On my early posts I was told to get a Red book over a blue book. In a nut shell can someone please mention why? Blue book values seem to be lower??
My understanding is that the blue book is the dealers buying guide and the red book is the dealers selling guide. But both are just a general guide and not the end all definite set price.
@beaver96 is correct. Redbook and Bluebook came to the forefront of numismatics long before we had an internet and immediate sharing of vast amounts of information. So yes, when they were created that was the basic intent. Bluebook was wholesale. Redbook was retail.
Thanks makes sense. In my younger days in the 70's and 80's I would get just about spot on Blue book prices from a coin shop when selling some of my coins. What brought me to ask was that I was kinda horrified to how low some prices I saw on the key date wheatbacks in a Blue book. Ebay sellers and USA Coin.com are making a killing, regardless the fee's they pay. Now I know it's tailored to a dealer buying.
The Red book is worth buying for it's historical content but not much else. I'm not even sure the Blue book has any relevance anymore. Both are out of date before they are published as far as values go. There are too many other sources available with a few key strokes.
As others have mentioned, the pricing information in both books becomes dated very quickly in the internet world. IMO, the value of the redbook is all of the information and details. I can find Weights, compositions, mintages, and a quick idea if a date is common, semi-key, key, especially if a series that isn't commonly collected are easy to look up. Maybe it's just me, but I use the redbook for that stuff, and can find the info a lot faster than searching through google and my bookmarked sites. Plus, I learned a whole lot about history, etc., from the short write ups. As I have posted numerous times on here, I think the $10-15 for a Redbook is the best money a new collector can spend on the hobby, IMO
The Red Book has more "historical" information than the Blue Book, I'm not even sure the last Blue Book I have seen. The prices in the Red Book are definitely not really accurate, but they are moderately close. If I saw a coin listed for $100 in the Red Book, I wouldn't consider $70 a bad price, but for $120, I would probably investigate further. Anecdote... I bought an 1836 Bust Half-dollar and was mentioning it to a friend. He asked me what the Red Book on it was and I whipped out my 2011 copy while he checked his 2021 copy. The prices in all grades was identical.
I'm thinking with the silver value being all over the place I will use the Blue book as more of guide for penny's and nickels etc..??
I was never able to purchase at Bluebook prices and in most cases could not sell for Redbook prices. Today I lean more towards greysheet, but that also is just a guide.
No one mentioned GREYSHEET. At least it is updated monthly and if you subscribe you can check values on a daily basis. Just saying.
As others far more experienced than me have already stated, I purchased the 2020 Red Book simply for historical and reference purposes. Valuable info for my type set collection. Since I am collecting only for historical purposes, I don't need the value references as far as selling, although (minus 50%) it does give me an idea what the coins may be selling for. Helps me determine my max bids.
