Grey Sheet

And we all know that collectors as a whole will surely ignore a guide purporting to provide dealer wholesale pricing in favor of one containing higher retail pricing simply because of the spiffy articles.

You know, kind of like we used to buy Playboy for the articles too.

 

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It’s hard enough convincing a number of them that you can’t buy A+ Or beautifully toned coins for wholesale prices.

 

Indeed. With the understanding that things may have changed, I found it endlessly frustrating when folks would not only expect but demand to buy more esoteric or seldomly traded material at CDN, no less at bid. Perhaps even worse was the clowns who whip out the CDN as if it magically meant they could buy anything their heart desired at that level simply because they coughed up for a sample pack.

As much as I can and do respect the idea of having a retail collector guide, this will have absolutely no impact on the type of person a number of us have addressed.

 

John gave a good explanation of what I was talking about and provided a link to a free copy so his answer cancels my offer to look up the information.

 

You can also join the ANA (American Numismatic Association) and get their monthly magazine (The Numismatist) as part of your membership. In addition to great articles to read it includes CPG pricing for a segment of coins each month. The pricing is titled there as U.S. Coin Collector's Price Guide Values - supplied by The Coin Dealers Newsletter (CDN). Also called - Grey sheet.

 

That guide in the Numismatist is like PCGS's guide on steroids - way over valued. It's a 'retail buyer's guide', and while, yes, we (us non-dealers) are retail buyers, we also don't want to pay as much as possible for anything. And we don't want to be sadly disappointed when we try and sell a coin at the prices in the guide, and sit on it for years.

 

I'm not disputing that these are higher than "grey sheet" prices. I carried grey, blue and green sheets to all of the shows I attended over the past 50 years. I never expected to buy anything based on those prices. But... everything is negotiable. CDN bases their business on researching current price trends. The red books and blue books are based on last years pricing and were printed months before they actually reach the users hands. They are retail prices too. My point was that the makers of the grey sheet are providing up to date prices in a format that is available to ANA members. And this magazine and organization offers far more than the prices. Join the ANA and learn stuff. Use their lending library and learn more stuff.

 

Like he said!

 

or you can subscribe to CDN sheets, because that's exactly the sources (and more) that we use to determine coin values.

 

A big advantage of searching online for auction results is that most major auction sites have photos to go along with prices realized. Prices for a given grade can vary significantly and photos can usually tell why. Also, coins with CAC beans typically sell for higher prices than the median price.