Hi I'm new here! What is the best way to figure out an estimated market value for a US coin? The redbook is one source, however a local dealer told me that people don't use it so much any more... too many know about the greysheet and it is easily obtainable, and prices fall much closer to that. Is that so? Also, where is a good place to sell? feebay isn't so attractive as at least 10% will go to fees and shipping. With craigslist, I've heard horror stories of people showing up and stealing possessions. Where do you (safely) sell your coins? btw, the coins I'm valuing: I picked up a lot of capped bust half dollars all ICG graded/sealed, all F-XF. Several are marked "cleaned" or "scratched", although all of them look quite good. I might get around to getting photos of them uploaded to "whats it worth" to see what cointalk thinks of them. I haven't decided what I'll keep and what I'll sell yet, I like the whole collection Thanks for your input!
The best way is to research recent, previous auction sales on ebay, heritage, etc.. See what people are willing to pay. That shows how many people are actively looking for it and what they were willing to bid it up to. Obviously, the sale info may be less valuable, the farther back in time you go as bullion prices have increased. Also go to shows and see what you can buy stuff for. That's always been the cheapest route for me. Other than the gas to get there, that's where the good deals are IMO. Also, no shipping. Pretty much everybody has a CDN greysheet at the shows. They do go by the Bid/Asks listed. Buy one for $4 and check it out for yourself. They come out weekly. I just bought one myself, even though I really don't care for them. Other than Morgans, Peace dollars, maybe Merc dimes and mint sets, it's a very generic guide. If you want to look up the value of a AU-58 1849-O gold dollar, you can't. You can get a generic average value of a gold dollar Type 1. That's it. This plays out for almost all coins you'd want to look up and I don't know how they can even use the guide in most instances. I'm sorry but there's a huge difference between simply "motto and no motto" within types. A generic guide doesn't tell you anything for even moderately rare types that demand a premium.
