West Seattle Coins

Noticed the line in The Junction? 'New gold rush'

There’s gold in them thar garages! And in drawers and old boxes, and … With gold prices at their highest point in years, people are cashing in at West Seattle Coins , leading to frequent lines outside their California/Oregon storefront.

The shop doesn’t open until 10 am, but the first customer in line was there at 8:30 this morning, and had brought a book to read while he waited. As of 9:30, four more people were in line and explained they came early in order to avoid the wait once inside the shop.

Manager Jason Dankworth explains that West Seattle Coins has a number system—once inside, the customer takes a number and waits his/her turn. Depending on what the people in front of them are offering for sale, the wait can be up to an hour. The line was twenty people deep at one point yesterday, and the shop kept their doors open until 6:30 to serve all the folks who had gotten numbers until closing time — 5:00.

Asked what people are selling, store employee Phil describes old jewelry and family coin collections. Jason adds that the most unique item they’ve seen recently is an 1895 Morgan Silver Dollar worth $35,000. Equally fascinating (at least to this reporter) was the baggie full of gold fillings that a woman had in her garage worth $1,300.

Gold prices have risen more than $100 just in the last two weeks. As of this writing, the value for an ounce of gold was hovering around $1,780. “When the economy goes down, precious metal (prices) go up” says Jason, as does West Seattle Coins’ advertising campaign. Some customers in line were from Olympia and Pacific, WA and heard the shop’s ad on the radio, indicating they pay more than most for gold. This is true, according to Jason. “We pay 80% (of the daily value) compared to some places that only give 40-60%. What we lose in margin, we make up in volume.” He adds that they focus on being “fair to customers” looking at the total value of something (such as the gem in a piece of jewelry and the artist who created it) to give the customer the best price for their item.

West Seattle Blog… » Noticed the line in The Junction? 'New gold ...

There’s gold in them thar garages! And in drawers and old boxes, and … With gold prices at their highest point in years, people are cashing in at West Seattle Coins , leading to frequent lines outside their California/Oregon storefront.

The shop doesn’t open until 10 am, but the first customer in line was there at 8:30 this morning, and had brought a book to read while he waited. As of 9:30, four more people were in line and explained they came early in order to avoid the wait once inside the shop.

Manager Jason Dankworth explains that West Seattle Coins has a number system—once inside, the customer takes a number and waits his/her turn. Depending on what the people in front of them are offering for sale, the wait can be up to an hour. The line was twenty people deep at one point yesterday, and the shop kept their doors open until 6:30 to serve all the folks who had gotten numbers until closing time — 5:00.

Asked what people are selling, store employee Phil describes old jewelry and family coin collections. Jason adds that the most unique item they’ve seen recently is an 1895 Morgan Silver Dollar worth $35,000. Equally fascinating (at least to this reporter) was the baggie full of gold fillings that a woman had in her garage worth $1,300.

Gold prices have risen more than $100 just in the last two weeks. As of this writing, the value for an ounce of gold was hovering around $1,780. “When the economy goes down, precious metal (prices) go up” says Jason, as does West Seattle Coins’ advertising campaign. Some customers in line were from Olympia and Pacific, WA and heard the shop’s ad on the radio, indicating they pay more than most for gold. This is true, according to Jason. “We pay 80% (of the daily value) compared to some places that only give 40-60%. What we lose in margin, we make up in volume.” He adds that they focus on being “fair to customers” looking at the total value of something (such as the gem in a piece of jewelry and the artist who created it) to give the customer the best price for their item.

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