Hello, I am looking to buy 5 st. gaudens & 5 $20 gold double eagles. How can i make sure there legit? Is weighing them enough?
I agree with Cloudsweeper. When you are paying that much money, you might as well pay a little more for the certification.
Personally, I wouldn't spend $10,000+/- on 10 raw coins. I'd buy higher grade slabbed. Are you buying to collect or just to buy some gold?
collecting now to flip in future. What about taking them with the buyer to a coin shop? He also has the receipts also when he purchased them.
Based on your comment you are buying these 10 coins from an individual and you have no idea if the coins are genuine or what the grade of the coins is - is that a correct statement ? If it is - walk away and don't look back. And before you ever buy any of these gold coins, go buy some books and study them first. Once you do that, then and only then buy coins slabbed by NGC or PCGS. Do not ever buy them raw.
Receipts are only pieces of paper and the coins may be the same coins listed on the receipts or they may not. If you are "collecting" now with the intention of "flipping" them in the future, you should take more time to do some research. Learn about each of the series and don't buy the most common dates. You should look into slabbed coins that are "collector" grade MS62-64. I would never spend $10,000 of my hard earned money unless I knew what I was doing and knew exactly what I was getting for it in return. Especially in this economy. There is a reason we have the saying: "a fool and his money are soon parted."
Who is the seller, a friend? family member? I suspect that there is probably more to this tale than you are letting on.
If you have to ask this question, I would suggest you buy a certified example, preferably with the help of an expert/mentor who gives you an in-hand assessment prior to purchasing. Said more bluntly, the odds are that you are going to get ripped off unless you get help...Mike
Offer to pay to have them submitted to PCGS or NGC. Pay according to what they come back as up to and including walking away if they come back as fakes. If he won't agree to that, walk away.
I'm gonna guess that some buddy needs some quick cash and says, hey pal, I need to make some quick cash, all I got are these here gold coins....can you help a guy out and buy them off me. I'll give you a good deal.
Arent there gold testing kits that you can use at home? should not be harmful to the coin. But yes, I would be fearful too of buying gold coins from someone i dont know.
The point is not whether you know the person or not, the point to be concerned about is if the coins are genuine or not. And if the person offering to sell the coins knows anything about them, he would be much more likely to just take them to a dealer and sell them there. If all you want is to buy some gold for th evalue of the gold alone - then buy gold bars from a respected source for they will be priced much closer to spot price than the coins will.
If its pcgs or NCG graded coins there are a price list of the coins on their websites. If its anything else give him spot for gold for the coins.
