How to Sell Gold & Silver Bullion in Southern Oregon

Bullion is the most straightforward thing we buy. Unlike jewelry, coins, or sterling — where condition, design, and provenance drive large swings in value — bullion products are standardized. A 1 oz American Gold Eagle is the same 1 oz American Gold Eagle whether it came from a dealer last month or out of a safe deposit box ten years ago. What changes minute-to-minute is the spot price of the metal itself, which is why we keep specific numbers off the published page and handle real-time pricing on the phone or in person.

Bullion is one of the few categories where we can talk live pricing by phone, because the products are standardized and the math is built from current spot. Give us a call and a real person will get back to you the same business day with current numbers tied to today's market — we don't try to pin prices down in writing because spot moves faster than a blog post can keep up.

Here's what we're going to cover, in order:

1. What counts as bullion — and what doesn't, even when it looks like it does.
2. The premium gap — why you paid spot + premium when you bought and why the math works differently when you sell.
3. The recognized refiners and mints — what we look for, and what we do with bullion from less common sources.
4. Sovereign coins — Eagles, Maples, Krugerrands, Philharmonics, Libertads.
5. Junk silver — pre-1965 US silver coinage, the workhorse bullion most American households actually own.
6. Authentication — the in-person tests we run and the one at-home test that's reliable.
7. Why local matters for bullion — the relationship, privacy, and pandemic-tested service that don't show up on an online offer page.
8. What to bring — including packaging and assay cards.

Then a quick recap at the end so you walk in knowing what to expect.

What counts as bullion

Bullion is metal valued primarily by its weight and purity, not by design or rarity. The line between bullion and collectible isn't always sharp, but here's the practical distinction we use at the evaluation table:

• Pure bullion — modern sovereign coins (American Gold Eagle, Canadian Maple Leaf, etc.), refiner bars (PAMP, Credit Suisse, Rand, Argor-Heraeus, Valcambi), generic private-mint rounds and bars, and post-1986 .999 silver rounds.
• Quasi-bullion — pre-1965 90% silver US coinage. Priced as melt with a small multiplier; not strictly “bullion” in the dealer sense but treated as such for most transactions.
• Looks like bullion but isn't — older classic gold and silver coinage (Morgan dollars, $20 Saint-Gaudens) trades on numismatic demand layered on top of melt. We evaluate those as coins, not bullion. See the US Coins guide for that math.

The premium gap: what you paid vs what you get

This is the single most important thing to understand about selling bullion, and the part most sellers don't expect.

When you bought a bullion product, the price was: spot + premium. The premium covered the refiner's manufacturing, the dealer's margin, packaging, and the dealer's profit. The size of that premium depended on the product, the refiner, and the market conditions on the day you bought.

When you sell, the math is different. Whoever buys it from us doesn't need your specific Eagle — they can order a sealed monster box from a wholesaler for less than your unsealed used piece. So the value to the next buyer is the metal itself, plus whatever modest secondary-market premium that particular product still carries. The premium gap is structural across the industry, not specific to any one dealer.

Practically, the picture looks like this:

• Common-issue Eagles, Maples, and Krugerrands have tight, fast-moving spreads — the products are deeply liquid and the transaction is quick.
• Modern refiner bars (PAMP, Credit Suisse, Valcambi, and similar) price competitively as long as they're authenticated; original sealed assay cards help.
• Older proof issues and limited-mintage pieces can carry a meaningful collector premium over the metal — we evaluate those individually.
• Vintage private-mint pieces (Engelhard prospector rounds, older Johnson Matthey bars, certain commemorative bars) can hold collector premium over metal, especially in original sealed assay cards.

Specific numbers move with the market and product. That's the conversation we'd rather have with you on the phone or in person — not in a published page that goes stale the moment a spot candle ticks.

The recognized refiners and mints

We recognize and pay full bullion rates for all the LBMA Good-Delivery refiners and the major sovereign mints:

• Swiss refiners: PAMP Suisse, Credit Suisse, Argor-Heraeus, Valcambi, Metalor.
• National mints: US Mint (Eagles, Buffaloes), Royal Canadian Mint (Maples), Perth Mint (Kangaroos, Lunars), Austrian Mint (Philharmonics), South African Mint (Krugerrands), Mexican Mint (Libertads).
• Other LBMA-recognized refiners: Rand Refinery (South Africa), Asahi (Japan), Heraeus (Germany), Royal Mint (UK).
• Reputable private mints: Sunshine, Engelhard, Johnson Matthey, Geiger, Scottsdale.

