There is one question that tells you everything about a gold dealer, and it takes four seconds to ask.
"What will you buy this back for today?"
Not next year. Not if gold goes up. Today, right now, this exact coin.
The difference between that number and the price they are charging you is the spread. And the spread is the most honest measurement of what you are actually buying.
A tight spread means you bought a commodity with a real market.
A wide spread means you bought a story, and the dealer already knows the story will not survive resale.
Most people never ask. They ask about fees, about storage, about whether gold will go up. Then years later they discover the answer to the only question that mattered.