Coin valuations/pricing

What are the best ways to determine the value of a coin?
There is the Red Book, but it is always old. How do they choose prices for the countless coin types, mints, and grades? How does anyone?!

How about the greysheet? Does anyone here subscribe to any of these?
https://www.greysheet.com/About/Subscribe
Does anyone use their app?

PCGS: https://www.pcgs.com/prices/us

There are numeous websites so I'll just leave it at that.
What are your "go to" sources for current pricing?

 

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For a general guide I check Coin Values in the monthly edition of Coin World magazine. If I'm really interested in a coin I check the Sold prices on eBay.

 

I agree with sold prices on Ebay.

 

Grey sheet

 

If I want to know approximately what a coin would bring at auction I consult a combination of Heritage Archives, PCGS prizes realised, and, (for world coins) acsearch. Stacks&Bowers and Goldbergs have additional archives that can be consulted.

 

If I find I have a need for a coin I first go to the PCGS price guide. It’s free on line and gives me a solid starting point. If the coin I am after is a $200.00 or more coin, I then check the closed auction prices. I don’t use the Redbook as a price guide. Only as an indicator.

 

PCGS Priceguide first.... then research ebay auction prices. PCGS Priceguide will even give you recent auction prices.

 

If I remember correctly, you've excluded eBay because so many bidders there don't know what they're doing. Right?

I would also guess that big auction houses feel more pressure to accurately describe coins they list, because their reputation is on the line. A thousand eBay sellers can come and go, each exaggerating the coins they list, each getting complaints and/or returns and/or negative feedback -- but their Sold For prices show up just like the legitimate listings, and eBay itself marches on.

I've used eBay as a price checker for a long time, but that's mostly because I have in mind to sell my coins there. My impression is that I've done all right with that approach, but I freely admit that I haven't sold enough coins to prove or disprove the idea.

 

I look at auction prices and adjust based on the look of the coin. Pretty coins are worth more than ugly coins.

 

I use Heritage and eBay

 

Thanks for all your thoughts everyone. When I have time I will digest it all and do some looking.
About auction pricing:
1. What auction houses?
2. Often when I go to one, it costs a fee to look at their sale prices
3. It seems to me that the low priced coins I'm dealing with right now would never be bothered to actually go to auction. I could be wrong, but who is going to bother with an auction for a $50-$250 coin?
Thanks

 

Any entity whose sole business is conducting auctions.

Lots of free online options are available. I have no idea where you are looking.

Heritage, Great Collections, and eBay have a lot in that category.

 

Lots more lower value coins at auctions than there are high value. You can join Heritage or Great Collections without spending a dime.

 

The entire topic of value quickly becomes almost philosophical because of the numerous variables, such as reasons and situations, that exist between people and so-called "things of value." Though I have no definite answers, I've bought and sold collectibles enough to know that they never have a single "definite" value - value is more amorphous and dynamic and it always seems determined from within some kind of range or context.

Typically, not always, when someone asks "how much is a coin worth" they usually, again not always, want to know "how much could I sell it for or should I just spend it as pocket change?" For someone with little or no knowledge, a price guide will at least give a general idea where the coin in question stands. If someone finds themselves holding a 1916-D Mercury dime given to them from a grandparent, any standard price guide will quickly tell them that they have something of "value" and at least let them know that they shouldn't throw it in the change jar. Depending on many variables, they may later become disappointed that dealers don't offer them the same figures quoted in those price guides, but they at least know something and are less likely to sell a 1916-D Mercury for $2 (which an unscrupulous dealer might attempt). So in some contexts price guides are not completely useless, though they are by no means not without serious flaws. But people without other resources need to start somewhere.

