Gold Turkish 500 Kurus - what to do?

rlhjr72

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I have an elderly family friend who found this coin in his boxes of junk collected over the years. It's an 1861 22k gold Turkish 500 Kurus coin. I've done research on it and have found it to be fairly rare and valuable.

Numista's rarity index is 95 and a mintage of 30,000 see:
1277 (1861) ١٠
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces34993.html

The problem, as you can see from the photos, is somewhere in the last 157 years, someone decided to turn it into a pin. I took it to a local coin shop and his suggestion would be to have a jeweler remove the pin, have it graded, then it may be possible to sell it for its collector's value rather than its gold value.

I've always heard that damaging a coin in any way basically renders it not valuable to a collector. "Never rub your coins in the field" :laughing: Does the rarity of this coin change that? Does anyone have any suggestions, either to follow the coin shop's advice, or just melt it for its gold value? Or try to sell it with the pin attached?
 

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My thoughts are that if you were going to sell it for melt value, there's no reason NOT to try to have a jeweler remove the pin. If it comes out good, then you could sell it for the collector's value (which would be less than mint of course). Selling it with the pin attached would be less than numinastic value I'm sure....so you have little to nothing to lose by having the pin removed.
 
Even if you get the pin removed it would always have a "damaged" note on the grading if you had it done. Collectors seem to only pay up for US coins, I would guess it is worth scrap gold price, sorry.
 
There are Turkish collectors out there. Not as many collectors as the u.s. nor as popularly collected as the u.s. but it is absolutely worth more then melt value. AND would be a crying shame to see melted down. Just my two cents.
 
There are Turkish collectors out there. Not as many collectors as the u.s. nor as popularly collected as the u.s. but it is absolutely worth more then melt value. AND would be a crying shame to see melted down. Just my two cents.

I don't disagree that it shouldn't be melted. Nevertheless, it will always be a damaged coin, even with the pin removed. Its melt value is close to $1300, so perhaps a slight mark up from that is appropriate. Finding a buyer is the hard part because you almost always end up with fees and charges associated with selling. So even if you get a 20% premium, most if not all will be gobbled up by selling costs.

Overseas transactions are not without risk.
 
Thanks everyone for the advice. The old man has decided to just melt it and take the $1300. Before I send it to the refinery does anyone who knows the gold market have any thoughts on what direction gold prices are going in the near future? Looks like they are at a yearly low and dropping right now, should I wait a couple of months or send it now? Or maybe buy it off him for current price and hold it for years?
 
Thanks everyone for the advice. The old man has decided to just melt it and take the $1300. Before I send it to the refinery does anyone who knows the gold market have any thoughts on what direction gold prices are going in the near future? Looks like they are at a yearly low and dropping right now, should I wait a couple of months or send it now? Or maybe buy it off him for current price and hold it for years?

Well....you could put it up here on the Forum for auction or for sale..you have enough posts to qualify...that would be an idea..easier than sending into a refiner for melt and possibly more money...
 
Well....you could put it up here on the Forum for auction or for sale..you have enough posts to qualify...that would be an idea..easier than sending into a refiner for melt and possibly more money...

+1 Good suggestion Mud-puppy. :thumbsup:
Someone here will save it from the refiners crucible.
 
there are turkish collectors out there. Not as many collectors as the u.s. Nor as popularly collected as the u.s. But it is absolutely worth more then melt value. And would be a crying shame to see melted down. Just my two cents.

100% agree
 
Thanks everyone for the advice. The old man has decided to just melt it and take the $1300. Before I send it to the refinery does anyone who knows the gold market have any thoughts on what direction gold prices are going in the near future? Looks like they are at a yearly low and dropping right now, should I wait a couple of months or send it now? Or maybe buy it off him for current price and hold it for years?

It is always difficult to predict the market, but my guess is gold will go up about 25% within 6 months. There is turmoil in the stock market and usually that pushes up the gold price.
 
Thanks everyone for the advice. The old man has decided to just melt it and take the $1300. Before I send it to the refinery does anyone who knows the gold market have any thoughts on what direction gold prices are going in the near future? Looks like they are at a yearly low and dropping right now, should I wait a couple of months or send it now? Or maybe buy it off him for current price and hold it for years?
The PM market is rigged to protect the dollar, gold is traded as ‘paper’ and supposedly hedged close to 200:1 paper vs physical. When the gold price starts to creep up, paper shorts are dumped by the millions, suppressing the price. We know this to be, as central banks have admitted to these actions, and have paid small fines.
 
KT suggests putting on here for melt value - 5%, that is what you would get from the refinery. And, make it an auction with a time limit. You might find a collector whose wife likes quality jewelry and get a bit more than the lowest bid! You will never know unless you try! Too bad whoever had it made into a pin did not buy a gold pin mount for the coin, instead of having a pin soldered on the reverse! KT's 2 cents worth.:D:D
 
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