If your piece is from a refiner we don't immediately recognize, we test the metal directly with XRF or specific-gravity. We don't refuse legitimate bullion just because the refiner is unfamiliar — but unrecognized brands do require the extra step.

Sovereign coins: the most common pieces we see

These are the workhorse bullion products in American households. Spreads are tight and the math is fast at the evaluation table.

• American Gold Eagle — 1 oz, 1/2 oz, 1/4 oz, 1/10 oz sizes; 22k (91.67%) with copper alloy. Most familiar product in the US market.
• American Gold Buffalo — 1 oz, .9999 fine. Slightly higher spot exposure than Eagles for the same content.
• American Silver Eagle — 1 oz, .999 fine. The most common silver bullion piece we see.
• Canadian Maple Leaf (gold and silver) — .9999 (gold), .9999 (silver). Royal Canadian Mint.
• South African Krugerrand — 1 oz of gold (the coin itself weighs slightly more because it's alloyed with copper). Often the lowest-premium gold sovereign on the market.
• Austrian Philharmonic, Australian Kangaroo, Mexican Libertad — all priced on metal content with small refinement spreads.

Junk silver: the workhorse bullion most people actually own

“Junk silver” is dealer slang for pre-1965 US 90% silver coinage with no individual numismatic value — circulated dimes, quarters and halves that get priced by weight at a multiple of spot. The name is misleading; it's the single most liquid silver bullion product in America.

A few practical facts:

• $1 face value of pre-1965 dimes, quarters, or halves contains roughly 0.715 troy oz of silver. That's the conversion that lets us price by face value rather than weighing individually.
• We pay a multiplier of face value times spot — the multiplier varies slightly by current market conditions and the volume you're bringing. You'll see it at your appointment.
• No sorting needed beyond separating silver from clad. Pre-1965 dimes and quarters look silver on the edge (no copper stripe). Post-1964 are sandwich coins with a visible copper layer.

Authentication: how we test, and the one at-home test that works

Counterfeit bullion is real, especially for gold pieces. The good news is that modern bullion is harder to fake than people assume because the weight and dimensions are tightly specified and gold's density is uniquely high. The tools we use at the appointment:

• Precision scale to the 0.01 g — the fastest test for most pieces.
• Caliper measurement against published mint specs.
• XRF analyzer for non-destructive metal composition verification.
• Specific Gravity Test

The one at-home test that's reliable: the magnet test, but only in the negative direction. Real gold, silver, platinum, and palladium are not magnetic. If a piece sticks to a magnet, it is not solid precious metal — it's plated or counterfeit. The reverse doesn't hold: non-magnetic doesn't prove it's real, because many base metals are also non-magnetic. Use it as a negative filter, not a positive confirmation.

Why local matters for bullion (more than people think)

Bullion is the easiest category to ship, which is exactly why most of the noise in the market comes from online and out-of-state operators promising big numbers. We want to be straight about how to think about those offers, because they aren't dishonest on their face — they're just incomplete.

A national online buyer can absolutely quote a number that matches what a Rogue Valley shop pays, or claim to beat it. Sometimes those numbers are real and the transaction goes fine. The trade-offs don't show up until you stack them next to each other:

• Shipping and insurance come out of your pocket. A meaningful quantity of bullion can't go in a regular envelope. USPS Registered Mail with full insurance, the only responsible way to ship precious metal, costs real money — before you know whether the offer will hold once your pieces arrive.
• The transit risk is yours. Lost or damaged bullion claims are months-long processes where you carry the burden of proof. A lost ten-coin shipment isn't a check next week; it's a paperwork trail you initiate and document.
• You lose financial privacy. Every online bullion transaction creates a digital paper trail attached to your name, address, payment account, and a record of exactly what precious metals left your possession. That information lives somewhere forever. A handshake transaction in our shop creates a record only where Oregon requires one for the transaction itself, not in the dataset of a national company.
• You don't have a relationship. The single biggest difference between an online buyer and a local shop is what happens next month, next year, the next time. National buyers don't know your name. We do. The next time the market shifts, the next time you need to liquidate, the next time a family member asks where to start — that relationship is the actual product.

