Can anyone suggest me a Red Book type guide book for Canadian coins? Also what's the difference between red book, black book and other US numismatic books referred to by color? Thanks.
Red book is for appx retail prices Blue book is based on appx wholesale prices Black book is based on dealer to dealer prices... appx of course None are really all that accurate for any pricing
Charlton Canadian Coins is an exceptional book for information purposes, but don't expect an accurate representation of price. You can usually get coins from dealers and on eBay for a fraction of their listed prices. Here's a link to the newest edition on eBay: http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-2009-CHARLT...goryZ548QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
IMO, you buy a Red Book for its descriptions and listings, NOT for its pricing. No way a coin catalog published once a year can begin to be accurate about current prices. The other "colors" are superfluous. I didn't know about the Canadian equivalent (thanks Jim M; good info). But if you are going to get into Canadian coins, I also suggest the Standard Grading Guide for Canadian & Colonial Decimal Coins by James E. Charlton (same guy?) and Robert C. Willey. Canadian grading standards are quite different than US standards.
Does anybody save the red, black and blue books as a collectable set(s)? I do, I juss wonder if anybody else does . . . :kewl:
yup, lots of people here do. Your collection is nothing out of the ordinary, dont worry! someone here actually just picked up an old redbook from a pawn shop
I picked up about 13 issues that I didn't have from an antique book store in Oregon when I was traveling. I keep on me (especially when I travel) all the issues I need. I felt like a kid in a candy store when I saw all those red books juss waiting to be purchased. And I got 'em for $1 each in excellent condition. Yup, cheap but although I had to haul 'em around for the rest of our vacation, it was well worth it to me. My wife thought I was nuts though. :mouth:
Ok, so if the Red Book isn't accurate, and from what I've gathered PCGS's price guide for slabbed coins isn't accurate, then what would you guys recommened going by? Greysheets? What else is there?
Heritage Auctions (ha.com). You can search their site for past auction payouts... it's a great feature and probably the most accurate gauge of a coins demand and value. Of course you probably won't find everything there.
any price guide takes time to view the auctions and other sales, compile the data and then publish it. Then foplks have to buy it. At that point, the data is pretty much old. The best way to get an awsome and somewhat accurate is to watch auctions daily, read about the latest sales for well known/rare coins. If you are interested in a single series, watch it like a hawk, across all major auction formats. You do that, and you should have the abosolute best possible understanding of daily prices at that point in time.
I've seen one particular coin increase in value by $10 with each new Krause book for the last 4 years, and it started off at $10... lol It doesn't take long for the information to get old.
What I do is look at the PCGS listed price which I don't believe, but use as a guage. Then I compare what others paid for it, then I make certain that if I list the price, I take the lowest price paid for bidding and an average price paid for inventory pricing. Works for me. But then again, I am not in the selling business yet.
So, which editions did you get? Any old ones? I like the comment about your wife, mine would agree with her. Of course, I have hundreds of them.
The best pricing source is online auction results. Not only Heritage, but also TeleTrade. Big show auctions results are also good but don't usually include coins that are within our price range. Also look at eBay, but beware. Runaway bidding occurs much more often there. Also clueless bidders. I personally work with the printed guides. (Dealers aren't thrilled with you plopping a laptop down on their counter and surfing up auction results.) The greysheet (CDN) and Coin Values. I don't expect to get coins for CDN Bid. And I will not pay full Coin Values prices (except for the very inexpensive coins). My yardstick is CDN Bid + 20%. Recently got two common date MS-65 silver dollars (one Morgan, one Peace) for less than that. Just need to be disciplined and stick to your criteria.
