The Blue Book is supposed to provide wholesale values, Red Book has retail. In my opinion, neither one is worth 2 cents when it comes to values.
Yeah their accuracy is certainly questionable, especially considering how quickly the market can change and how the books are only released once a year. The Red Book seems to be high on some coins, then even low on others.
Mac. My opinion of the two books is the same as Dougs however, I think everyone should buy a red book every few years because it is a good reference book on U S coins. I use the numismatic news monthly price guide to check coin values however the retail price of coins and there values may not be what the coin is worth. Case in point a value guide might say a 1942-d Jefferson nickel in ms-60 is $27.00 but you will be lucky to get one for less then $40.00 and most coins today have a much higher value then there retail price listing. Bruce.
Thanks guys. Just wanted to know the difference. I have a Red book. How is Coin values magazine on prices, I subscribe to it, also.
The Red Book and Blue Book are good for providing collectors with ballpark values. Yes it is true some of the values are way out in right or left field but comparing values from earlier editions to the current gives you a fairly good indication of price trends.
Maybe not 2 cents but about 5 cents. There are some actual decent prices in the Red Book but that may be an accident. The problem with these books are they USED to be reliable way, way back when coin prices didn't change practically by the day. At one time in history those books came out near the end of the year and there was nothing else to go by. Today we have the Internet, TV, coin magazines, etc. With the stupidity of the Red Book now coming out almost a year ahead of time, the prices are becoming comical. Want to guess when Whitman will come out with a 2010 Edition?
Dennis will answer any Red Book questions you need to know dennis.tucker@whitmanbooks.com [SIZE=+0][SIZE=+0][/SIZE][/SIZE] ======== Dennis Tucker, Publisher Whitman Publishing, LLC 3101 Clairmont Road, Suite C Atlanta GA 30329 Phone: 404-235-5348 Fax: 678-891-4599 dennis.tucker@whitmanbooks.com
How can you tell which (the red book, or some magazine) has a more accurate price guide? Is it just the frequency of each edition? Because it sounds like people favor magazines much more. I even been told by some not trust the red book prices. I need to know this, because I base all my purchases off of the red book prices...
Red book prices seem to be fairly close for copper and nickel coins. Lately, the silver values have been wayyyy low. The red book is decent for ballpark figures, but yes: the grey sheet and magazines are more up to date because they're released more often.
Red Book. Silver is constantly rising so whatever the last edition of the red book based the cost of silver of is inaccurate.
does either one of the books have the NORDEF coins listed? or know a good resource to research those coins?
