Benefits of the pre-owned coins

The benefits of pre-owned coins

When purchasing gold coins, you often have the choice, depending on availability, between coins new coins and used coins, also refereed to as pre-owned. What are the differences?

Difference between new and pre-owned coins

The new coins, mostly those from the current year, are purchased by The Silver Mountain through official distributors of the mints. This is often more expensive due to production costs and the costs of insured transport to the Netherlands.

Coins from previous years come from the private market and are therefore sourced from individuals. The weight and purity of these coins are identical, but the cost is lower. The Silver Mountain passes on this benefit, and for this reason, coins from previous years are always cheaper than newly minted coins.

Gold and silver dutch coins

In addition to the well-known investment coins, there are also many coins in circulation that were previously used as legal tender. Because pure gold and silver are quite fragile, coins used as currency were often minted with a lower precious metal content, for gold usually around 90%. This is also the case with the Dutch gold ten-guilder coin, which has been in circulation in the Netherlands since 1818. 

In Europe, the 20 Franc coins are also very popular, having been used as legal tender in Switzerland, France, and Belgium. Such gold coins are often issued in lower weights. While a gold ten-guilder coin was literally worth 10 guilders, the 20 Franc coin had a face value of 20 Francs. Halfway through 2025 a Dutch ten-guilder coin is worth 600 euro, a lot more than the 10 gulden that is embossed on the front.

Buy used or new coins?

As mentioned used coins are somewhat cheaper than new coins and old Dutch guilders have the advantage that they are recognizable. However, the availability of used coins can be more difficult and the price differences are not very noticeable since most of the value comes from the material value of the gold or silver used. However old used silver coins do have the that they are exempt from VAT, since in the Netherlands effective of 2025 new silver coins must be used with 21%,

Curious about used or new precious metal coins? The Silver Mountain has an extensive range of used and new silver and gold coins. If you want to know more about investing in physical gold and silver, then view the other articles in our knowledge center.

Disclaimer: The Silver Mountain does not provide investment advice and this article should not be considered as such. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.