Who melts down valuable old gold coins just for their gold?
Unless you are trying to hide something...
So “Pawn Stars” turn out to be crooks...what a surprise!
Melting down collectible rare coins for the gold doesn’t make sense.
UNLESS you are up to no good.
Since they were melted, there is no way to determine the actual value, beyond the gold. So sure, they were worth $50K...
Who says the gold coins were valuable?
I read this story a few days ago on another forum. The rightful owner claims the coins were worth $40,000.
Sure they were. At least he’s hoping to collect that from his insurance company.
But to a pawn shop? Its just scrap metal.
“Who melts down valuable old gold coins just for their gold?”
Several gold traders used to show up at the gun show I go to. They sold several grades of coins, including one called “scrap gold.” This meant that the coins had no collectable value because of their condition and were only worth what the gold was worth.
Not saying I bought any of those or would have buried them anywhere.
Unless he had his collection professionally appraised, the victim of the theft can claim anything he likes about the supposed value of the coins. After the fact, common gold coins in beat-up condition (with no numismatic value at all) can suddenly and magically be transformed into rare ones in mint condition.
LOL! People in Cali who find a bunch of them in old rusty cans. Would have been my guess. ;>}
When talking about the $10,000,000 gold coin find in California, many Freepers were suggesting they should melt down the coins so they could avoid taxes. Of course the melt value was $50,000 or so, and they would have cleared $6,000,000 after taxes. In this case I believe Rick, the family is conservative and I think that they try to avoid the typical pawn shop sleaze.
I can't conceive of an American Gold coin not worth more than it's gold content.