Has anyone ever bought one of these research packs? Are they worth the money? I'm interested in getting the peace dollar pack, and $15.00 seems to be a good price, but I don't want to pay that money and get a couple of 1 page photocopies or something. David
I'm guessing we're talking about the graph books, showing the price history. I've been curious about those myself http://www.greysheet.com/web_order/books_form.asp Scott
as with any research, it is only valuable as it is valid. In the coin business this means that the info must be current. All printed material offers a limited shelf-life. If one wants to buy coins according to what look to be trends, then be my guest. IMHO my money would be better spent buying a subscription to Greysheet and getting more up to date info.
CDN Research Packs are not price graphs. They are a compilation of all articles on a given coin ever published by CDN. The following is a list of those - Research Packs
Yes, that *does* make more sense - thanks, GDJMSP. Funny, though, you could just order those particular back issues at $2.50 (or less) apiece, which is the same they're charging for just the article reprints. Is there any added bonus for the research pack? Treashunt, you could probably just search for articles on Barbers and buy the appropriate back issues - make your own research pack. Scott
I gotta go with mikenoodle here. If you want to just see what is happening in the market then subscribe. If you want to see articles to learn everything there is about a particular coin then it might be for you along with all of the online material.
Thanks for all the input. I think I will start subscribing to the greysheet for up to the minute info. I do have to disagree slightly with what mikenoodle said about research. I agree that you do not want to base your whole opinion on old reseach, that's like going to a coin shop and expecting to pay 2007 red book prices for coins. I do, however, think it is very important to get older information about a coin before you start collecting it heavily. It's important to understand the market dynamics and past trends of a coin to see if it has a future or if it's just a fad. I mean, to be simplistic about it, you don't want to buy a coin just because the greysheet says its been goin up for the past six months. You need to know if this is part of a larger trend, has this happened before, if so what caused it before and why did it go back down, that sort of thing. Don't get me wrong, you really need to know what is going on with a coin NOW, but to make a truly informed decision you need to know what happened before as well.
To be quite honest with you subscribing to the Grey Sheet is little but a waste of money for anyone except a full time dealer. The vast majority of prices don't change that fast or enough to make it worth the subscription price. What I have alwasys suggested that collectors do is this. First of all you have to buy 4 different weeks of the Grey Sheet, plus the quarterlies to get the complete listings. And if you buy old issues and just download them you save about 50% off the cover price. So once every quarter (every 3 months) just buy the 4 weeks you need and the quarterly. It saves you a ton of money and still keeps you on top of what is going on price wise.
I've never bought one of the research packs, but have considered it. Most of the information in the articles will probably still be valid to some extent. The prices are the main thing that will have changed. As another idea in addition to GD's, I usually just buy a Grey Sheet when I'm about to go to a big coin show or something like that. It's nice to have it with you. Also, I think it's good for the looks!... meaning that if you've got a Grey Sheet with you and you're looking at some coins, I think it kind of hints to the dealers that you're not just some shmuck that walked in off the street and knows nothing about coins... just my perception. :goofer:
