Coin Values Question

What publication, book or price guide should I be using as a reference when buying/pricing coins? What do the dealers and vendors at coin shows use? There's a lot of price guides and they don't seem to be very consistent. I'm looking for the hobby standard. If it exists. Thanks!!

 

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The usual is the grey sheet, showing bid/ask prices.
Also the most accurate and timely.

 

If you have a subscription to Coin World, you automatically have access to their online version of Coin Values (roughly the same as the print version).

But like Frank said, the grey sheet is more accurate and more up-to-date.

 

i think the redbook/bluebook is good for a quick reference.

 

Coin World's prices give you a good reading on retail.
Greysheet prices give you a good reading on wholesale.
A free source is eBay's completed auctions.

 

Coin World and Greysheet will give you a very good idea of the going price. If you look at Redbooks for several years [say, 2007, 05, 03 and 01], that will give you a good idea of where the prices have been and how they related to the prices for similar coins in the past. Then check out a few websites. Put all of that together and you'll start getting a feel for what the coin will cost and whether it is worth it or not compared to other coins you can buy and to where the price has been in the past. Greysheet might be the "right" price, but that doesn't necessarily make it the "correct" price for you.

It sound's complex but it's fairly relaxing and enjoyable.

 

I go to Ebay completed listings for specific coins, you get an accurate picture of what prices people are actually willing to pay for a given coin.

 

I should mention that I don't like Ebay. Too many people are willing to overpay. There are exceptions, but more often than not I can find better prices and better coins on some legitimate websites.

 

Greysheet as others have mentioned. I like to look at past auctions on heritage. I took some coins to a dealer that he didn't know about the other day, and I was suprised that he actually looked at e-bay for reference.

 

True but high end coins can be a bargain there if you look hard.

 

Sometimes, but it isn't a reliable source of pricing information in my opinion, which was the original question.

 

I don't think eBay is much of a guide at all, for the following reasons:

1) as stated, people overpay in the panic of bidding

2) quality of photos and reputation of seller can affect how people bid, both of which have nothing to do with the coin itself

3) shill bidders and other artifices which take place in the eBay environment

 

This can be useful, I often look at these, but you have to look carefully at the list of past winning bids. For example if the prices seem to be all over the place for that grade (assuming all sales have occurred within the last year or so), it is likely because some are cleaned, corroded, damaged, etc. In other words you have to filter out whatever condition does not apply, leaving you with perhaps a fairly short list from which to generate an average.

 

The best place to find accurate prices is to canvas where you want to sell your item!

If you think you'll sell on e-bay, then check recent e-bay prices. If you want to sell it at a local coin show, you have to go early and find out what other coins like yours are selling for. If it's Heritage, so be it. If it's your local coin club, you'll need to chat up some people.

I live in a rural area and squash costs a lot more at the "Farmer's Market" in town than it does if I stop somewhere along a country road and buy it.

 

After selling a few thousand coins on Ebay the panic buying that was mentioned here is not evident to me, once in a while I do sell get a price that acually makes me feel quilty so I drop an extra coin in the package. More often on a bad nite a coin will not fetch what it is worth in fact I would say that some were gifts to the buyer and would have rather given them away to friends. Overall it seems that rare years in certain denominations actually fetch what the book says. Also seems that lower end and common date coins are sometimes overpaid for. I have found that completed listings are a more reliable guide to what you can expect.

 

I don't have/need access to the 'grey sheet' so I guess the RedBook suits my needs pretty well. I get one every other year.

Ben

 

Dealers and vendors use Greysheet a lot. Of course this doesn't mean you should expect to buy coins at ask or bid. It's a dealer newsletter after all.

I carry Greysheet and a copy of Coin Prices (I like Coin Prices because it includes mintages). If at a show I realize that a dealer has to make money. I try to meet them between retail and ask or better.

One of my local dealers has radically changed and is offering most of his coins at Greysheet bid.

Of course no magazine/publication is perfect and none are any good without some idea as to grading coins.

Consider an ANA grading guide as well if you don't already own one.

 

Krause, but only use it as a rough guide.

 

Since the input into the Grey Sheet publications is primarily from Coin Dealers, the Publication is somewhat biased and does not reflect true Coin Market values or prices! Coin Dealers primarily use the Bid/Ask prices when buying, selling and/or trading between themselves (business with other Coin Dealers) but purchase from the public using the Bid price and then they sell to the public using Coin Values issued by Coin World or using other publications.


Frank

 

The prices that are paid by people not useing a graysheet and most pay way to much. The idea is to buy below bid even the graysheet is higher then what dealers will pay