Coin Buyers Serving Center City Philadelphia, PA

American coinage started in this part of town. After the Coinage Act of 1792, the first U.S. Mint building went up on Seventh Street near Arch, with the astronomer David Rittenhouse as its first director, and every half cent and large cent struck from 1793 to 1857 came out of Philadelphia. Rittenhouse Square carries his name today, and plenty of the people who call us live on the blocks around it.

The present Mint opened in 1969 on Independence Mall near the Liberty Bell, the fourth Mint building in the city's history. Many Center City households bought proof sets and mint sets there or ordered them by mail year after year, and those sets come out of hall closets in Washington Square West and Old City by the dozen, often in their original boxes. Silver proof sets from many years hold 90% silver coins, so we look at each set for metal and for collector demand before we put a price on it.

A lot of our Center City calls come from people who traded a house in the suburbs for a condo near Rittenhouse or Fitler Square. Moving into fewer rooms means sorting what came along, and coins are usually in the pile: a father's Morgan dollars, a roll of Gold Eagles bought in the 1990s, a couple of PCGS or NGC slabs, a cigar box of Indian Head cents. Society Hill's brick townhouses turn up the same kinds of boxes, along with large-size notes and silver certificates tucked into old books.

Jewelers' Row on Sansom Street, often called the oldest diamond district in America, is part of everyday life here, and much of the gold jewelry we see from Center City estates was bought on that block decades ago. We sort it by karat, test it without acid or scratching and weigh it on a calibrated scale while you watch. Signed and antique pieces that may be worth more as jewelry get set aside, and we tell you so before anything is priced as gold.

Few people want to carry a box of gold coins down Chestnut Street or through a crowded lobby to sell it. We work by appointment only, one-on-one, and we agree on the meeting place when you book. Owners of larger collections or full estates can ask about a home visit. Bring a government-issued photo ID, and you can accept and be paid at the same visit or decline and keep everything, written list included.