What are the best available ways of getting an approximate value for varieties that aren't listed in the normal pricing guides? For instance, a couple years back I bought an 1862 US $1 gold coin. Got it home and looked at it more closely and for out it was a DDO (VP-001; Breen 6074). Breen lists it a "very rare" but the only price I could find for it was from one single auction result or sale listing. It was priced at 50% over greysheet. Does this reflect low demand in spite of the supposed rarity? Or did someone get a bargain? How does one get a possibly more accurate picture of that coin's value? Or is it one of those famous "put it up for auction and see what it gets" situations?
Completed auctions would be the best, but sometimes there just aren't any auctions, so it turns into one of those "put it up and see what it gets". What grade is yours? I found one on Heritage: 1862 G$1 MS65 NGC. FS-001, Breen-6074 It sold in August of 2006 for $2,875 (MS65). As a comparison another MS65 (no variety listed) sold a month before for $2,530 1862 G$1 MS65 NGC. So from this it would seem there's a slight premium, at least in 65, but the premium can always change from grade to grade too. (Also, there are a lot of variables in trying to make an assumption about the premium, especially from one auction, but it might give you a general idea).
Mine is a NGC AU-58. Originally there was no variety on the slab. I had it re-slabbed so that the variety could be included. Those prices you included pretty much indicate that 50% over catalog value of a normal piece is about correct.
Here's another comparison in AU55: Stack's - 1862 Doubled Die Obverse. (selling for $375 on May 24 '06) 1862 G$1 AU55 PCGS. no variety (selling for $253 on May 1 '06) So it would seem it does keep a premium in AU and MS (actually stronger in AU). In both cases not huge premiums, but still over the average 1862.
