Firstly let me talk about value. A few days ago, I asked one of the world’s leading auction houses. They offered a free valuation service. They declined to value it, saying they don’t auction money items like bitcoin due to the traditional buyer and seller premiums.
Historically a number of sales are “purported” to have taken place through this forum and others, and on eBay, but you should not use those as a guide since:
1) The bitcoin price has tripled in the last 3 months.
2) The rarity of un-peeled Casascius has increased, as many were peeled as the price rose.
3) Any sales may have been to shills, or even completely fake.
4) Both buyer and seller had a “trust” issue. Most people would not buy or sell online, meaning prices do not reflect a true market value.
Based on sales which purportedly happened, i think an online sale in this or similar forums might fetch between 1.3 BTC and 3 BTC. I think it would go for much much more if auctioned in a way which was more trust-worthy for the buyers. Some eBay listings a couple of years ago were asking in excess of $200k. That would have been the equivalent of 10 to 20 BTC, but there is no proof that those sales really happened. I am not sure about whether eBay even accepts fully loaded listings.
I would like to see a major auction house sale happen, but see the second paragraph above.
Given the trust issue, I would try to sell via a specialised coin auction house who will give reassurance to buyers. Worst case scenario is that you end up with less than 1 BTC due to the auction house fees, but there is an extremely good chance that you will get much more. The downside risk is worth the upside potential in my view. You might well see a price above $1 million.
Another way to avoid trust issues is to sell in person face to face, by advertising locally. The trouble with that is the price. The places you would advertise typically have second-hand bargain items at low prices. What are the chances of a multi-millionaire bitcoin enthousiast spotting your ad?
The safest way to get value is to peel it and redeem the BTC, but that seems a shame, given the rarity.
This is shit advice