US Coin Values

Discussion in 'Coin Chat' started by Eric Babula, Jan 15, 2025.

  1. Eric Babula

    Eric Babula Well-Known Member

    When you decide to sell some coins, whether it be online, at an LCS, at a Coin Show, or wherever, which source(s) do you use to determine your anticipated sale value? Also, do you bring a list of your coins with your purchase price and expected sale price on it to the LCS or Coin Show, and use it as your guide when you're haggling prices with the prospective buyer?

    I took just one coin as an example (1881-S Morgan Dollar from MS-62 to MS-67) and checked a few different sites (and my coin software: Exact Change), and the prices seem to be all over the place.


    View attachment 1655478

    * Does everyone just use Greysheet Wholesale as their guide to what they should expect to get? If so, how do I get values from Greysheet for free? LOL!
    * What's the difference between Greysheet (for gumba's like me?) and Bluesheet (for Dealers?), and are there even more "sheets" than these two?
    * Do people use ebay to search for completed auctions to get recent realized prices?
    * I remember back in the early 2000's, when I was looking at coin prices, I would just look at pcgs.com and multiply their price by 0.8, and I thought that would be a fair price to buy at. Not to sell. Of course, I wanted to sell at pcgs.com prices or higher, even if my coins were raw!

    So, what do you do?
     
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  3. Inspector43

    Inspector43 More than 75 Years Active Collecting Supporter

  4. Eric Babula

    Eric Babula Well-Known Member

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  5. ddddd

    ddddd Member

    * Does everyone just use Greysheet Wholesale as their guide to what they should expect to get? If so, how do I get values from Greysheet for free? LOL!

    ....many dealers use greysheet and some buyers use it too...it's a decent guide and can act as a starting point but quite a few coins don't sell at greysheet. If you have an eye appealing coin (like a high end toned Morgan), you can toss the greysheet as the price can be 3x, 10x, or more. On the other hand, a coin that is ugly, has turned in the holder, or has little demand can easily sell for well under greysheet.
    ...you can't get greysheets for free; there is a cost for subscribing or buying one-off issues. They do provide "retail" guides for free (there the prices are higher and the idea is that is what one would pay to a dealer to buy a coin).



    * What's the difference between Greysheet (for gumba's like me?) and Bluesheet (for Dealers?), and are there even more "sheets" than these two?

    ....those are the main two and I think the bluesheet isn't used as much nowadays. The difference is that greysheet prices are for "sight-seen" (in person or you see a picture) transactions while bluesheet is for "sight-unseen" (i.e. the price for a generic 1881-S MS 65 Morgan but you don't know what specific coin you will get)

    * Do people use ebay to search for completed auctions to get recent realized prices?

    ...yes eBay completed auctions is still an important resource for sold prices. A few others are Heritage archives, Stacks, and Great Collections.
     
  6. ddddd

    ddddd Member

    As far as figuring out a price to sell your coins at, it is a combination of factors. I would start with the price you paid and then go look at recent sales on eBay, Heritage, Stacks, and GC (the more common the coin, the less venues you would need to visit...eBay might be enough for a coin that sells relatively often). If your coin is nice for the grade and has good eye appeal, I would expect it to sell for above average levels of recent sales. If it is average, then I'd expect a price in line with the latest sales. And if it is problematic/unattractive, expect less than average prices.
     
  7. Joshua Lemons

    Joshua Lemons Well-Known Member Supporter

    I always like to find sold listings of comparable coins, eBay being the easiest. In fact, I think you can filter results on eBay down to grade and click on sold listings. On the PCGS and NGC sites, if you have graded coins, you can enter the cert number and they might have a list of previous sales of that particular coin. Their price guides on the other hand are not reliable in my opinion.
    Rarer certified coins usually have previous auction results at one of the bigger auction houses. I simply type in the denomination, date, grade, etc. in the Google search bar. This is very handy for world coins, but maybe not for US. Expect a deep cut in value for details coins and those with ugly or terminal toning.
    Keep records of what you pay for coins. It'll help you know if you are overpaying when it comes time to sell.
    Generally, if I am selling coins at a show, I go in with a good idea of what I want to get out of them. I don't sell a ton, but often take a few pieces to haggle with in trade. At auction, you are at the mercy of bidders. I've seen/won several coins at auction for way below recent sales because I was the only bidder. The biggest question is deciding where/how to sell.
     
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  8. 1776

    1776 Active Member

    The monthly CDN Greysheet gives a fairly accurate wholesale price
     
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  9. mrweaseluv

    mrweaseluv Supporter! Supporter

    Honestly I look at both NGC and PCGS list as well as recent auctions.. in general I find the NGC list fairly close to what can I expect to pay for most coins at auction.. bin's tend towards the higher pcgs list prices but i seldom buy without haggleing it down to or below ngc list lol :D
     
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  10. Inspector43

    Inspector43 More than 75 Years Active Collecting Supporter

    It is trying to show what they call FMV or Fair Market Value.
     
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  11. SensibleSal66

    SensibleSal66 U.S Casual Collector / Error Collector

    You know what I like about FMV? The estimate for property value. Don't suppose coins appreciate like the housing market, no?
    Back to coins, I hear they take the average of several auction and book values, is that it??
     
  12. Inspector43

    Inspector43 More than 75 Years Active Collecting Supporter

    G
    Go to the site. Pick a coin by date and mint mark. You will go to a data page for that coin. Surf through the site and see how it works.
     
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  13. SensibleSal66

    SensibleSal66 U.S Casual Collector / Error Collector

    Easy Peasy! Thanks!
     
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