Downsizing my collection to gold coins.

rec78

Hello, I have been collecting coins for over 60 years, but have never gotten into much gold. I do have a few gold coins maybe 10-12. I have collected all series including bust and seated coins and early American copper coins. I do not have them all, but i do have quite a few coins in the $1000-5,000 range. Most in albums. I am considering selling most of these and purchasing gold coins with the money. I have the rare dates such as a 1799 and 1804 large cent and a 1901-s quarter for examples. I have two safe-deposit boxes in the bank and want to down-size to one smaller box. I will need to send a big pile of them to PCGS for grading. I am not in a rush to make the transition, but gold coins would be easier for my family to sell and there won't be as many coins when the time comes.
Is this a good time to buy gold coins? After a while silver bullion coins become too bulky. My collection in my estimation is valued at about $300,000. $300,000 in silver coins takes up a lot of space, $300,000 in gold coins does not take up much room. What do you think of this idea? Some in third party grading holders (PCGS NGC or ANACS)
Thanks for your opinion, Bob

jmlanzaf

I'm not sure if but gold coins just to shrink my collection for my heirs. I would only buy gold coins if I wanted gold coins. There's nothing wrong with putting the coin money into a different asset class.

ShaunBC5

I think this is a fine idea. It sounds like you’ve really enjoyed the hobby and want to continue doing so, but need less to carry and pass on (volume-wise).
As far as it being a good time to buy gold…probably not, but silver is high, too, so you’re buying in the same market you’re selling in. Others who actually sell coins can correct me on that.
If you make the transition, good luck! I hope the selling process and search for gold keep bringing you joy and fun!

Project Numismatics

What are your collecting goals? What are your non-collecting goals? If your only goal is to shrink the space that your collection takes up, you could recycle the capital into any number of coin or non-coin assets. You could buy more expensive silver or copper, buy gold or invest your proceeds into any number of other assets.

As to whether this a good time to buy gold coins, no one has a crystal ball. If you do plan to invest a significant amount of your net worth into gold coins, I would spread out those purchases and dollar cost average into the position. If gold prices drop or numismatic prices drop in the next 12mos, are you putting your non-coin goals in jeopardy?

Mike59

I know there are plenty of "coin Dealers" and ANA members in the CU forum's. Maybe they can point you in the right direction to make some "Trades" that can be advantageous to the both of you. That way you might not have to spend a fortune in TPG fees. Only an idea.
Mike

ricko

In this situation, I would review my coins with an eye to keeping those I deem super special (for whatever reasons) and those that are good coins, have value but not in the former category. I would sell the second group. Then, you can put funds into gold (or whatever) coins. Bullion at melt right now is cheaper than it has been in quite a while. At sometime in the future (I think near future), gold will be rising.... Then there will be a buying frenzy, not a good time to buy. Cheers, RickO

LukeMarshall

I personally think its a marvelous idea.

It would be fun to go though all the bulk of your collection, like a trip down memory lane when disposing of pieces.

You can keep a more "personalized" private collection that may have some special meaning while acquiring very liquid Gold pieces that would be a lot easier to move for your heirs.

Either way, best of luck in the pursuit

FrankH

While I agree with @ricko re: "special" coins, in your situation, I would contact an auction company for an "appraisal."
Call first to see best way to proceed on that.
The auction companies can submit your raw coins and will if the value warrants.
But first... be serious about the whole idea.

Your heirs can also call auction companies if they get a bushel of odd stuff.

jkrk

@rec78 said:
Hello, I have been collecting coins for over 60 years, but have never gotten into much gold. I do have a few gold coins maybe 10-12. I have collected all series including bust and seated coins and early American copper coins. I do not have them all, but i do have quite a few coins in the $1000-5,000 range. Most in albums. I am considering selling most of these and purchasing gold coins with the money. I have the rare dates such as a 1799 and 1804 large cent and a 1901-s quarter for examples. I have two safe-deposit boxes in the bank and want to down-size to one smaller box. I will need to send a big pile of them to PCGS for grading. I am not in a rush to make the transition, but gold coins would be easier for my family to sell and there won't be as many coins when the time comes.
Is this a good time to buy gold coins? After a while silver bullion coins become too bulky. My collection in my estimation is valued at about $300,000. $300,000 in silver coins takes up a lot of space, $300,000 in gold coins does not take up much room. What do you think of this idea? Some in third party grading holders (PCGS NGC or ANACS)
Thanks for your opinion, Bob

1)Are you trying to consolidate on storage or are you interested in gold coins due to lower premium values (metal content)?
Based on what you said, I'm assuming the storage / easier for the heirs to deal with fewer coins is the issue.

