Hi to all I Have never bought coins to collect before, but I would like to start collecting Morgan Silver Dollars. I did a Google search and found Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS). If I was to buy coins on E-Bay would the PCGS price sheet be close to what I should except to pay ? Thanks
rml: Hopefully less. PCGS's prices are very high. For current retail prices perhaps look at Coin World's monthly trends listings. The magazine is available by subscription or on many newsstands. Good luck.
Ive bought coin world magazine recently, and just my opinion: I dont think coin world prices differ drastically from PCGS. Ive bought slabbed morgans on ebay at prices within the range what PCGS lists them at. Silver is very cheap compared to gold, so Morgan coin collecting is an investment in coins, not bullion. You will pay the price commensurate to the grade. Whereas these guys on this website have told me the Liberty head gold coins in common dates are a bullion investment; their prices will follow closely to the gold price. I guess its common sense: If collector prices were set on the gold coins, they would be unaffordable to the average collector. And if Bullion prices were assigned to the Morgans, the Morgans would be trading too cheap. Seems to be the rule of thumb with most collectibles: coins; watches; stamps: the collectors want to buy at prices under the book prices. PCGS is book pricing. Actual street pricing you will find in the greysheets. Every dealer at the coin shows has the latest greysheet and buys and sells based on what the greysheet says. The greysheet does not list all 70 grades, so theres a little interpretation of price in-between some grades. If you're worried about prices, stick to PCGS slabs; NGC slabs, and ANAC slabs. Dont buy loose coins if you're worried about value and price.
Greetings and Welcome to the group. As far as the PCGS price guide, I think you can do better than that if your in the buying mode. Take Care Ben
The best price guides are ended online auctions at such places as Ebay/Heritage/Teletrade. They are not always right but they are the best there is. Speedy
Think PCGS price list the last time I looked had the 2006w 69 grade silver eagle out of the anniversary for $150. I bought one for $90.They have listed the reverse proof in a 70 grade at $1500. I have seen them sell regular on EBay for $900 to $1,000 and sometimes a little less. Based on this limited sample one would have to say about 60 percent. One thing you might want to do is keep tabs on a few coins that you may have an interested in and See what they sell for . This was suggested to me by some coin talk members and I think it is a very good idea. If you wish, you can compare what a coin sells for and what it list for on your favorite coin price guide. They may give you some ideas on what real life prices should be. think the best advice I was given was not to get into a hurry and watch for awhile. Eventually you will find the coin you want and the price you are willing to pay. Just this humble newbie opion
Welcome to the forum! You may want to consider purchasing a Red Book pricing guide from your local bookstore. PCGS prices tend to run at the extreme end of the pricing spectrum. Also, until you learn more about the hobby, stick to PCGS, NGC, ANACS, and ICG. Always remember that all coins in the slabs are not the same, even if the grade is the same.
I hate to bring up a old thread, well I guess not that old... Have any of you looked at "Coin Values Mag"??? Its one of the only ones that I've seen that list Moderns and other coins in the Higher grades like MS69 , MS70 and PF69 and PF70... Any thoughts on this one??? I have a subscription to most of the Coin mags and I'm just trying to see which one might be the most accurate... If I get'em, I might as well use them... Also, what about the CDN???? I just subscribed to it.... I subscribe to so many magazines as I love to read... Its cheap entertainment and I can sometimes learn good stuff...
If you are buying from eBay (or anytime you have internet access), the best "price guide" I know of is Heritage http://coins.ha.com/default.php. You can join for free and you might even find your coins there. Every once in a while you can get some bargains. However, their auction archives are the best price guide I know. That lists exactly what the coin sold for. All of the coins are certified (PCGS, NGC, ANACS & ICG only) so you know they are resonably accurately graded. It is updated (i.e. new sales added) twice per week. You can even differientate the different TPG's if you want. Most of their coins run a little on the high side, but not much. I try to buy at or below the lower (not necessarily the lowest) prices The only problem you might have is if you are looking for the lower grades or cheaper coins. They also have a price guide. It is as good as any others I have seen, but it is cuimbersome. I prefer to see just what sold at what price. Since most of what I buy is NGC, I pick only the prices for NGC coins. Nothing else out ther I know of enables me to do this. Incidentally, most of their pictures are much better than I have seen anywhere else.
Welcome to this place of information. By the way have you tried to find out if there are any coin shows in your area? Coin stores or stores that sell coins? Try Walmart web site for a copy of the Red Book but you may want to wait a while for the latest edition that is scheduled to come out soon. Try going to Google or Yahoo and typing in coin shows and your state. You may want to go to a coin show if for nothing else to get an idea of what is out there, prices where you don't have to pay for postage and coins that you can actually see. The coin shows around here usually have a table of coin magazines free for advertisement purposes so if your lucky you too may find a coin show like that.
hi and welcome..if you are delving deep into morgans, i would suggest david bowers buyers guide(as well as other books)...my own formula for determining the amount i will pay for a given coin is to use both auction records (as listed above in the posts) as well as dealer price listings...compare coin to coin as the same date and mint as well as grade of coin by using the photos availbale. there can certainly be a wide discrepancy of quality for 2 coins of the same grade (and grading company). i wil also check price performance over the past 15 yrs to see where the range for the coin has been...only my own method tho....good luck in your collecting!!!
I'd steer clear of purchasing any coins off eBay. Aside from all the unscrupulous dealers, I find the prices to be about 10-20% over fair market value. You should get better prices from a local dealer or at shows. You'll also be much happier with your purchases, when you see what your buying in person there are no surprises. If there are no dealers or shows in your area, then I'd recommend purchasing from an established online coin dealer. They are almost always cheaper then eBay and have a return policy.