Adding in auction prices, I've seen these vary greatly for the same object, both in and outside of coins. Some people realized $10 for something while others only realized $5 on the same auction site. To take an example outside of coins, when I recently went to sell a collectible statue that I paid $50 for almost 20 years ago, I looked up auction prices for it on the Internet. These varied non-linearly from $60 to $300 over a range of 10 years up to the present. Its value seemed almost random over that time period. So what should I sell it for? I didn't know, but I had a general range, so I started an auction at $70 and ended up getting $175. Why did someone else, only a year before, only get $60 when I made almost three times that amount? It's almost impossible to tell. It depends on how many bidders you attract for an item and how badly they want that item. If only one person had bid on the item, I probably would have walked away with only $70 minus auction fees. Some of it comes down to pure luck and situation. So what is the statue's real "value?" $175? $300? It's definitely worth something because it sold for far more than I paid for it. But based on that experience if someone asked me "what is this statue worth?" I would have to say "somewhere between $60 and $300 based upon the quality of bidders that happen to show up when you put it up for auction, but it could also go above or below that."

Coins appear to have less varying values, but I've seen great variations even there and auction results seem to almost always depend on how many bidders show up and how badly they want the item. You may auction an item that went for $100 even a week before, but your auction only gets $60. But if a price sheet says that the particular coin should be worth $100 and you only received $60, then what is "the value?" Obviously, condition and other subjective factors also play a part here, but in the end no one really knows the "value" of an item because the situations and people involve can vary so widely. From what I can tell, and I claim no expertise on this, value seems to be derived partially on past data (including guides and auctions), but also on timing, situation and circumstance. Something that hammers at $100 today could hammer for $50 a week later. Value, as such, is never guaranteed and can sometimes fluctuate wildly and unexpectedly.

Though, again, a 1916-D Mercury is unlikely to suddenly plummet in value, but circumstances over time will definitely effect its value, such as disposable income of a population or economic conditions. But lesser known, or more common, pieces seem subject to far more variability. In the end, when selling something, even coins, I've given up on trying to determine the "value" of that thing and instead tried to determine the minimum return that I would let it go for. Would I be disappointed in selling it for less than $20? Then I wouldn't start the auction at less than $20. I would also determine the best ending date and time for that auction. Auctions that end during the day in the middle of the week tend to attract fewer bidders than those that end on Sunday at 7:00 PM. There are so many factors. In the end, it's good to keep in mind that buying anything considered a "collectible" comes with a certain amount of risk. What banks state on disclosures for investment accounts also applies here: "may lose value."

I think this clip, though it deals with a valuable stamp, says a lot about the variability of "value" as the dealer sells a stamp for vastly more than its catalogue and auction values. In the end, the dealer knew the context, the people involved and how badly they wanted the stamp.

 

On the other hand, the prophecy does get fulfilled, and the seller does get his money.

"What's this coin worth?" is an ill-defined question. For a lot of people, "what will it bring on eBay" is more relevant than "what will a knowledgeable buyer pay". I mean, lots of people say knowledgeable collectors will turn up their noses at problem coins -- but there's still clearly a market for them.

 

The hate against eBay as a source is really just laughable at this point when it's been the biggest volume seller for what a decade and every major dealer participates there as well as many smaller ones. Are you going to go there for a 6 figure coin no and probably not a five figure one either.

As has been said every time this comes up plenty of things are CHEAPER on eBay than they are at a coin shop or show, some are more expensive and the rest are basically the same especially when you account for "free shipping". MANY dealers source material from eBay including major names and they wouldn't be doing that if eBay was so grossly overpriced like it keeps getting presented as.

The big thing to pay attention to when using it for prices is make sure the item actually is what it is. Errors in the listing categories will put things into the wrong category if you just glance at numbers and nothing else

 

Anyone see the ad in Coin World from Nachbar Rare Coins?!
A few times while reading it I wondered if it was a joke, like in Mad Magazine, LOL!
They are using conspiracy theories to get you to sell all your coins wholesale to them and buy gold with the proceeds.

The Covid virus is going to get much worse, a depression sized crash in January, coin prices are beginning to drop and will get much worse, so use this summer to sell your coins to us. Which will relieve your wife and kids who are freaked out about how to liquidate your collection when you die.

It would be funny as a Mad Spoof. It's kind of sick as a real advertisement.

 

The Red Book along with others in determining a Coins value is a price guide and nothing more than a guide. The best way to find a coins price is to look at recent auctions. As always, you must take into account market areas.