Coin price guides have always been a bit of a mystery to me. Where do Greysheet/Bluesheet ask/bid prices come from? How do RedBook and Bluebook determine values? CDN ("greysheet") says on their web site, "From the beginning (1963), as now, the CDN examines all possible sources of information: teletype services, computerized trading networks, dealer trades, "buy" lists, and auction Prices Realized". Do dealers report all buy/sell transactions? What the heck are "teletype services"? What are "computerized trading networks"? Which auctions? Are buyer's premiums included? What about transactions between individuals on eBay, Craigslist, etc.? How are they accounted for? The number of these transactions must exceed the number of transactions involving dealers in these modern times. If I buy a coin and "pay more than it's worth" because 1) I really want it, 2) I can afford it, and 3) I really don't care about "book" value, am (should) I not be boosting the "value" of that coin? Any comments/answers would be appreciated.
The ones that CDN use as a reference do yes. But you have to realize, these are usually large national dealers. Not your average coin shop. Exactly what it says they are. There are services, run on a teletype, that dealers subscribe to. Not all dealers, but some of them. It works just like any other venue, some dealers post Ask prices and others post Bid prices on the teletype and if any two of them are in agreement they accept and the transaction is concluded. Again, they are just what it says. They're no great secret and have been widely known for many years. The first ones were established with the advent of the internet. In simple terms it's a web site where dealers post their Bid and Ask prices for given coins in given grades. And when two of them agree - deal is done. Pretty much all of the major auctions, and yes. Nobody pays any attention to ebay or any of the other on-line auction sites because there are too many people who have no idea what they are doing buying and selling there. So the prices are meaningless. No, you are not. The value of any coin is not established by the highest price ever paid for one because the person paying that price may be a fool. Therefore such a price is considered to be a fluke and irrelevant, as it should be. The value is established by what any of a number of educated buyers will pay for the coin at any given time. And only when that number of educated buyers are all willing to pay more than was previously paid, only then does the stated value of that coin in question go up. Same thing for when prices go down.
It's actually been over 30 years since I've gone into a coin shop and seen a Teletype machine running! Even back then there was only one shop who had one as far as I knew! I'm just sayin', when's the last time you've seen one????
Determining the value of a coin for any price guide is one form of statistical sampling where the highs and lows are thrown out and the rest are averaged. No, FleaBay is not factored into the equation. Chris
Except I don't know of a single price guide that actually does that. Numismedia may be the exception to that rule today but they didn't use to be. All the price guides I know of list only 1 price - the highest ever paid or currently being asked.
Sure have back in the 80's the US Army used one,s like that ,to send order for reassignment& my buddy coin shop has a newer type now to check the metal spot $$$ & I often had to send the S-1 to some one somewhere they may not want to be.but the troops never said any but great when Ft Sheridan Hawaii roll off it.
