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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;calcol, post: 3163796, member: 77639&quot;]Recent auction prices realized is probably the best guide to value.&nbsp; Just remember that the total price realized includes both the hammer price plus buyer&#039;s premium.&nbsp; If you were to place the coin back in an auction immediately, your expected return would be hammer price.</p><p><br /></p><p>Most price guides, including those of NGC and PCGS, list a higher value than recent auction prices realized.&nbsp; In part, this is likely a favor to dealers.&nbsp; It&#039;s much easier for a customer to quickly pick a value out of a price guide compared to studying recent auction prices realized.&nbsp; And if the price in the guide is higher than median price realized by the issue in recent auctions, so much the better for the dealer when it comes to negotiating with the customer.</p><p><br /></p><p>When looking a recent prices realized, it&#039;s not uncommon to see a twofold or more range of prices for the same issue in the same grade from the same grading service.&nbsp; By looking at the coins, some of the limitations of technical grading become apparent.&nbsp; Many attributes that affect the appeal and auction price of a coin, like toning, strike, mint-origin &quot;blemishes&quot; (adjustment marks, die cracks, etc.) , variety and more affect the auction price of a coin, but have a minor role in grading.&nbsp; In some cases, a high price is due to two or more bidders getting carried away in a competitive bidding frenzy.&nbsp; In some cases, a low price is just due to a lack of&nbsp; potential bidders who are interested in the issue being aware that it&#039;s at auction or due to several of the same issue coming to auction in a short time span.</p><p><br /></p><p>To establish the value of a coin by using auction prices realized, you should:</p><p><br /></p><p>1.&nbsp; Look at the coin itself and not just the grade on the label and try to find comparable looking coins of the same grade and grading service in past auctions.&nbsp; Images by auction houses are pretty good these days and easily available online.&nbsp; eBay images vary a lot though.&nbsp; If the image in an eBay listing is poor, contact the seller.&nbsp; If there is no improvement, don&#039;t buy or bid.</p><p><br /></p><p>2.&nbsp; Among comparable coins, use the median price, not the average price.&nbsp; The median is the price of the coin in the middle.&nbsp; Arrange the prices in order, and the one in the middle is the median and represents the average coin. That&#039;s right ... the price of the average coin is represented by the median price ... not the average price!&nbsp; The problem with using the average is that one or two outrageously high or low coins can skew the average quite a bit up or down.&nbsp; For example, if prices of the last seven coins auctioned, arranged in price order, were&nbsp; 75, 88, 91, 102, 110, 120, 433, the median is 102, but the average is 146.</p><p><br /></p><p>A technique I use that usually comes pretty close to the median is to throw out the high and the low and average the rest.&nbsp; You&#039;ve seen this done in subjective athletic competitions ... diving, gymnastics, skating, etc. Do it for the above example, you&#039;ll get 102.</p><p><br /></p><p>Yup, the above takes time and effort.&nbsp; But that&#039;s what it takes to get a good value estimate.&nbsp; Is it worth it for cheaper coins, say those under $50 or $100?&nbsp; Every collector has to decide for themselves.&nbsp; You&#039;re not likely to do it for junk box coins.&nbsp; However, even for inexpensive coins, researching past auction sales can be rewarding, and not just financially and educationally ... it can be fun! <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>Cal[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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