I was wondering what you all thought about using Coins magazine as an alternative to using a redbook or greysheet for figuring out what's fair to pay. I get a redbook every couple of years for reference, but I know the prices are almost immediately out-of-date. I don't feel like I shop enough to need a greysheet, but I already get a subscription to Coins magazine and they usually have a price guide in the back. How does that compare to something like greysheet? Please keep in mind I'm no high roller. Most expensive coin I've bought within the last 6 months was an 1883-CC GSA Morgan for $175.
Coins is all right, sometimes I use www.numismedia.com but unless you do a lot of business in coins or need instant values you can use coins or coin prices. I use it as a ref all the time.
You can buy any current greysheet for $4 online ( greysheet.com), you can subscribe to numismedia dealer end for $20 a month. Current pricing as close to what the dealers see in one minute. What is a disturbing trend tho, is that folks think that greysheet is retail now......it's not. You price above it and you get looked at funny, lol. Only sliders and dogs sell for "sheet" retail, keep that in mind when shopping. Dogs are easy to buy but hard to sell.
Klunky. Good advice noted above. Keep in mind that your grading skills will impact the price you pay in future purchases as well. Many people do not see nor heed the "INVESTOR/COLLECTOR NOTE:" at the bottom of page 1 of every "Greysheet" newsletter. In short it advises collectors that "you should expect to pay a premium above Ask when purchasing coins in a retail transation...."
Make good use of a "Completed Auctions" search on eBay. It's free and about as current as you can get for retail prices. I don't know about Coins magazine, but since it's a monthly I suspect it's about equivalent to Coin Values.
I think all of the above sources will give you an idea of what other people are paying, but none of them will tell you what is "fair to pay." Sometimes coins are overpriced and sometimes underpriced. I think it's important to perform your own personal analysis of what a coin is worth to avoid getting caught up in short term price swings caused more by what's in or out of fashion rather than any inherent long term value characteristic of a coin.
You should after study and learning to grade be able to You should after study and learning to grade be able to get coins at about 30% off of those prices but, you will need to be selective and patient often times and that's not on every single coin. 30% off Trends or Coins prices is only a rule of thumb and is an average across the board. Some being 40& and some being 20%. Plus there is no free lunch - I have never known anyone including dealers who have not bought coins for too much, that were over-graded and sometimes cleaned or otherwise damaged. That is how we learn - without making these mistakes it's impossible to learn which to buy and which to pass on. You can view auctions, study catalogs, look at eBay and all the other sites in the world but when it comes down to buying "that coin", "it's all you baby". I learn better lessons when I'm wrong than I ever could when I'm right anyway and being right is "way over rated" - my most successful ventures were pure luck and serendipity and being in the right place at the right time - I generally didn't have much to do with it anyway!
