Where do you sell gold?

Nuggetbrain

Jr. Member
Mar 9, 2015
31
15
Los Angeles
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
Hey all!

Okay so let's say you go panning for a while and you finally round up an ounce (or more) of clean, beautiful gold!

Now you want to sell it. But where?

Coin shops? Jewelry stores? "We buy gold" stores in mini malls? Online?

I would think it depends on your location, for instance in Alaska it might be more common for "gold buyers" to set up shop....

but what about other places? Where would you sell gold flakes, pickers, and nuggets in Los Angeles? Seattle? Dallas?

Thanks!

Tim
 

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I sell mine to a local coin shop, I get about 95% actual value, you can sell directly to smelters though.
 

Other prospectors will probably pay best. In small amounts at least. Don't worry selling your first ounce will not be a problem very soon. For more reasons than one.
 

For the most $/oz, sell a gram at a time online. For quick and easy, sell at a coin dealer or local prospecting shop.
 

Smelters pay well but they usually want a couple ounces before they will give you top price.
 

Placer sells above spot on ebay, but then you have to pay ebay and paypal fees so you lose 13%. I am a jewelry maker and I'd like to buy some high karat placer if any of you wish to sell some. I would need to know the purity. I don't want to refine it, I wish to use it as it is like the ancients did.
 

It's 100% pure placer gold. If you use it as is , it is what it is.

Around here in SoCal I believe that it would be 80-90.
 

Where I use to live there were many gift shops in the small towns in the hills. I got to know many of the owners of those shops because I used to sell them barnwood picture frames and they all loved them and they sold well. I was talking with one owner about prospecting and that I had been doing it for years. One thing led to another and I ended up making a small counter display out of barnwood and filled it with small vials that I put 2 grains (weight) of gold in each one and topped them off with water. My gold was about 20 mesh. The vials sold but not always quickly. I ended up putting more displays in other shops and would refill them when I stocked each shop wih my picture frames. I made a deal with every shop that I wanted $10 for each vial sold. After the first month of displaying,selling and me restocking just about all the shops paid me for the vials before their customers bought them. It was a sweet deal I had going and I made way more dollars that way instead of sellng my gold at a coin shop or refiner. I sold my gold like that for 7 years. I break my back to get the gold not to mention the expenses that I shell out in order to get it. I want top dollar plus. Be creative if your not in a hurry to get your money. Worked for me. Btw....every shop was charging $15 per vial and all said the people buying them had no problem forking over the dough just to take home real Black Hills gold.
 

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The other day I talked with a store owner up here about me putting up a display in his store with some of my gold. He told me he would put the display up front on the counter so everyone could see it. I found some cross lockets (leftovers) along with some necklace chains in a box of stuff from my move up here so I added some gold to them to put them on the display. I'll add them along with my little vials and see how the people like them. Hope they do. Picture isn't the best but you get the idea.

cross1.JPG
 

Where can I buy an empty one to fill with my own gold? (Just need one for wifey)
 

They measure 1" across and 1 and 13/16" long (total length). The vial inside is 4mm wide and 25mm long. The vial has a rubber plug on top and there is a metal plug that pushes into the bottom of the cross. I didn't add water for fear that they might leak. Also I ended up tapping the metal plug in the bottom with the flat side of my pliers. The plug fits tight and ends up being flush on the bottom. Once its on there is no getting it back off. If anyone ever wanted the gold out of it they would have to break the glass vial to get it but then it would be ruined unless someone just wants a cross. On each side (arm) of the cross...one word each side says..Love....You.
 

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Captain...I bought these a few years back but I took a quick glance on ebay and found the same ones but it looks like unless you buy more than one the price is higher. I paid about $1.25 apiece for the ones I got back then. You can find them by looking for Glass metal Pendant bottle vial charm ashes vial.
 

Size

Size compared to a quarter.

cross3.jpg
 

If they sell up here in Montana like they did in South Dakota I end up getting $2290 for an ounce of my gold minus of course the expenses that go into getting the gold and vials. Back home I only had to drive 6 miles to get the gold and each time I went out I estimated I could fill 40 to 60 vials. Wasn't bad at all. Here I have to drive 100 miles plus or minus one way to get it. At least I find it when I go and it pays fairly well for me. Tourists like them!
 

What are you trying to say by putting gold in a cross? It is fascinating to me how someone would purchase this religious symbol and wear it because now it actually has some worth. I see gold in a cross as a symbol for hypocrisy. I truly would like to hear what it means to someone who wears it.
 

What are you trying to say by putting gold in a cross? It is fascinating to me how someone would purchase this religious symbol and wear it because now it actually has some worth. I see gold in a cross as a symbol for hypocrisy. I truly would like to hear what it means to someone who wears it.

maybe they just like the way it looks. Jewelry does not have to have a meaning behind it.
 

I think you would doing well to get 80℅ of the 24k spot price for placer nugs. Placer gold usually isn't too near 24k, unless you consider 23k to be near 24k which it ain't.

If you wanna make the big bucks, put your placers into little plastic bags full of sand. Some people buy placer gold mixed with sand for 500% of the 24k spot price
 

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What are you trying to say by putting gold in a cross? It is fascinating to me how someone would purchase this religious symbol and wear it because now it actually has some worth. I see gold in a cross as a symbol for hypocrisy. I truly would like to hear what it means to someone who wears it.

I'm not trying to say anything about it. They were cheap and I bought them along with heart shaped, hex shaped, round shaped, diamond shaped, bear shaped, bullet shaped and guitar shaped ones. I've sold hundreds of them. Found out after a couple years the plain old vials weren't selling as well as when I started selling them and started buying different shapes. Better selection. It worked so why would I do anything different? Everyone sees something different.
 

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