2)Good time to buy? Better than earlier in the year. Not as good as 12 years ago... 20 years ago... etc My timing is not wonderful so would sell some ... swap into some gold ... and make the swap a number of times. Thus average in at different intervals.

On a side note... I laughed when I read, "silver coins take up a lot of space". For years I always wondered about any Central Banks gold holdings. How much room does it take up? Now imagine if they had the same dollar amount in Silver? 95 X more space needed

If you ever decide to sell.... you might wish to take scans / photos of the coins so you will have pictures of the memories?

291fifth

It sounds to me like you should be considering complete liquidation of your collection. Perhaps it is time to join me in collecting only knowledge, not coins. The US coin market is fully priced so it is a good time to sell but probably not a good time to buy.

jkrk

@291fifth said:
It sounds to me like you should be considering complete liquidation of your collection. Perhaps it is time to join me in collecting only knowledge, not coins. The US coin market is fully priced so it is a good time to sell but probably not a good time to buy.

Unfortunately, that might be true for every asset class?

3stars

My over 60 plan is complete liquidation. No point in keeping stuff around for largely uninterested heirs.

Bigbuck1975

Send them to @ianrussell at Great Collections and exchange the proceeds for gold plus you’ll save a ton in grading fees and capture a really large audience.

brokecollector

Keep your key coins, high value and they do not take up much space. The same applies to future gold coin purchases, buy the keys. I think that the box of twenty concept applies in this case. Several boxes of twenty don't take up that much space.

1630Boston

Sounds like a plan I have considered
Although my collection of 58 coins would not buy as much gold.

Glen2022

You might try selling or trading on the Buy, sell, trade US coins on this forum. You might be able to trade some of your unwanted coins for those you want and avoid auction fees.

You could consider consigning to Great Collections. I think (not sure) GC will also give you an appraisal.

BillJones

If your early coppers are significant, you might think about the EAC auction that is held with their convention every year. Many of those collectors don't care about slabs or don't want them. The key is that you have to have some better grade and/or better variety coins to make it work.

As for the gold, I don't know. The current $1,700 to $1,800 gold price would make me nervous. I have seen gold drop after it's been run up like this due to economic conditions only to have it fall considerably. It has always come back, but how long would your heirs be willing to wait? Numismatic gold coins offer as much hassle for non-collectors and any other metal.

You are right about storage, however. Gold takes up a lot less space than silver in the safe deposit box.

lermish

@BillJones said:
As for the gold, I don't know. The current $1,700 to $1,800 gold price would make me nervous. I have seen gold drop after it's been run up like this due to economic conditions only to have it fall considerably. It has always come back, but how long would your heirs be willing to wait? Numismatic gold coins offer as much hassle for non-collectors and any other metal.

Commodity cycles can run in multi-decade cycles and spot prices are going to be fighting uphill with higher interest rates and a very strong dollar but I tend to be more hopeful, especially after a >10% drop. At the same time, a drop to the recent low range of $1200-1300 is certainly within reason.

hfjacinto

I don't know if I would do this. I'm only 53 so I have time, and my collection is nowhere in the value yours is but I did think about about a future reduction and upgrade. Maybe take the albums/bullion and graded coins and get fewer but higher value. After thinking about it, I decided its a dumb idea, the coins/albums I have because I wanted them, why trade something I like for something I might not like because it has a higher value?

Honestly after I'm dead, my kids could spend what I have (I hope they don't as they know the value), but I'm dead so its not like I'll truly know.

Catbert

I love the idea of selling what you don’t want anymore and then enjoying a new collecting journey assuming you are not just going to acquire bullion. You earned your money and deserve to spend it on things that make you happy now. As long as you have a Will and instructions on selling upon sudden death, I think you should proceed apace and worry less about your heirs. Just my opinion. 🙂

skier07

Keep in mind that older pre-1900 PCGS/CAC gold especially from the branch mints for most series is at historical highs right now.

csdot

Collectible Pre-1933 (not sure why we don't say Pre-1934?) gold is high now. Seems the price of these coins shot up around mid-2020 when the economy shut down for the pandemic and those prices have stayed high. I haven't priced non-gold numismatics recently, so it might be that you can sell those high making it a wash.

My point, expect to pay a 50-100% premium over what the same gold coin would have sold for in 2019.

BryceM

@rec78 said:
i do have quite a few coins in the $1000-5,000 range. Most in albums.

This is so cool! Anyone else notice this? They’re still out there folks.

If you want to collect gold, collect gold. It’s really fun BTW.

If you want to sell your collection, sell it.

