Hope I have this in the right place. Good Afternoon/Morning. I have been collecting 1 oz. raw gold bullion coins for years and am now thinking of selling many of them. With the plethora of counterfeits in the market, is it worthwhile to have them graded by PCGS, NGC, or Anacs, just to verify to a buyer that they are genuine? Many are in APMEX flips, but those are easily counterfeited also. It appears that a PCGS lower level membership for 1 year is $69 with a grading fee of $30. NGC is $25 for a basic membership and a grading fee of either $35 (early bird/standard) or $17 (modern). Not sure which category these coins would fall under. I have Maple Leafs, Gold Eagles, Krugerrands, Buffalos, etc. and a few gold sovereigns. Your thoughts would be appreciated. Thank you in advance.
Potentially yes, That said if you do the memberships do the PCGS platinum where you save money with the 8 vouchers or the NGC $150 one where you basically get equal credit or both if you want to mix and match. Neither one should anyone actually pay a real fee as they both have options where you get your money back or more
It depends on the kind of buyer you are looking for. I don't buy bullion coins that are graded by a TPG- just an unnecessary markup in my opinion. Let the others chime in to see if they agree
This was kind of my point. You don't gain any significance with them being slabbed and as a result, they don't sell for more money. So, you add a large expense to send them in and don't gain any money for doing it.
Unless they would grade high enough to get your money back, then no it's not worth the fees. If you want to prove they are genuine then yes. But where and how do you plan to sell them? You LCS, eBay, ESTY? Figure that out and then decide on what to do to make it happen. Personally, I wouldn't be selling at this point. I'd hold them. Welcome to CT.
Like the others mentioned, you probably don't need to slab them if it is all common bullion that you plan to sell for around spot prices. If you are selling at a local coin store or to one of the online dealers, they almost certainly will not pay more for the coin being slabbed (with the possible exception of 70 graded items for certain dates). Also, many of the big dealers (and some of the small ones) have equipment to test the coins and would be able to do so before buying it from you. Edit: if you have better dates (say something like a 2008 Gold Proof Buffalo), then slabbing those could make sense. Check eBay and Heritage sold prices to get an idea of which bullion coins sell for significantly more when graded.
Evan and Camaro, I agree with both of you, however I have seen many, many times on CoinTalk when folks say that they wouldn't touch an ungraded coin for fear of getting a counterfeit. I understand that is advisable when buying on eBay or another auction site, but would probably not be necessary if you were able to view the coin in hand before bidding/buying. Thank you.
How you plan to sell it matters, the cliff notes version is you will have more options with it slabbed. Again that may or may not make sense
Welcome to CoinTalk. How are you planning to sell them? When I sell bullion (gold eagles and silver eagles) I take them to a local dealer. They have the knowledge and the tools for identifying real vs. fake, so for me the added expense of grading would be a complete waste of money.
Hello Maxfli, I really don't want to sell at wholesale (-3% to +1% over spot, since I paid a premium, and it's not a "fire sale", so I would like to realize something between wholesale and "coin show" prices. A quandary, I know. I have been selling ASEs and keep getting the question as to how the buyer knows they are legit, so I thought having the gold graded (for about$20 each) would make it easier to sell. Guess I am just trying to squeeze the last dollar out of the deal. Thanks.
