Most collectors tell newbies to use the red book as a wealth of information and to understand prices. My dad mistakenly got a blue book and I was wondering what the difference was. I know you shouldn't rely on the book for prices, but is there a difference in prices or what?
Thanks a lot Hobo! Even though pricing isn't too accurate isn't it better to use the blue book then when your buying?
I ALWAYS use the bluebook when buying. The redbook, however, is convenient in that it tells weights of coins and has other little tidbits that are handy for day to day use.
For my purchases I have been trying to use the blue book as a guide. Thanks to both of you for your help!
That may be, but there are no shops nearby to me where I could pick one up every now and again. A subscription isn't cheap, either! Over $200/2 years?!?! Pretty exhorbitant if you ask me.....
You can order a sample pack directly from CDN. http://www.greysheet.com/web_order/special_form.asp As a matter of fact, I have never seen the Grey Sheet for sale anywhere except directly from CDN.
Greysheet also sells them on ebay. That is one of the reasons that "bid" has become more of a retail price instead of a wholesale price. Everyone has them now, not just the dealers.
Maybe this would make more sense if you told us what your reason for buying (resale, personal collectible, etc) is. Do you focus only on the listed value, or do you consider market trends/conditions when making purchases? What types do you buy? All are serious questions. Also, how does it help a newbie by telling them you only pay bluebook? While its human nature to want the lowest price, what do you suppose will happen if he walks into a B&M or show expecting to buy at BB values, especially if his interests are in better material? The fact is that in most all cases, bluebook prices are wholly unrealistic for the average collector, with the possible exceptions being widgets, junk and/or total dreck. Giving someone the impression that they can (regularly) buy coins at this level does nothing more than set them up for an unfortunate reality check.
Absolutely not ! You want to know the truth ? What you should do is take the Blue Book and put it on a shelf. And never look at it again. You do not need a subscription. Nor do you have to even leave your house to get the Grey Sheets. Just go the web site - http://www.greysheet.com/web_order/backissu_form.asp - and you can buy the back issues for $3. And since it is printed every week you don't have to worry about the prices being out of date. But just 1 issue will not give you what you need. You need to buy a back issue of 6 different things to cover all coins. You need all 4 of the weekly issues for a month. You need the most recent back issue of the Monthly, and you need the most recent back issue of the Quarterly. Combined these will cost you $18. Buy those twice a year, every 6 months and you'll have everything you need to keep up to date. And for accurate pricing, $36 a year is cheap.
I get that you normally can't buy a lot of coins at blue book level, but if you can then is that a good buy? Or does it just depend on a lot of things, and blue book isn't accurate at all?
There you have it. It's not worth the paper it's printed on. The only reason it is printed is to make money for the folks printing it by selling it to people who don't know any better. Understand, I am not trying to be callous. Everybody has to learn these things, we all did at some point in time.
Of course not. Let me put it this way.. you have a guide to price used socks and it claims a value of $5, yet you can buy for a nickel. So are someone's used socks a good buy just because they are priced at or under book value? The point is that you need to look at every coin individually and not base your decision to buy off of a price guide. Yes... it depends on a lot of things. May I ask what you collect and/or are interested in? There are a select few coins that probably could be bought for bluebook, but there is good reason for this... no one wants them. The bluebook is supposedly a guide for collectors to use in getting an idea of what a dealer will pay them for their coins, but for all sense and purposes, its worthless and anyone who claims otherwise is either lying or fooling themselves. Any dealer worth your time will buy (or not) based on what you really have, market conditions, and their individual situation.
You are right; I should clarify: I buy most of my coins from auctions within my state. I love dealer liquidation auctions and buying in bulk. I've gotten many great deals on these auctions and never bid more than, as previously stated, around 50-75% of bluebook (depending on how much I like the coin) which is generally a good price on any given coin within my budget. Or it will be by the time I'm ever ready to sell. I buy raw coins. I buy coins I like and for those will come out of my shell when buying from an individual. I check auction results archives and commit as much as possible to memory. I learn all I can on forgery/counterfeit detection. At this time I do not buy slabbed coins due to budget and the fact that I'd like to one day have a slabbed collection made from finds I've submitted. Who knows, maybe one day a person will be on CoinTalk all proud of their new purchase of a piece from the "Silentnviolent Collection". I'm a greedy hoarder and the reasoning behind it is that if I continue the trend for 30+ years I hope to have the experience, knowledge, and an inventory to open my own B&M when I retire. If I keep it up I believe I can have the shelves filled with my personal inventory rather than taking out a loan to get it. Everyone says not to get coins for investment. And I agree to a point. There are rarely any chances of a quick flip, unless you happen to cherrypick (guilty). Maybe I'm wrong and I'll fall flat on my face when the time comes and then everyone can say "I told you so" but until then I like doing it the way I do, and I have fun with it. Haggling is fun, and I do that too as well as bartering. I like the game and I like to go big but for me that means buying when I deem that the price is right, or I come up empty. I'm not in a hurry. I have all the time in the world to find the deals I like.
I collect a lot of things mainly old nickels Jefferson's, V's, and a little buffalo, but I love most coins from the 1800's. I would like to get into dimes sometime like maybe mercury's. Whoops forgot indians and wheat pennys
Who's to say the Greysheet is all that "accurate" either? All such pricing guides are what they are, guides, not gospel. Note they are printed on paper, not stone. Also note that they are the cumulative "research" of certain people who choose certain criteria to come up with their list. And, it is ALL history. Who knows what today or tomorrow may bring? Those who disdain one for another (in my never to be humble opinion) miss the point. They are a reference, nothing more. But they are also that, a reference, nothing less. If you know what Red book is, then you can depend on it as such, if you surmise what Greysheet is, it follows that you can use it to your advantage, if you know what an online guide offers, it is handy in its own way. At times I find my old 1971 guide helpful in its own way. When I want to search out the meaning of a word, I actually have 2 very nice, unabridged modern dictionaries. I also have 4 lesser editions and half a dozen that are 50 to 200 years old and a handful of other word tools. Each has its value, each has its worth, each its thoughtfully valued opinion. I call upon them all as it seems right to do so. But in the end, --I-- choose the word and hope it conveys the meaning --I-- intend to convey. History has its lessons. I choose the price, no, strike that, I choose the value of a coin today.
One thing softmentor - I do not know of even 1 price guide that is based on history or actual realized prices - not 1. The Grey Sheet for example, at the time of its printing, is not based on what happened a month before or even the week before. It is based on the current (meaning right now) highest Bid and lowest Ask for any given coin in any given grade. Just about every other price guide there is is based on what a selected dealer is asking for a given coin. And it is almost always the dealer who is asking the most. I do agree with you that the Grey Sheet is just a guide. But it is the best guide that we have because of what it is based on. And the reason it is a just a guide is because every single coin is unique. So even though 10 coins may all have the same grade, and all 10 of them were graded at the same time by the same TPG, and all 10 of them have the vaunted CAC sticker, and all 10 of them have equal or similar toning - most of them will sell for different prices. And those prices may vary by as much as 100%, sometimes even more.
