Oakton Coins & Collectibles is one of the best coin shops near Lake Forest.

We accept gold in any form and condition. Yellow gold, white gold, and estate jewelry are just the beginning—we also purchase designer pieces, broken items, and dental gold. Whether your jewelry is 10k, 14k, 18k, 22k, or 24k, we will evaluate it fairly. Bullion in gold or silver is also welcomed. If your jewelry contains diamonds, emeralds, sapphires, or other stones, we will assess their additional value when making an offer. No matter what type of gold you have, we’re always buying.

If you are looking for a reputable and convenient place to sell your coins, you have found it. Oakton Coins and Collectibles has served and satisfied thousands of people selling their coins.  We understand how important a task it is and the worry about getting it right.  Whether you are a life-long collector and looking for someone that truly recognizes your collection for what it’s worth, or you are have no idea what you have in your possession and need someone you can trust, we are here to help.   Whether you inherited a single coin or a whole coin collection, it can still be a stressful task to sell it.  Oakton Coins & Collectibles can simplify the process.

Understanding how to sell coins around Lake Forest.

There are many factors worth understanding when you are looking to sell your coins.  Ultimately though, what it comes down to is getting an understanding of what the coins are really worth.  It could be your coins are only worth face value, but they could be worth more.  There are many types of collectors, and some collect only high-value precious metal coins, while others choose to collect low-value or face-value coins only for reasons other than their worth. No matter the size or value of your collection, we can steer you in the right direction.

Another consideration is how much to sell.  Some people decide to people sell their whole collection. Other people want to sell the valuable parts and keep the rest or pass it on to someone else. Someone that has a small collection without a lot of monetary value might decide to gift it to a young person in their family.  

Interesting coins are available for purchase for every budget, so ask yourself the following questions to help determine the value of the collection you want to sell:

Can you determine how much money was spent or how often the coins were purchased?  Are there any records such as receipts, bills of sale, invoices, or canceled checks from auctions or dealers? Was there an insurance policy or a last will and testament with instructions?

This information may be helpful, but you can’t completely depend on any of it. The value of coins (and collectible paper money), like the value of anything else, is what a willing buyer will pay a willing seller. This amount is never a fixed figure, as the market fluctuates in varying degrees and at unpredictable rates.

Coin-selling Terminology to Know: Clickbait Pricing, Real-World Pricing, Melt Value Pricing, Numismatic Pricing

Clickbait Pricing: Merriam Webster defines something (such as a headline) designed to make readers want to click on a hyperlink especially when the link leads to content of dubious value.  This pricing relies on sensationalism to attract click-throughs. Click-throughs refer to when the user clicks to go through to the next stage of the bait. Clickbait makers will post bait stories telling readers that a rare coin could be worth thousands of dollars, but this is not a reliable source of information, only a headline to get you to click.

Real-World Pricing:  This pricing reflects amounts that have actually been paid, not merely advertised or asked for, so it is the true market value. As with anything, any coin is only worth what someone will actually pay for it.  It’s useful to know that collectors use rarity and condition as the basis for determining what to pay.

Melt Value Pricing: Melt-value is the worth of the metal by weight.  Coins with a melt-value could be copper, silver, gold, or platinum, but any U.S. circulated coins made after 1965 do not have precious metal content.  Coins prior to 1965 could have an additional numismatic value on top of the melt-value.

Numismatics: The study of numismatics is the study of physical money.  It involves the research of the production and use of the coins and paper money to determine their rarity. Coin rarity and condition determines the prices that collectors will pay. Regardless of the metal composition of the coin, or the face value, rare coins in good condition have a very high numismatic value.

A Word about Organization

Before you come in, you might wonder if you should organize the coins.  If you want to do that, we recommend using the groups below so that you are not wasting your time.  It’s definitely not worth the effort to arrange them by date.  

When we appraise a collection, we separate coins by their composition (i.e. copper, nickel, silver, or gold). After that these are the relevant groups for coins:

• • Gold coins 
  • 9o% silver dollars (1878 through 1935) 
  • 9o% silver dimes, quarters, and half dollars (1892 through 1964) 
  • 40% silver JFK half dollars (1965 through 1970) 
  • Lincoln Wheat Cents (1909 through 1958) 
  • Buffalo Nickels (1913 through 1938) 
  • Jefferson Nickels (1938 and later) 
  • All other obsolete U.S. type coins
  • U.S. Mint proof and uncirculated sets 
  • U.S. Mint commemorative sets 
  • Currency and paper money 
  • Foreign coins/tokens

Pricing your collection to sell around Lake Forest.

One way to get an idea of a coin’s worth is to reference guides, however it has to be said, that these consumer guides have inflated values.  Most of the time, there will not be a buyer that is willing to pay that.  See real-world pricing above.  The guides can help to establish the price range but selling necessitates a buyer that agrees on the condition that the coin is in agrees on the price.  

Places NOT to sell gold around Lake Forest.

• • Jewelry Stores and Pawn Shops – These establishments generally only pay a small portion of melt-value which is not what you want, if you have coins with numismatic value as well.  As this is not their business, they usually are not knowledgeable about coins.
  • eBay – There are certainly coins being sold through eBay, but this platform can be risky, time consuming, and costly, especially for a new seller, or one not very familiar with the value of their coins. Click here for more information.

Sell gold near me – sell gold locally – Lake Forest.

Oakton Coins & Collectibles is located near the 94 West (Kennedy) expressway near downtown Evanston, and less than two blocks from the Oakton stop on the Yellow Line CTA (Skokie Swift). It is convenient and close to Arlington Heights, Barrington, Brookfield, Deerfield, Des Plaines, Elmhurst, Elk Grove Village, Evanston, Franklin Park, Forest Glen, Glencoe, Glenview, Highland Park, Hoffman Estates, La Grange, Lake Bluff, Lake Forest, Lincolnwood, Lincolnshire, Lombard, Morton Grove, Naperville, Northbrook, Northfield, Oak Brook, Oak Park, Palatine, Park Ridge, Portage Park, Prospect Heights, Rogers Park, Schaumburg, Skokie, Wheaton, Wheeling, & Winnetka.