Is Blue Book accurate for what most dealers will pay?

Completed sales on Ebay and auction prices on Heritage will give someone a good idea.

If you are like most collectors, 80% of your value will be in 20% (or less) of your coins. It will be pretty easy for any heir (don't leave us too soon, Game3 !! ) to go to an LCS or lookup prices on the internet for your most valuable pieces.

For sure, a spreadsheet with prices paid -- maybe even recent values -- is helpful. I presume if you bought gold and silver coins at $1,800 and $25, respectively, and in 50 years the prices is 5x higher that your heirs will know that the price has moved a wee bit over the decades.

 

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I've had a couple of dealers refuse to give me an old greysheet. I think they want to keep sellers at a disadvantage as much as possible. But, as someone noted, you can buy a single copy for $35. I did that to inventory and price my collection so I know when I'm being given a reasonable offer Saves a lot of time if you can figure out right away if you're being "low-balled."

 

@Gam3rBlake - If you will PM your mailing address, I will send you a Greysheet that is a couple of months old. Wholesale pricing should still be good for your purposes. You should do a little research to find out what those prices actually represent and what they do not.

As far as record-keeping goes, not only do I demand and keep receipts, I also keep an Excel spreadsheet (below) for each collection that records what and when I paid, who I bought it from, and various sources of pricing comparisons on the date I purchased it.

The "Self/Dealer/3rd Party" columns are for grades.

"Attr" is for die marriage attribution where that is applicable.

"Acquired Date" column is retail pricing from various common sources of such information, the ones listed plus any others that I can find.

The beauty of an Excel spreadsheet is that you can make it contain and arrange it in any way you prefer. Mine has evolved since it was created two years ago.

 

A dealer is in business to make money. I use the Blue Book solely as a low price indicator before I decide to purchase, especially from a dealer. Great post, good luck

 

Something not mentioned, is that Red and Blue book prices are significantly dated.

The pricing surveys for the 2021 book, released in April 2020 were from Q4 2019 (Oct-Dec).

A single issue of the greysheet is $35 - The Greysheet

 

I like ngccoin.com, but even there we find $793 to $1750 (their latest estimate). When selling, start at the top and bargain down, when buying, start at the bottom and bargain up.

 

But the $793 was like 8 years ago.

 

Really?? You can send me one?

I thought only dealers could buy them.

 

Anybody can buy them. What the new owners did was kill off the cheap single copy sales. They used to sell single copies for less than 1/12th of the yearly price to get people hooked. It's also licensed and not sold so it's technically not allowed to sell older copies.

 

I'm not offering to sell. Nothing says I can't give him one of my old copies which is what I am offering. I subscribe to it and also CDN's CAC retail guide.

I have seen guys in my local coin club offer Greysheets for sale.

So, @Gam3rBlake , if you want one, PM your mailing address.

 

CDn maintains that they have licensed the information to you, not sold it and so the doctrine of first sales does not apply. I'm not a lawyer and I have no opinion as to this matter.

Legal advise on the IInterne is worth what you paid for it.

 

From my experience, Blue Book values are always too low, by a lot.

 

Is that for all coins or only some?

Blue Book says my 1799 Draped Bust Dollar in F-12 condition is worth $1200.

Do you think that's too low?

 

The 1799 dollar will bring a premium. Nice original condition, attractive and certified by a major TPG. Put it away and forget about it. No where but up on that one.

 

I dont plan on selling it anytime soon.

But it's one of my coins where I want to put a value on it in my documentation so that I don't just have a blank spot there. :/

 

January Greysheet is $1200. It should easily bring $150 more. You did not overpay at $1460. Send it to GC when/if you want to sell it, not to a dealer.

 

Awesome thanks! I guess I’ll just put $1300 for “value”. Then as I mentioned to marcovan I can put 2/21 to show that $1300 is what I value it as of 2/21.

 

You can search Greysheet [or grey sheet] on eBay under coins and Paper Money/ Publications and Supplies and maybe find a slightly older one for less than $35.

 

I usually look at recent auction prices to come up with a value (for slabbed coins). If I want to sell it I assume I'll get something near that value minus commission and orher costs. All in all about 15% less than the estimated value. If it's a coin that rarely comes up for auction I assume I may do better.