I sold a gold piece with King Charles X of France recently (fortunately before the price dropped) and as I collect coins by portrait of kings and queens, I wanted a cheap replacement. I decided the series of coppers from the former Caribbean French colonies were interesting and I went after a 5 Centime piece from the mid 1820s. I noted that some private dealers were selling corroded no better than VF pieces for $25-50. I got a wonderful non-corroded 1825 piece off of ebay somewhere between fine and VF for about $11. Then I checked the Standard Catalog and saw it listed for a value of $6. I thought I was getting a bargain, but now? How does one judge the value of non-slabbed world pieces these days with ebay in the running? In reality, I am happy with my purchase since I am portrait collector and filled my gap nicely. But what of values these days?
I'm finding that certain coins seem to go for more than they are worth and they aren't anything special. I don't have a Krause, I just go by what other ones sell for and place a price on them from that, just like you did. :thumb: Buying from the heart makes the coin more valuable to the buyer, than buying from a price guide. Ribbit
I have had to buy coins for more than they are worth because regardless what Krause says (or other price guides)...they just arent easily found in good condition. For instance notgeld...I cannot find notgeld in my area shops and very few are at coin shows. This means I go to ebay or a foriegn dealer. On ebay, these coins are like no others and many are very interesting oddities so people will pay well over the book worth...buying them from the very few dealers who sell them means shipping that will AT LEAST bump the coin price a few bucks...and often they are simply more expensive then the price guide would suggest. I find this with a lot of dealers. One thing that is good is to find a dealer from the country of the coin you are buying and see about bulk shipping if they have multiple coins you are willing to buy...I got real cheap coins from norway by buying them from a dealer in norway...same with coins from iceland and germany. In the end values are suggestions and depend more on how many there are available, in what condition, and where. I buy coins on the same criteria...portraits and also artistic merit...I will use the price guide as just that, a guide...if the coin in a certain condition is a bit over the price in the guide, I will still buy it if I want it...but if it is way higher...I will wait. I try to buy coins that are at least hovering around (less or more) guide price.
FYI - if you're interested in French Colonial coins, then here is a list of ones that were used in the US: http://coinfacts.com/colonial_coins/french_colonies/french_colonies_coins.htm And Notre Dame has more information on them: http://www.coins.nd.edu/ColCoin/ColCoinIntros/French.intro.html I'm currently trying to complete a type/year set for them and only need a few to have what I want, to then go after the Double Sols when I can. There was an awesome Black Dog overtype I went after a couple of weeks ago but it went for over 100 Euros and that was more than I was willing to pay at the time but next one I find, that has the amount of the original coin left as that one did, I will not be overbid. :hammer: I love overtypes so I've now earmarked the Black Dog to be an overtype for my collection. Ribbit Ps: Here's the Black Dog overtype I found: http://cgi.ebay.fr/SOL-TAMPE-OU-ESTAMPE-COLONIES-SURFRAPPE-Louis-XV_W0QQitemZ250303188920QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item250303188920&_trkparms=72%3A1367%7C39%3A1%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C240%3A1318&_trksid=p3911.c0.m14 It was also counterstamped for French Tobago. To me, that was 3 coins in one and truly a tough one to find.
