As an investor, you can go any reputable dealer and buy gold coins. However, in case of rare coins, a lot of factors comes to the play.
Below are the 9 tips that you must know before buying rare coins.
- Never deal in flea markets. Just like you would find a dealer for precious metals, find one for rare coins too. If a rare coin has ended up in a local store, it is probably not rare enough.
- Find a licensed dealer. There are dealers who buy and sell rare coins on a regular basis, and they are reliable, because they also ensure the coins remain sellable and liquid.
- Check the grading process. Rare coins also contain some amount of precious metals, which is the intrinsic value of the coin. Before you deal with a seller, check their grading tool and equipment.
- Look for coins with low mintage. In simplest terms, low mintage means that not many coins of the same kind were produced. Even if the coin doesn’t have credible amount of precious metal, it can still fetch a great value at an auction.
- Don’t invest in a lot right away. If you don’t know much about rare coins, you may want to keep things slow for a while. In case you are buying coins for the sake of investment and not as collectible, go for gold coins instead.
- Check the basics. The value of a rare coin is dependent on three major factors – coin rarity, history and beauty. Add the value of precious metal it contains, and you have the final price. Please note that it may take a while to understand the evaluation process.
- In case of US coins, anything that was minted before 1934 is considered to be a collectible item, and only 2% of them are available for collection in the coin market.
- Be careful of the first deal. There are more than 5,000 coin-dealers in US alone, but only a handful are worthy of your attention. Do your homework and find relevant details online. Make sure that the dealer has a brick and mortar store.
- Finally, if you are new to the world of rare coins, study more. There are many websites and online resources that can come handy, and when you have the knowledge, it is hard for sellers to cheat.
Check online now for more details on rare coins.
