Coin Buyers in Chicago, IL

Selling coins and gold anywhere in Chicago

Most coins we buy in Chicago were saved in the same house for decades. A brick bungalow on the Northwest or Southwest Side, built sometime between about 1910 and 1930, often kept one family long enough for a coffee can of silver dimes to sit untouched in the basement.

Lakefront high-rises and North Side graystones give us a different mix, with proof sets ordered from the Mint by mail and a few Gold Eagles from a safe-deposit box. As Chicago coin buyers we take in both kinds of hoard and price each one coin by coin.

Every sale starts with a phone call to (773) 241-8624, and we call back the same day. We ask roughly what you have, then book a private, one-on-one meeting between 10am and 6pm, Monday to Saturday.

Where we meet gets settled on that call, since one seller may be riding the L in from the Loop while another is coming across town on I-90 or the Stevenson. If you are sitting on a big collection or a whole estate, ask whether a home visit would make sense.

Two coins tied to Chicago history still turn up in drawers around the city. Columbian half dollars from the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition sold at the fair for $1 apiece, and many were later spent as ordinary change, so worn examples are easy to find and bring a little over their silver. The 1918 Illinois Centennial half is much scarcer, with 100,058 struck, and collectors pay above its silver value for it.

At the appointment each coin goes under a loupe for date, mint mark, grade and eye appeal, and the gold and silver are weighed on a calibrated scale you can read yourself. We set collector coins apart from melt coins, which keeps a better-date Morgan from being lumped in with a pile of junk silver.

You will never find a Chicago mint mark, because the U.S. Mint has never had a branch here. The letters to look for are P, D, S, O, CC and W.

The offer comes to you in writing, item by item. Say yes and you are paid that day in cash, or by same-day wire for a larger sale. Say no and you take everything home with the list, and the appraisal costs you nothing.

Executors and siblings splitting up a parent's estate often lay that list on the table to agree on shares before any coin is sold. Bring a government-issued photo ID if you plan to sell.