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

Anyone in Maryland who buys secondhand gold, silver, platinum, palladium or iridium from the public needs a state license under Business Regulation Title 12, and that includes retail jewelers for those purchases and pawnbrokers, except some in counties that regulate pawnbrokers themselves. The license comes from the Maryland Department of Labor after a national and state criminal history check with fingerprints, and every employee who handles purchases goes through the same check. It is issued for one fixed address in Maryland (never a hotel room, vehicle or post office box), renews every 2 years, and lets the dealer buy only at that address, apart from estate and judicial sales and visits to an owner's home made on request after written notice to police. Only licensed dealers may advertise to buy, and counties and cities may not pass their own dealer rules.

When you sell, the dealer records your name, date of birth and driver's license number (or two other forms of ID plus a physical description), describes each item with its marks, its weight if paid by weight, whether it looks altered and what you were paid, and has you sign. You also sign a statement under the penalties of perjury that you own the item. The dealer sends that record to police electronically by noon of the next business day, keeps it at a Maryland location for 3 years, and holds the item unaltered in its county for at least 18 days after reporting it, or 30 days in Prince George's County. Police can approve a shorter hold for a specific item, or ask the dealer to keep a suspected stolen one 12 more days. No dealer may buy a precious metal object from a minor (12-213).

Coins fall outside the law entirely (12-102), as does metal a licensed dentist acquires for dental work. Maryland's statute sets no cash limit or check-only rule for these purchases.

Until mid-2025, Maryland exempted every bullion and coin purchase over 1,000 dollars. The 2025 Budget Reconciliation and Financing Act (Chapter 604) narrowed that to sales made at the Baltimore Convention Center beginning in fiscal year 2026. Chapter 729 of 2026 (HB 500), approved May 26, 2026, dropped the convention center requirement as of July 1, 2026, so any sale of refined precious metal or precious-metal coins priced over 1,000 dollars is again exempt. Jewelry and works of art made from bullion or coins never qualify, and everything else pays Maryland's 6% rate.

None of this applies when you sell. Sales tax is a cost for the buyer at retail, and selling your gold, silver or platinum to a dealer, a Baltimore coin shop or our mail-in program alike, is not a retail sale on your side.

Maryland income tax starts from your federal adjusted gross income, and its list of subtractions (Tax-General 10-207) has nothing for gold, silver or other precious metals. A gain on metal you sell is taxed at the state rates of 2% to 6.5% plus a county income tax of 2.25% to 3.30%. If your federal AGI is above 350,000 dollars, Maryland adds 2% on your net capital gain; the exceptions to that surcharge cover things like a primary home and retirement accounts, not precious metals (10-105).

Federally, the IRS taxes physical precious metals as collectibles: gains on metal held more than a year are capped at 28%, and metal held a year or less is taxed as ordinary income. Inherited metal generally takes its value on the date of death as its cost basis.

No Maryland statute treats gold or silver as legal tender. HB 1312 of 2026 would have authorized paying certain debts, taxes and fees in gold or silver specie, without requiring anyone to accept it. It passed the House of Delegates 132 to 0 and was amended in the Senate, but its last action came on April 10, 2026, and it did not become law. Either way, every buyer prices metal off the live spot market, not face value.