Best way to turn gold into dollar bills?

December 14, 2009 12:25 PM

Basic dumb question that could use a little expert advice. What's the best way to turn gold into cash? I've got two Krugerrands in my safe deposit box, but now I need the money. I live in a small town; we have banks and one coin shop. But I'm reluctant to just go up to someone at a counter and say "what will you give me?" Any advice? (Beyond "keep it, it's going up up up." I need to pay my dentist now.)
posted by kestralwing to Work & Money (8 answers total)

Can you offer the gold directly to your dentist? Or is the bill only a fraction of the gold's value?
posted by dfriedman at 12:35 PM on December 14, 2009

1. Determine how much gold is in your Krugerrands
2. Determine how much your Krugerrands are worth: gold prices
3. Contact a few local bullion retailers and get quotes
or
3a. Sell on eBay
posted by jckll at 12:36 PM on December 14, 2009

I don't know if your local bank can cash in gold, or if your coin shop can give you a good deal, but the best place to start is knowing the price of gold: Goldprice.org and lots of other places online can give you an idea of what gold is worth. According to Wiki, there's one troy ounce of gold in a full Krugerrand, so start there when you're at the counter; I don't know that there's any inherent collectible value in a Krugerrand intact (not melted down), but if there is the coin shop will have an idea of that. Also, pawn shops might be able to deal in gold, as might jewelers. Shop for a price, don't feel bad about bickering over price, until you find somebody who can give you a reasonable price for them. Good luck.
posted by AzraelBrown at 12:37 PM on December 14, 2009

Clarification on (1) above: Krugerrands were made with amounts of gold as little as .1oz to as much as 1oz. I believe the amount of gold is engraved on the coin itself.
posted by jckll at 12:37 PM on December 14, 2009

IANAGD, but according to this, How Much Is A Krugerrand Worth? (which I found by googling "How much is a Krugerrand worth?") eBay is a good option, particularly for a smalltowner without a lot of other options. Be sure you know whether yours are one ouncers or one of the lesser weights. This page on that same site tells you the high, low, and average sale price today for each weight. I know nothing about the legitimacy of this site or its info, so do your homework.
posted by Askr at 12:39 PM on December 14, 2009

Yup, do your homework, and DO NOT send it to cash4gold or other scammy sites which will 'evaluate' your gold and offer you a price, you will get ripped off!
posted by defcom1 at 2:53 PM on December 14, 2009 [1 favorite]

There's a premium on physical delivery gold. So definitely do NOT simply rely on the quoted spot price; it should be somewhat more than that (roughly $40-80 USD per oz over the spot price typically).

Tulving is a reliable gold dealer. Somewhere on the site he publishes how much over spot he'll pay. You'll get more on EBay, but that entails other costs as well.

Here's a site that tracks prices on Ebay. Look under "Last Prices" column. At the moment, 1 oz krugerrands are going for about $1,210 USD.
posted by mikeand1 at 6:58 PM on December 14, 2009

Go to the coin shop and ask if they will pay spot price for gold for them, most dealers if you are buying, ask for a premium above the listed price of gold. The price for an ounce right now is 1,128.20 per ounce and the site I got that price from pegs on 49.95 per one ounce coin so they should be happy to pay spot.
Smaller bullion coins have a greater per-ounce value so two halves will have a slightly greater value than one single ounce. If you sell on Ebay you have to do all due diligence to make sure you do not get scammed. (I swear, it never arrived).
Lurking this site will get you a lot of info on selling but you have to dig for it.
I think all the above advice is good and dfiedmans idea might work easiest.
Do not take less than the spot price.
posted by Iron Rat at 7:11 PM on December 14, 2009