I like to value my coin collection each year using the Red and Blue Books. However, I noticed this year that the Red Book value of several of my oldest large cents is way higher than the NumisMedia website and a couple more. What would be the reason for this?
I don't know the answer to your specific situation. All I can tell you is that back in 2019 when I decided to collect all the Braided Hair Half Cents (1849-1857) in AU, the values in the 2019 Red Book for this series were about two to three times higher than actual prices. I just assumed some kind of editing error happened.
It's because of who the Red Book uses as their source for prices. And if you look carefully in the beginning of the book, they tell you who their sources are. Every price guide in existence suffers from the exact same problem - they are ALL too high - every single one, including the Grey Sheet. In order to find realistic and accurate prices for any coin you have two choices. Gain access to the electronic dealer market, which is the most accurate but can change in a daily basis. Or, look up realized auctions prices from all the auction houses - and no that does not include ebay. But the best that realized auction prices can give you is a price range for any given coin in any given grade. But because that price range can and often does vary by as much as 100%, (meaning it doubles) for any given coin, you throw out the lows and the highs and average the rest to get an approximate value.
And, as I understand it, Red Book values are out of date by the time the book is released. The publishers make a guess about what they THINK the values will be.
Look your coin up on Heritage Auctions and take a little off if it's raw. There's your retail value, provided it's graded right. The Red Book is good for relative values, it has those pretty much right. For that, it's a pretty good guide. On the grading part, don't ever forget the market intangibles. Arrive at a number, let it fly.
I was looking up the value of a bust half, using a 2002 Red Book and a coin dealer friend of mine at the time looked it up in his 2022 Red Book and it was the same!
