coin. A collectible coin adds what its date, mint and grade bring. Face value isn't the price. The statute calls the 1 oz Gold Eagle a fifty dollar gold coin, and that $50 is a legal tender denomination. The South African Mint says the Krugerrand has no face value: its value follows its gold content and the daily gold price.