It is quite obvious that the book isn't updated and is quite out of date regarding gold.. Is there any way to see what the price of gold was when the book was written? So that I might have a guideline on what the current prices of coins are.. Dito with silver! Thanks
The problem with red book pricing is not so much that it is outdated, but where the values come from. If you take a few minutes and look this up online, you will see what I mean.
Welcome to the age of information! As other members have stated - the book is outdated before it's even published. IF you have a key date gold coin - the redbook will show you a HUGE jump in price. If it's common us gold, then tact 15% onto melt. DONE
No. Gold and Silver fluctuates with the precious metals market daily. Also, what Books stated above, #6, is very accurate. The source of those prices plays a big part in their reliability.
They really shouldn't even put prices in the Red Book. But saving that, put it in bold letters right on the cover - Don't Pay Any Attention To The Prices In This Book !
If you look near the back of the red book there is a chart with silver and gold spot prices and what the coins would be worth at that price, the book also tells you what each coin is made out and the percentage of a troy ounce that it weighs. so you can check the spot price of the metal and figure it out.
"Back in the Day" I would take 50% of Red Book to guestimate what a Dealer would offer for my coins...it was surprisingly accurate!
A couple of things that annoy me about the Redbook: 1. The title is misleading. What I mean by that, is the 2014 edition is already out. Since most people seem to agree that it is outdated before it's even published, wouldn't it be more accurate to change the title of the book selling in 2013 to the 2012 Redbook? 2. They don't update all of their prices every year. When you buy a new book, you'd expect updated prices that reflect the then current prices, from whatever source they're getting them from. Sadly, that isn't the case, which makes #1 almost irrelevant since the numbers would be the same either way.
If you wanted to buy gold or silver, right now, would you care what the prices were a year ago ? No, because the prices from a year ago are outdated. The price of gold and silver changes by the minute, or less. So no book of any kind can have anything in it BUT outdated prices.
No. It has nothing to do with the coins or their composition. The prices listed in the guide section of Red Book are outdated by as much as 6 months prior to the edition being published. If you want accurate pricing for the bullion precious metals, then you need to follow the market trading. http://www.kitco.com/market/ A lot more accurate than Red Book.
Good grief! easj pointed out that in the back of the Red Book there is a chart where you can look up the bullion value of your silver and gold coins based on the current spot price of silver and gold. That information does not go out of date. Granted, the current spot prices might fall outside the ranges in the chart but if you can do simple math a simple calculation will give you the current melt value of your coins.
I can simply calculate the melt value without using any outdated chart in Red Book. It's called knowing the bullion content of the coin and multiply that by the spot price and the answer is the bullion value of the coin. Example: 90% silver dollars have .77344 ounces of silver. Current spot is $28.65, which gives your Morgans and Peace dollars a melt value of $22.16.
This is my last word on this subject because I don't want to get into a flame war over such a trivial matter. How in the world does the information in the chart become "outdated"?
then they can close down right after that and i can start my own book. I will call it the green book for obvious reasons