After working on some sets of lower grade (G to F) coins I have noticed that greysheet pricing is not consistent. Particularly on Bust halves and also large cents from the mid 1820's and up decent coins can be found with some searching in the range of greysheet prices. When you get into the teens and earlier however you generally can not get close to greysheet. I realize it is because these are harder to find but wonder why CDN doesn't adjust these prices? Every dealer seems to use the greysheet but it feels like some of the more stagnant series and grade they just leave the prices the same forever? Lack
There are many specialized areas where the Greysheet does not mirror reality. Some of these areas the prices are too high, but in more areas the prices are too low. I do not know why the Greysheet does not better reflect reality, but I do not think those who publish the Greysheet are lacking sufficient data.
I think this, for lack of a better word I will call it an anomaly, is easily understood. But you first have to understand what the Grey Sheet represents, where the prices listed in the Grey Sheet come from, the caveat that goes along with those prices, and what I call the human factor. The Grey Sheet does not represent completed deals (actual completed sales), it represents potential deals. In other words a sale that might happen, but only if the two parties involved can actually agree on the price. There are 2 prices listed in the Grey Sheet - the Bid and the Ask. The people who publish the Grey Sheet get those numbers by examining the various dealer networks. The find the highest Bid they can find for a given coin in a given grade - all other current bids from other dealers are lower than that . And they find the lowest Ask for that same given coin in that same given grade - all other current asks by other dealers are higher than that. Those 2 numbers are what goes into the Grey Sheet. So just for an example let's say dealer A represents the Bid at $250, and dealer B represents the Ask at $275. So before a sale can actually be completed one of those 2 guys has to give in. Dealer A has to raise his price, or dealer B has to drop his price. If neither is will to do that then nothing happens. And the following week, if nobody raises his Ask or Bid, then the listed Grey Sheet numbers remain the same. The caveat that goes along with the listed prices is this - the coin in question can be raw or slabbed, but it has to be graded by acceptable grading standards. That is what presents us with the human factor. It's quite simple, any dealer (dealer A) will look at a coin, raw or slabbed, and he will agree or disagree with the assigned grade. If he disagrees, meaning he thinks the coin is over-graded, then the deal is over before it ever gets started. If he agrees he will then decide if the coin is low for the grade, good for the grade, or high for the grade. The decision he arrives at is what causes him to hold or raise his price to what dealer B is currently asking. If the two dealers agree on a number then the deal happens. If they don't then nothing happens. So simply put the human factor is agreeing or disagreeing with an assigned grade. And it doesn't matter if that grade was assigned by a TPG (a slabbed coin) or an individual (the other dealer) - he doesn't care. The only thing he cares about is if he agrees or not.
GDJMSP, thank you for the look inside the sausage factory! Who knew what difference a single deal could make.
I've seen some big jumps in greysheet this year, just fyi. Draped bust dollars and flying eagles have taken significant jumps so far this year. I remember about half a dozen years ago when draped bust half dimes, dimes, and quarters all essentially doubled in bid over a matter of like 2 months. Seated dollars followed suit later in the year. I used to be able to get an AU seated dollar for $350. Now they're $750 minimum!
Thanks for the write up about he greysheet pricing. I've only bought it once and just a few days ago was looking at it and thinking about their pricing. After buying a few coins wanted to compare what I bought to greysheet prices. You made it a lot clearer to understand.
