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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;kaparthy, post: 991488, member: 57463&quot;]<b>It is an axiom that past prices are irrelevant. </b> At best they are a guide.&nbsp; They show what other buyers and sellers agreed on at some time.&nbsp; (Whether historical charts can predict feature prices is arguable.) </p><p><br /></p><p>Auction results have some merit, but realize that in auction, many bidders pursue one object.&nbsp; On the bourse floor, many sellers seek you, the buyer.&nbsp; At the shop, your relationship is worth more than all the guides. Auction results are reported.&nbsp; The others are not.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Read the fine print in the price guides.</b>&nbsp; They say that they neither buy nor sell the items listed.&nbsp; They only report a summary of prices reported to them. <b>They also say that a price in a category does not mean that an item in that category was actually bought or sold at all</b>.&nbsp;&nbsp; In every case, the chief editor has a set of valued dealers who help fill in the sheet, even if no sales were made. </p><p><br /></p><p>People will swear that this guide or that is reliable or way off.&nbsp; That is based on their own limited personal experience -- and that is fine: for them.&nbsp; &quot;Your mileage may vary.&quot;&nbsp; I know active collectors and vest pocket dealers who get up to a dozen price guides: Red, Blue, Grey, Blue, Values, ...&nbsp; For all the difference it makes, the <i>Standard Catalog of World Coins </i>is a price guide for US coins.&nbsp; When I go to a coin show I carry a Red Book -- <b>from 1973</b>, because I don&#039;t know all the mintage numbers.&nbsp; (I mark it up, paste in ads, draw my own tables in the back....)&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>There is an old joke:&nbsp; At Kurtz&#039;s Meat Market the customer says, &quot;How can you charge 29 cents a pound for lamb, when Lennie has his for 25?&quot;&nbsp; So, buy from Lennie.&nbsp; &quot;But his is terrible.&quot;&nbsp; (Alternately: &quot;He is sold out.&quot;)</p><p><br /></p><p>Our theories of pricing come from disparate -- often contradictory -- sources.&nbsp; Some people want coins to be fungible commodities, like wheat, so that all MS-63 1883-P Morgan Dollars are equal.&nbsp; Some people think that the price posted for that moment is the price that everyone paid at that moment, like the federally regulated stock markets.</p><p><br /></p><p>Visit the website of the <a href="http://www.eacs.org/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.eacs.org/" rel="nofollow">Early American Coppers</a>.&nbsp; There, active dealers post pictures and prices past and present.&nbsp; You can find the same thing at VCOINS, as well.&nbsp; And boards like CoinTalk have market areas, too.</p><p><br /></p><p>Price guides are only one source of information.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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