hello all, I just inherited this coin and haven't found much information on it online. Says 'Universaro' on the face with the year located at the bottom. On the flipside, it says 'One Platinum' at the top, followed by a "world trade" logo. Towards the bottom is says '.999 fine platinum' followed by 'one troy ounce 31.1 grams' The coin is overall silver looking in color, but there is some tarnish throughout. What is this coin approximately worth? Would it be worth it to clean it at all? Thanks
Probably worth the price of platinum plus maybe a small premium assuming its authentic. (so about $1200)
http://www.usns.info/coin-universaro.html Doesn't say anything about value but if it's actually platinum it's going to be worth at least close to platinum spot which is currently $1167. I'm sure someone with more info may chime in though. The other universaro rounds i.e. the silver ones seem to trade as generic bullion so unless this platinum one is a rarity or something it's probably gonna be worth around that spot price.
Spreads on platinum scrap tend to be larger than other precious metals, so you might have a job getting much over 90% of spot for it. It dates from a period of financial instabilty and high inflation when PM objects were sold as safeguards against inflation. It should feel remarkably heavy for its size. Platinum is well nigh incorrodable so any mark on it must be just dirt. It is not a coin, so wiping off the dirt will neither help nor hinder the value.
To be honest, i haven't really looked at it closely. I didn't notice anything unusual about its size to weight ratio... i'll look more closely at it tonight. If it were your coin, how would you go about trading it for the most amount of cash? Would you rather hang on to it? The $ sounds enticing, but i don't want to do anything too drastic.
Does it really weigh 31 grams? That's a start. If you don't need the money tuck it away as a reserve, the value of platinum may go up, it is pretty low historically at the moment. A proper bullion dealer would give the best price. Not some pawn shop or jeweller.
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, and you may by now already know, but I can just about bet the farm that is not platinum, it is silver.
