Back in the day when I was buying Morgans off of Ebay, I used the PCGS price guide and figured that anything I bought that was under 70% of listed price was doing OK. When I sold them, I did make a small profit. Now, a few years later, I bought a bag of silver coins that included some G-VG-F Barber dimes, quarters and halves as well as a couple of Seated dimes. The PCGS guide is over the actual sales price shown in Completed Auctions by a BUNCH! Do any of you use this guide? What is your "mental markdown" to what a decent price is? Thanks- Mike
My mental markdown is to not use it all - ever ! If you wish to use something for a price guide, use the realized auction prices on - Heritage
GDJMSP- Thanks for the link to Heritage, but they deal in such high end stuff that I didn't see any guides for the G-VF coins that I can afford. Did I miss a link, or is it just not what they do unless it is a super rare coin? Boy, I wish I hadn't looked at some of those coins. How can I live with this junk in my safe? Mike
I use the PCGS guide for CBH$1s but have noticed that the lower grades (G-XF) are somewhat low and everything after that is astronomically ^^^$$$ high. But it gives me an idea of the value of my Blue Collar Capped Bust Half (BCCBH) collection as my goal when I started was to buy coins which were $100 or less. Once back in 2004 I actually got an 1807 CBH for $65.OO in F-12ish condition. Check it out. It's a dooooozy... http://www.coincommunity.org/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=157 Ben out
Ummm, bad news Bonedigger. You seem to have lost your focus since there is nothing "blue collar" about that collection! You have some wonderful coins in there, and if I ever get enough money to go for a single set, I will follow in your footsteps. Thanks for the link- Mike
I use www.numismedia.com, they tend to run pretty accurate, at least in my opinion. PCGS is self promoting to give the illusion that their coins are worth more than others.
Thanks for the kind words, but you'd be surprised. The MOST I paid for any coin in it (besides the 1815/2) was $275.00. The 1815 was a little $2500 more... Ben
The best way to use the Heritage site is to not use their guide - look for specific coins instead. Click on the Auction Results Archive link. Then choose the coin type you wish to look up like Barber Dimes; then in the dialogue box under where it says - optional keywords - type in a date like 1897. That will bring up several pages of closed auctions for 1897 Barber dimes. You will have scroll thru the listings, but you will find coins in all grades including G and VF. You can do the same thing for any coin. Yes it requires a little extra effort to go thru this process. But if you do, then you will end up with accurate info. That makes it worth the effort.
Interesting - I have never tried that for the lower grades. And I already know how nice your collection is. Thanks for the consult. Plus you are one of the reasons I have a few of these. So far the only CBH in my collection that is over $100 is the 1829. Then again I do not plan on going for an overton collection, maybe just a redbook collection. Who knows. I use Heritage, with dealers and ebay to usually determine a price. I have found with heritage some of the common date coins that I collect they do not sell many in the lower grades - then they are usually problem coins. So it does take some work.
GDJMSP- Thanks! I didn't ever go into the Heritage site deeply enough. The eye-candy is so appealing and so far out of reach that I was just gazing longingly then signing off. The whole wife-child-house-car-heat-food-clothes issue kept me from getting too interested. I'll go dig in. Thanks for the knowledge! Mike
Only thing is you have to sign in to do that, or register, and you got to be 18 years of age to do so. Age discremetcy (sp?) I tell ya! Lol, j/k. Still a good site to go by, neat looking at the stuff they have, like a 09 S VDB in MS 66 RD. Ah man, that thing made my jaw drop! They have some nice, pricey things on there. Phoenix
The PCGS price guide is extremely high on some items an dvery conservative on other items. I like to use realized auction results, like Doug said.
Again PCGS is selling their service . Most proof pieces are not worth more just because they put it in print.Uncirculated are just bullion in silver and gold.