If you are worried about your heirs, the most useful thing you can do is to get everything TPG certified (and run it through the CAC machine if you’d like). Some of the grading will go as you expect and there will be some surprises (good & bad). How that plays out will probably inform the next decision.

Also leave CLEAR instructions about how to appropriately liquidate the collection. I have this printed out in the SDB and in other places. Without instructions it’s extremely unlikely your heirs will get the value back out. Yelling from the grave won’t help.

Really, it isn’t all that much harder to sell 200 slabbed silver coins than a couple dozen gold ones. A good dealer or auction house will make short work of it, especially if already graded & slabbed.

pcgscacgold

About 4-5 years ago I made the move that you are considering. I was about 75% done with a high grade all CAC Walker short set, a high grade CAC Peace Dollar set and high grade FH and non-FH CAC SLQ's. I also had about half of a AU CAC Walker set done. Nothing like the size of your collection though (and not raw).

I worked with a dealer that I had bought a lot from and moved all of them. I do wish I had kept one of each series but have no regrets. I began working on a gold type set. As many have said, prices have skyrocketed. Pre-Covid and post-Covid are two very different worlds in PCGS CAC gold. Many CAC gold coins have doubled (or more) in that time. It has caused me to slow down but the collection is my much manageable now. Just take a look at Double Eagle prices for instance or $10 Indians. CAC MS65 commons now over $10,000-12000. Even $2.50 Indians have jumped a lot. It is across the board.

Best of luck on your decision. I too do not care what my heirs do with the coins. I collect because it's a fun hobby and full of history. Maybe I will try to sell the day before I die. Otherwise, I have tried to leave as few raw coins as possible. It is much easier for non-collector heirs to find the value of slabbed coinage.

DisneyFan

I've built and sold collections over the years. I've always enjoyed collecting and it gives me something to look forward to doing. If that is also your thinking I suggest that you begin pruning your collection and narrowing your interests going forward. With that in mind I would sell your nominal value coins for the best prices you can find and submit your better coins to PCGS and later CAC. Sending off coins will be an enjoyable process once you get the hang of it. As far as putting money into the metals, I suggest ETFs which will be much easier for your family to liquidate and then you will not have so much money in coins.

Crusty

@rec78 - Here is what I would suggest. To maximize the value of your collection I would suggest you send in your collection for grading at pcgs. Then send it to CAC for approval. At that point you’ll have a much bigger pool to sell into and a way to price them easier. Once they are graded and have been ran thru CAC. I would first suggest that you reach out to fellow collectors you know to see if they are interested in either trading for gold coins they have or purchasing outright via cash. Whatever is left I’d reach out to dealers who specialize in the type of coins you own and see if they have interest in trading some gold for your coins. Whatever is left I’d throw at auctions and use the proceeds to purchase the gold your after.

I don’t think now is the time to buy older gold coins with CAC approval. And would be carful paying up big premiums for any non cac gold too. I think the market is red hot and everything is scary high right now. If you want gold…I personally think a better play would be to find the lowest premium gold bullion you can find and buy that instead.

coinpalice

i converted to mostly pre-33 gold 20 years ago, best thing i ever did

Nysoto

You might want to move into gold incrementally rather than all at once, just in case you don't find it as satisfying as copper or silver. I have collected early gold as a secondary series to early silver, and have completed sets of 1807-1812 capped bust half eagles and classic head gold $5's - these are two early gold US sets that can actually be completed, they were fun to collect and satisfying to complete.

Most US gold has moved up considerably in price the last two years, but so has much of US silver coins.

Smudge

If it were just bullion, you could just watch the silver to gold ratio and jump when it is favorable. Rare coins will be more complex, but I like the idea. I prefer gold myself.

Estil

You should hold off on buying gold until that bubble inevitably bursts. Silver is what you should be buying; you know, buy low, sell high? Not to mention personally I'd find having a collection concentrated on so few coins wouldn't be nearly as much fun.

2windy2fish

If i were you i would liquidate the lower value every day coins and buy gold…but keep the very best and hardest to find/key date coins as they will likely appreciate more than gold…

pcgscacgold

@Nysoto said:
You might want to move into gold incrementally rather than all at once, just in case you don't find it as satisfying as copper or silver. I have collected early gold as a secondary series to early silver, and have completed sets of 1807-1812 capped bust half eagles and classic head gold $5's - these are two early gold US sets that can actually be completed, they were fun to collect and satisfying to complete.

Most US gold has moved up considerably in price the last two years, but so has much of US silver coins.

You did it at the right time. Capped Bust gold is very expensive and Classic Heads have become expensive too. The D and C 1838's took off and have not looked back. I have seen $30,000+ for low AU coins. I had to change from collecting a full set to a date set for Classic Heads because of the market conditions.