Selling your gold and silver coins? There are do’s and don’ts to follow. Following are a few tiips for when you prepare to sell your gold or silver and, as we explain in our book "Going for the Gold" ,there are five popular methods of selling.

Tip 1: Know prices

When you want to sell coins, don't expect to obtain retail prices. Dealers have to make a profit on what they buy and you must expect them to offer less than the prices quoted in any journal you may be following.

How much less?

Are you sitting down? The fact is, for accurately graded coins, offers will be determined by how long the dealer expects that s/he will have to hold the coins in inventory. You  should be prepared to receive no more than 60 percent of retail. Of course, gold and silver coins trade much closer to retail.

Knowing what is easily traded will help you accurately determine what has the higher values. Lincoln cents were hot in 2009, but to sell a Lincoln cent set that is anything less than Mint State, a dealer will look for the key dates, the 1909-S, 1909-S VDB, 1910-S, 1914-D, 1922 and 1931-S. He might not offer to buy them at all if those dates are not included.

If your collection contains classically rare coins, the prices you will get for them will be closer to retail. Age does not automatically translate to value, but it has given the hobby time to establish pricing relationships that hold up year after year. Learn what these are and profit from them.

If you would like to know more, see Chapter One of our text "Going for the Gold!" or write us at admin@americancoinguild.com particularly if you have a specific question relating to your own coin needs. We'd love to hear from you.

Precious metals are acting up as I write this so it is important that I update you on the market - I will share other tips on When it's Time to Sell over the next few days.

(Some information drawn from U.S. Coin Digest, 10th Edition.)