We want to be careful here because there are reputable online bullion buyers and we don't want to overstate. The point isn't that online is bad; it's that the headline number on an online offer isn't apples-to-apples with an in-person offer once the costs and the relationship come off the top.

What “local” actually meant during the pandemic

We'll mention one thing we don't usually bring up because it sounds like a brag, but it's the honest example of what local loyalty looks like in practice: during the COVID shutdowns, when most of the precious-metals industry — national chains, online buyers, and many local shops — was closed or operating with weeks of delays, we stayed open for our customers. By appointment, with the precautions the moment required, but open. People who needed to liquidate metal during a stressful financial period had someone they could call, someone they already knew, someone they could drive to and walk in to. That's not a marketing claim — it's why we're still in business after 28 years and why our customers tell their friends and family to call us first.

Shops do what they need to do to stay in the market, and pricing reflects what each individual shop needs to operate. We don't try to be the lowest-cost national operation or the loudest online voice. We try to be the place you call — from anywhere in the Rogue Valley — when you need someone you trust looking at what you have, today, in person.

What to bring to your appointment

• The bullion itself — loose, in tubes, in monster boxes, in original packaging. There's no minimum and no extra charge for evaluating additional pieces.
• Original packaging and assay cards if they exist. For most modern bullion the packaging doesn't change the offer. For older proof issues, low-mintage limited editions, and certain private-mint bars, original sealed packaging can add premium. Don't break a sealed assay card.
• Any paperwork — numbered certificates, original purchase receipts, dealer invoices. Helpful but not required.
• Photo ID. Oregon requires it for all precious-metals transactions, including bullion.

Quick recap before you come in

In short, here's everything we just covered:

• Bullion is the simplest category we buy — standardized products, real-time pricing tied to current spot. We don't publish numbers because spot moves minute-to-minute; we handle pricing on the phone or in person.
• When you sell, the math is different than when you bought. You paid spot + premium when you acquired the piece. On the sell side, the value is the metal plus whatever modest secondary-market premium that specific product still carries. This is structural across the industry, not specific to any one dealer.
• Common-issue sovereign coins and modern refiner bars move quickly with tight spreads. Older proof issues, vintage private-mint pieces (Engelhard, Johnson Matthey), and sealed assay cards can hold collector premium worth real money.
• Junk silver (pre-1965 US dimes, quarters, halves) is real bullion. We buy it by face value, no sorting needed beyond separating silver from clad.
• Call us for live numbers. The phones are answered quickly and a real person follows up the same business day. We don't try to lock prices in on the page because the market won't cooperate.
• The magnet test is the one reliable at-home check, and only in the negative direction. Real bullion is non-magnetic; we confirm with scale, caliper, ping, and XRF in person.
• Local matters more than the headline number suggests. Shipping costs and risk, financial privacy, and the relationship you build with a shop you can call again next year — none of those show up on an online offer page, but they're real value. We've been open for our customers, including through hard times most of the industry sat out, because that's how this business is supposed to work.

That's the playbook. We'll go through every piece individually, show you the math, and make an offer. You're free to accept it, decline it, or sleep on it — there's no fee for the evaluation either way.

Ready to schedule?

Call our Ashland location at (541) 482-3715 or our Grants Pass location at (541) 955-2985, or use the contact form. Bullion is the one category where we can have a real-time pricing conversation on the phone, so feel free to start there — tell us what you have, and a real person will follow up the same business day with current numbers.

We've been doing this in the Rogue Valley since 1997, including through the years when most of the precious-metals industry was closed or moved entirely online. If you're in Ashland, Medford, Talent, Phoenix, Grants Pass, Roseburg, or anywhere else within a reasonable drive, we'd rather see you in person than read about your bullion in an email — and we'd much rather build a relationship than complete a one-time transaction.

See our category pages for Bullion, US Coins, Gold & Silver Jewelry, and Sterling Flatware for what we look for in each.