Where should I sell some gold and silver coins I inherited?

January 22, 2019 7:26 PM

Hey metafilter! I'm in Ottawa and I have a few coins to unload -- nothing crazy, just Canadian silver coins and a couple 1/10th ounce gold coins, all minted in the last few years. I feel like Google is turning up mostly Cash4Gold places that feel like payday loan sharks, so I'm hoping for some other people's experiences to get some guidance. I just don't want to be ripped off. :-/
posted by Decimask to Work & Money (3 answers total)

I came into a large cache of silver coins with some gold coins mixed in. When the mood strikes me I'll take some to a regular coin dealer. They usually have the silver and gold spot prices on a chalk board, they'll carefully explain what you have and how much they'll pay for it, (it'll be a % less than spot) and give you a check or cash right then. I've been to few and they all seem to operate the same way. It looks like Universal Coins in Ottawa is the kind of place I usually go to.
posted by Floydd at 4:50 AM on January 23, 2019

If you aren't in a rush, ebay worked very well for silver items in the 30-100$ USD range.
posted by Dmenet at 4:28 PM on January 23, 2019

I wish I could find the article, but basically what you want is the percent of spot value, including all expenses and commissions. If a seller won't tell you this number, they are ripping you off.
posted by wnissen at 11:31 AM on January 29, 2019