I just picked up an issue of CoinWorld's Paper Money Values magazine to cross-check the values of some of my US notes. I was truly dumbfounded by what I saw. I expect a difference from one publication to another but not quite so MUCH a difference! One note, a CU 1923 US note. One 2006 book had it at $90 and Paper Money Values shows it at $450!! At least they're close! All the others I looked up were also way off from one book to the other.
That is interesting. But the best place to check the rough estimate of the values would be on ebay, that is if the item pops up from time to time.
Books are always lousy price guides in a changing market. By the time a book goes through the publication process, the values it lists are outdated, even if they were accurate at the time they were compiled. Since anything is only worth what a willing buyer will pay a willing seller, with both of them having all the relevant facts, completed auctions are, and will always be, the most accurate guide to what a coin is worth on the day of the auction. In the case of EBay, where that factor of "having all the relevant facts" is frequently missing - average auction prices determined on the basis of throwing out the high and low examples, is better than nothing, but not as good as looking at Heritage/Superior/Etc. major auction house results.
I saw a quote awhile back about coin values..not sure what it was..but said they were off a lot..I finally subscribed to the greysheet and whoaa..what a diff..all I am looking for is a guide to value my coins in case of fire or theft...then I looked into my most recent coin value and compared again and amazingly they are pretty muchin line with the greysheet..so who knows..I do check ebay a lot now and also other publications and what coins are selling for in the ads...its a mess sometimes.. Warren
values I also got a copy of CW,s paper money values, and was surprised by the prices. They seemed very unrealistic, I only wish I could sell my bills for the prices quoted in thier magazine!!
