At DWN we get asked questions all the time. Some are good questions, some are not so good questions (and some are just plain weird). Let’s focus on some of the better questions and try to answer them for you.

Q. Has it been to CAC?

A. In all probability it has.

DWN was an early adapter to the CAC-ification of the coin market. We send virtually all of our coins to CAC (even the reasonably cheap ones). It is a proven fact that many CAC coins sell for premiums, and as a good businessman it makes sense for me to try and maximize my inventory investment by securing this add-on.

There are a few exceptions to this rule. Sometimes I assume that a dealer I’ve bought coins from has already sent them to CAC. Or, I might have a coin which is really rare but which doesn’t—in my opinion—have the CAC “look.”

If you want to know if a specific coin has been to CAC, just ask and I will give you an honest answer. If a coin has been and it didn’t sticker, ask me why—in my opinion—it didn’t.

Q. Do you do want lists?

A. Sort of, but not really as well as we should.

I’m going to be honest here. DWN is a lean-n-mean coin dealing machine and we don’t really have the time or manpower to properly work your want list. Typically, we buy neat coins, put them on our site, and let them sell.

This isn't always the case. Look…if you are a serious collector putting together a set of Liberty Head eagles and we do a lot of business, I’m going to let you know when some really good coins come into inventory.

Might I suggest that you work with me in partnership on your collection and contact me from time to time asking me what quarter eagles (or whatever your specialty) are in the pipeline?

Q. How do you price coins?

A. We throw darts at the spinning price-o-matic board in our office and then add 10%.

In all seriousness, we primarily focus on three things when it comes to pricing: recent APR’s (auction prices realized), recent past sales of comparable coins from our own database, and market knowledge which comes from three+ decades of specialization in dated gold.

Some coins are fairly easy to price; an example of this would be a PCGS MS61 or MS62 1891-CC eagle which trades fairly regularly and at a pretty standard range of prices. Other coins are very hard to price. I recently had to figure a price on an important finest known Charlotte half eagle where the last trade was in 2000. I wound-up establishing a value based on other comparable Charlotte half eagles.

Q. How often do you update your website?

A. Literally every day and sometimes on Sundays…

We hate nothing more than a website that is out-of-date. It shows a lack of respect for clients and a lazy dealer who just doesn’t “get” the fact that a website is your company’s beating heart.

We update our inventory pages on a daily basis and mark coins as “ON HOLD” when they have been ordered but have not yet been confirmed or paid for. When these coins are sold, we take them down off the site ASAP and archive the images and descriptions. Our coins are marked JUST ADDED for the first two weeks they appear on the site, and then are changed to NEW for the following two weeks. Coin which are a month or so old do not have any age indicator.

Every month we add a 1500-2000 word article as well as a 750-1250 word blog. These are archived on the site and can be found in the Market Blog and Articles tabs at the top of the page on our site. They are also accessible from the bottom of our homepage, and they're searchable for specific content.

We generally notify our Preferred Customers by e-mail when we are adding a new round of coins to the site (you can sign up as a Preferred Client here if you aren't on the list already). Sometimes, we “sneak” new coins on the site, and to keep current we suggest you check the site regularly.

Q. Why don’t you accept credit cards?

A. For two reasons...

First, we work on a tight buy/sell spread and giving the credit card firms a 3% cut really eats into our profit margin. We’d rather not pass this on to you.

Second, every potentially scammy order we’ve encountered in our years of selling coins has been credit card related. We’d rather play it safe and lose a few orders a year than get nailed by credit card fraud.

Q. Do you take trades? Do you buyback coins?

A. Yes and yes.

We welcome trades but would always prefer to see your trade coins sight-seen even if they were purchased from us. We don’t try and get rich on trade coins, and generally try and offer around 10% less than what think your coin is liquid at on out site. For bullion-related coins, this margin is far less.

We are always happy to buyback coins although we prefer not to repeatedly buy coins back which were recently acquired from us. Generally, we will buy coins back at around 90% of our selling price but this may change if the market drops.

Q. Do you finance coins?

A. Yes.

Let’s say we have a coin for sale at $7,500 and you are interested, but you don’t have all the cash. I will likely be amenable to giving you up to 90 days interest-free as long as you pay 1/3rd immediately, the next 1/3rd in 45 days or so, and the final 1/3rd at the end of 90 days. Once the coin is paid off, it will be sent to you.