I just posted another thread on some religious medals, but the same person had this 1875 c Prussia 10 mark gold coin that he wants to sell. I was looking at completed auctions on eBay and I only found one that sold for $235 as buy it now. There's two others listed for sale at higher prices. I'm trying to determine what kind of value this might have, and whether I should take it to my local coin shop, which would probably just give me the bullion value for it, or try to sell it online, where I might get more but have to pay fees and worry about lost mail. I was also a little worried about authenticity because the color seemed weird and I didn't know if it seemed as heavy as I'd expect. I don't have much experience with gold though. I had originally been thinking of buying it for my collection but I think it's cleaned and I'd rather have a nicer looking example. So I'm wondering what you all think.
Judging by a quick glance at NGC, this coin should weigh a little under 4 grams. A quick glance at the price guide says $180 at XF, $136 at current spot price. I like it.
It doesn't appear to be a rare date, so my guess is that it would be tough to get more than bullion. Might do a little better on FleaBay, but generally I think it's still generic gold even if it's cool and different
These coins are readily available in grades up to MS 66, so circulated examples don't have a big premium. Your coin in the condition shown is worth $160-$175 as a collectible. However, practically it's worth bullion because you're not likely to get that price by selling it in a way that doesn't incur fees. Of course you can always get lucky and someone really wants it, but that's the exception rather than the rule
Thanks for the input. That's the impression I got from the price guide so I was surprised to see the completed sale on eBay that was so much higher.
While I haven't looked it up people here say that this is not a rare date. Noting that it's probably a VF35 BUT it has a staple scratch obverse, I'd guess that it's really worth close to bullion. I know German catalogs are full of these things usually mint state or close to it. Also for a curio piece people would prefer the 20 marks. Years ago I bought a pair: 10 & 20 marks, both mint state. One was early like 1872 the other from around 1900. I can photograph & post them if really desired.
That's my guess. I believe both are around equally as common so there's not much to be gained from having a 10 marks over a 20. This is unlike the French 5 Francs gold ca. 1860's which are noticeably rarer than the 20 Francs in high grade. For years I wanted a 5 Francs gold in ms but never found one short of one dealer who wanted an outrageous price (like $1,500.) for one. However I really am not a German collector except for having a few pieces. I do like the Karl Goetz medals tho.
Thank you for the clarification. I am working on a complete set of each denomination under the empire, in any grade. I like the eagle. So far I only need the states’ coins, which leaves only 2, 3, 5 silver, 5 gold, 10, and 20 mark. The only limitation is one must be Fredrick III. I also like most of Karl Goetz’s coin patterns.
Well if you're serious about Germany I'd suggest you deal with Gorny & Mosche; one of the best known auction houses based in Munich. Why buy stuff off of Ebay where scammers try to sell really bad coins for ridiculously high prices? The 1875 is quite worn for a common coin and has a scratch in it. I'd bet some of the German catalogs have on the order of 100 lots of similar material (+100 lots of the 20 marks) at a single auction: and you can bet that lots with scratches are not priced very high.
