Krause is useless...

Sigh...yet another thread I wish I hadn't opened.

Tim, some advice -- think before you post.

 

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And so might you be.

 

edited

 

Personal attacks are not nice.

 

Not an attack, but a statement of fact. Look at the boy's history here.

 

And yet it would be helpful if we focused our praise or criticism on this very topic, not on older posts ...

Christian

 

Ebay buyers sure do not go by Kraus figures. I found one of my coins valued at $180. there and it went for $540. on Ebay.

 

Krause is showing all coins on Earth including the U.S Name me a better catalog in this respect, Sir..
Charles

 

The catalog is great for identification and a general idea of value. It enables all to compare like for like.

 

All catalogs have their pluses and flaws. For German language collectors I would recommend the Schön of course. Better than the KM in some regards, worse in others. Problem with such world catalogs is that they cover a giant amount of coins. Make a catalog that deals with, say, the issues from the last 50 years from one country only, and it is quite likely to be more accurate.

Christian

 

I agree with you Chris. The fact is also that some renown catalog founders deserve to be appreciated and not blindly criticized . Personally, I knew absolutely nothing about Numismatics. The book of Krause taught me almost everything I now own.
Charles

 

I concur...

 

The Krause Publications Standard Catalog of World Coins is NOT useless.

It's just a STARTING point when investigating world coins, and for people who need a quick-and-dirty reference when placing 'values' to a whole mess of world coins that they don't know much about, and don't have the needed time/patience to learn more about the market for them.

For some of us who delve deeply into a certain country's coins, we will of course find LOTS of errors in Krause.

It also doesn't help that the Editor never responds to correspondence (clarifications of info, requests for information, corrections, etc). At least he/she doesn't respond to mine. Maybe it takes them about 2 years to get through all of the mail they get?

 

Krause is not a very good guide to pricing moderns. It will get you to between about 20% and 300% of the price for older coins but most moderns are way too low and some are way too high.

They list things like the Japanese 10Y at a dime in AU and $150 in Unc. I can't believe this is realistic. I know some moderns must be Unc to have value but this is beyond the pale.

 

All world catalogs are useful up to a point,,,,,but if you are looking for a value on any coin you must do some research because prices can change day by day. I have bought a coin on ebay for $125 Dollars and I seen someone put the same coin in the same condition a PF-70 UC three years later and sold it for nearly a $1000 Dollars,,,, So I sold mine for a few dollars less then the one before and then the next few times this coin was listed on ebay it never went above $550......after that. Its all about what people will pay at that moment in time.. This maybe why these catalogs do not have a more up to date prices because they can change so much from day to day and don't maintain a steady price over a long enough period of time to justify a change in the world price guides.
U.S. coins do not fall in this catorgory because we have the Gray Sheet to work with....And these coins are traded much much more then any other coins in the world.

 

Yes... the tyranny of the Grey Sheet. (I wish we World Coin collectors had it sometimes for the world coins I collect and sell... except when I'm cherrypicking.)

 

Yes ...A Grey Sheet would be nice if you were selling the coin ...but as a buyer it can be a double edge sword because you may not be able to buy a coin at a good price because the sheet will tell the seller its worth more in grades above MS-60 so to say.

 

Yep. So this is my question: There must be another index (if that's what you call it?) somewhere in the world for another country's coins like the Grey Sheet is for US coins. I'd really like to know.

There's got to be one for other North American coins and European coins, right?

It's exactly THIS kind of information that I'm missing with my world coins. The other thing I'd like to have for some of my world coins is the average condition of a given coin, and just how "less common" a coin is in grades MS 63 - 70. This is something that US-coin collectors have got a decent hold on. I'm thinking of that Peace Dollar Chart that a CT member made.

Information on coins is so incredibly vital...

 

I am not aware of any kind of grey sheet type of price guide for world coins.....other then passed auction prices......maybe someone should try to put one together......it would be a hugh undertaking or if one or more persons would tackel a specific county and time period......Anyone interested in this Idea.

 

Forgot to mention that NGC has some records of world coins that have been sold in NGC holders on there site. and PCGS have values for there holdered coins but don't now if they are what these coins sold for at auction or what they put the value at.