Where to Sell (or Buy) Gold, Silver & Platinum in Connecticut

Under Conn. Gen. Stat. 21-100, any business that buys gold, silver, platinum ware, watches, jewelry, precious stones, bullion or coins needs a precious metals or stones dealer license from the chief of police in its town (or the state Commissioner of Emergency Services and Public Protection where there is no local police department). A felony conviction bars a license, and dealing without one is a class D felony. The dealer must keep a place of business with a Connecticut street address.

You show ID with your photograph, your address if it is on the ID, and an identifying number such as your date of birth. A minor can sell only with a parent or guardian present. The dealer records a description of each piece, with a digital photo of anything that has no serial number or marks, plus your name, address, ID, a general description of you and the date and hour, keeps those records at least two years and must send the police chief a sworn weekly statement of purchases on request. You get a receipt showing what was recorded and the amount paid.

Payment must be by check or money order; a dealer who pays cash commits a class A misdemeanor and may not advertise cash payment. The one exception is a dealer who is also licensed as a pawnbroker in its town, which may pay the way Connecticut's pawnbroker law allows (Conn. Gen. Stat. 21-100(i)). Everything except bullion and coins is then held at least 10 days after the purchase before the dealer can sell it, and police cannot require a longer hold.

Connecticut charges 6.35% with no local add-on. Conn. Gen. Stat. 12-412(45) exempts rare or antique coins, gold or silver bullion and gold or silver legal tender traded for its metal value, but not when the bullion or legal tender in the sale totals less than one thousand dollars. A 2025 budget law (Public Act 25-168) removes that floor and adds palladium bullion and platinum starting July 1, 2027, with gold and silver bullion needing at least 90% purity. Jewelry stays taxable, at 7.75% on the whole price for a piece over five thousand dollars.

Sales tax is a buyer's cost. You pay no Connecticut sales tax when you sell your gold, silver or platinum, to a local shop.

Connecticut starts from your federal adjusted gross income, so a gain on gold, silver or platinum you sell flows onto your state return and is taxed at the regular rates of 2% to 6.99% (Conn. Gen. Stat. 12-700 and 12-701). The state's list of income modifications has no subtraction for precious metals.

Federal rules still apply: the IRS taxes physical precious metals as collectibles, with gains on metal held over a year capped at 28% and gains on metal held a year or less taxed as ordinary income. Inherited metal generally uses its date-of-death value as cost basis. We are not tax advisers, so check with yours before you file.

A 2025 bill introduced to recognize gold and silver as legal tender in Connecticut cleared the finance committee but never passed; the budget that year only created a working group to monitor precious metals markets. That has no effect on selling: buyers price your coins and bars off the live metal market, not face value.