I just bought some walking liberty halves. I paid 5 bucks a pop for them. most are VG with a few in better gradesbut none over XF. here is my question. For most of the later dates the red book says $5, coins magazine says$7 and numismaster says $6. Is there a place you can go to get the real current market price or do you average everybody out and hope you don't overpay?
For the stuff you're buying, consider anything around spot to be a good price. Most of the walkers after 1934 are only worth spot unless they're VF or much better. Of course, the same goes for Franklins and Kennedys. Basically, if silver were to drop by 1/2, so would the retail price of these coins. Price guides for these coins in lower grades are basically determined by whatever the price of silver was when they did the list.
I'll agree that $5 each is a reasonable price. Dealers here will buy them for $4 each. So it's worth a buck each to keep them out of the melting pot!
Price guides are just that, a guide. The price guides list many coins differently, partly because, they do sell for different prices. One can easily buy later date Walkers in grades below VF for about $4.50 or 5 each. However, there are certainly venues out there that sell these coins for $7-8 each. Understanding pricing is never an exact science, as the price guides are far too high on certain coins, while far too low on other pieces. One thing I recommend is to use realized auction prices from venues like ebay, Teletrade, and Heritage. That way, you know what coins are actually bringing on the marketplace.
For common, low value material, I would study the recently completed auctions on eBay. The published price guides will probably give you an idea of what you can expect to pay, but if you want to know what people are paying at this very moment, there's no more valuable resourse than recently completed auctions. When searching completed auctions, you need to keep in mind that S&H is a major concern with low value items, so most bidders figure it into the price of the material. A seller's reputation (feedback), the TOS (listing's Terms Of Sale) and item description (including pictures), can all have a substantial effect on the FBP (Final Bid Price). Good luck!
I agree with Jody. Auctions are a good place to get a real feel for what is really going on in the market. I haven't owned a red book in a few years mainly because it's only put out once a year and a lot can change. I do consult Coin Prices magazine from time to time as it will show trends in pricing. I also use it for mintage figures. On top of that I subscribe to Greysheet. It gives you a much better idea as to how dealers are looking at things. None of these (or any other publication) are the gospel truth as it were. I've seen Greysheet bid on coins higher than Coin Prices retail at times. On tougher, low mintage items it's really hard to tell as they aren't traded that often. I recently purchased an 1883 3 Cent Nickel in ANACS AU50 for $300. Coin Prices lists it at $415, Greysheet bid was $315 and then I saw a raw XF-AU sell on ebay for over $600. I'm glad I got mine but it's a crapshoot with a coin like that. There were just over 10,000 minted so they don't trade hands often. Look at the auctions, consult the guides and at times you just have to go with a gut feeling.
Thank you all so much. evey time i ask a question i get so much help. this is really a wonderful place to learn.
