So, I'm thinking of going on "the Bay" and purchasing some low grade older coins to fill some of the holes in my albums. How much should I pay? Well, I started by looking at Numismedia FMV and Coinstudy, and found quite a difference in prices. The very first coin I looked at was an 1883 Liberty Nickel, no cents. For G-4 the prices are $8 and $4.23 respectively. On one hand that's trivial, on the other, that's almost double the price. For 1886 the prices are $330 and $210. Can someone enlighten me about what's going on here? Thanks!
For the 1883, CPG for G-4 is $6.75, and 1886 in the same grade is $170; a CPG is a retail guide published by CDN, the makers of Greysheet. The CPG costs $25 on eBay but gives you a very accurate price on what to pay for a coin as a collector. It's sad that the best price guides are the ones you have to pay for, but the CPG is a treasure trove of knowledge.
First, and perhaps most important, COINSTUDY identifies (or tries to identify) the WHOLESALE value of one's coins, not retail. As to the reliability of either source for determining the value of one's coins, well that has a lot more to do with what the coin looks like than what some table says, doesn't it?
