I know that coins typically sell for lower that the redbook listing. What do most use for up to the minute for valuation, Grey and Blue sheet?
Realized auctions from Heritage, Greatcollections etc. I personally don't normally use ebay due to the bidots but sometimes ebay
From you thread on starting a collection of classic commems and if you're looking for pricing info on those, this should be your #1 resource. http://coins.ha.com/heritage-auctio...es-realized.s?ic=Worth-AuctionArchives-071713
Greysheet is the common retail price sheet (blue sheet is wholesale) that most people go buy. If you don't have access to a greysheet, then use realized auction prices like KoinJester suggested.
I thought Greysheet was the "normal" pricing, and bluesheet was for slabs? I never really see dealers ever using bluesheets. I see them working the buy versus sell prices on the greysheet unless they have better professional knowledge of the market. For example, the PennyLady might look at the greysheet, but she probably knows more about the prices of coins she specializes in than the greysheet authors.
What's the point of a response like this? If something is wrong, point it out and then provide the correct info. Saying "No." is less than worthless.
Use realized sales for the most accurate pricing data. In my opinion, the Greysheet has not made an effort to fully keep up with the changes in price within the market while the Bluesheet, again in my opinion, is nothing more than a publication to tell folks what is the least amount an overgraded coin in a TPG slab should fetch. If you want nice coins, you do not want the Bluesheet as your buying guide. Again, use realized prices and compare the coins within those realized sales.
While you are right in that a more detailed response was called for, I've other issues to attend to on this fine Easter afternoon and had every intention, if necessary, of better explaining when time permitted. My sincerest apologies to you, sir, for such a "less than worthless" response, even though , at that very moment, it was only intended to help the OP whereas yours, which contributes nothing to the subject, seemingly exists for the sole purpose of complaining. The below link (3rd paragraph) explains the intended differences between the two without going into personal opinions or observations. http://www.greysheet.com/cdn/blueuse.asp
Pcgs coinfacts has links to auction prices that are very helpful. Just remember to disregard their price and focus only on coin prices on real coins that change hands. Also for unusual coins heritage auction archives are fantastic.
I've only been back into the coin game a few months and I've come to realize there is no actual price guide for everything. Grey sheet is a good reference for some coins. Auction prices are good but you will see such spreads in identical grades/years based upon eye appeal that I all boils down to what you feel comfortable paying. Consider something as basic as an 1883CC Morgan in MS63. You will see auction prices from $150 to $400 plus. PCGS price guide has it at $230. Grey sheet $210/225. Throw a CAC sticker on a slab and that creates an entirely new price variable. Right now I looking to pick up a coin that is more expensive than the grey sheet by about 25%. It is in the high range of realized auction prices but it's slabbed PCGS/CAC which usually seem command a bit more. But the eye appeal is 10x that of any other coin of it's grade/year. Will I get out of it what I'm looking to pay? Not likely anytime soon. But the eye appeal may just be worth it to me. Buy the coin, not the slab. Time will tell if I pull the trigger.
Thanks for the replies. I totally forgot about Heritage. Great tip, thanks! Although, you have to take into account the buyers premium right? I think 18%
The price shown in the historical search includes BP. But if you are bidding on an item, then yes, you better add but it will show you total including BP before you bid I think.
Keep in mind these sheets only offer a ballpark figure and the price on any individual coin can vary greatly from such prices, depending on its eye appeal, which you can really only judge by seeing the coin first hand (or at least a very good picture of the specific coin in question).
You know, you brought up a good point. I've read that different types of lighting can affect what grade a coin appears to have. I'm sure it could be used to affect eye appeal as well. that is not too cool for internet purchases... Anyone have any thoughts about this?
If it's a coin where the appearance can have a significant impact on value, I wouldn't even think about buying it unless I saw it in person. It's so easy to manipulate the image otherwise to make it look better than it really is. If it's a low value coin or a recent coin in original packaging, no big deal; those I buy online all the time, but if we're talking serious value don't touch it if you can't see it first hand*! Seems an obvious thing to say but it bears saying. (*If it's an online auction from a reputable auctioneer you're probably safe from image manipulation, but I'm talking like eBay or some other such online site. Still even then, if you're shelling out a significant amount of money, I'd still say see it in person first.)
What's serious value ? To you it might be $1000 or more, to me it might be $100 or more, to somebody else it might be over $10,000 - $100,000 even. As for image manipulation, yeah you can bet it happens. But what few consider is that pretty much everyone, even the most trusted, take pictures that show the coin in its best light, flattering pictures in other words. So does the coin in that picture really look like that ? Yeah, it does, but typically only when you view it with the light just right and from a certain angle. From other angles or other types of lighting you'd swear it was a different coin entirely. This is why it is important to understand the meaning between the terms "sight seen" and "sight unseen". It's pretty simple, if there is no picture at all or if you look at a picture of a coin - that coin is sight unseen, no exceptions. Slabbed or raw, it's sight unseen. If you look at a coin in hand - that coin is sight seen. That is where the difference between the Greysheet and the Bluesheet come in. The Greysheet prices only apply to "sight seen" coins. The Bluesheet only applies to "sight unseen" coins. And the prices listed in the Bluesheet are a good bit lower than the prices listed in the Greysheet for this very reason. Any time that you cannot see the given coin in hand, slabbed or raw, and you buy it - you are talking a risk. Often a big risk. That is why the prices listed in the Bluesheet are so much lower - to help offset that risk. Professionals, the people who use the Grey & Bluesheets, dealers in other words, have been burned way too many times by trusting a picture or the grade on a slab (any slab) to buy coins to pay full wholesale Ask for a coin sight unseen. They know what I have explained above is 100% true. It doesn't matter if it's a PCGS slab, and NGC slab, or one with or without a CAC sticker - they know better than to trust what it says on the slab. They know they have to see the coin in hand - sight seen - if they are going to pay Ask. So ask yourselves, should you as a collector be any different than what the professionals are ? It doesn't matter how much you know, or think you know. If you can't see the coin in hand, you may as well not know anything.
