One of my difficulties is knowing how much to bid/pay for a die variety. And this carries over into how much to value my collection. Example: Capped Bust Quarters/Variety 2 (Reduced Diameter) 1831-1838 The Red Book lists 8 dates with three having die varieties (total of 11 coins). But if you look at die varieties in Thompson or Peterson there are 36 (8 dates all having anywhere from 1 to 8 die varieties). Yes, you can get some information from auction results. But not all die varieties can be found. Many results are just by date. Often the best I can do is go by the rarity number and think that I should pay a bit more for an R-4 than an R-3. Of course "a bit more" is just a WAG. Are there web sites that get into prices by die variety? On a guess I would think maybe there are for EAC coins.
USA Coin Book seems to have varieties listed price wise. I do not believe it covers all varieties but the listing include varieties and separate prices. I use the site as a price comparison with others to get a general ballpark for coins I am looking at buying or bidding on. https://www.usacoinbook.com/
I just took a quick peek at that site. It appears to be limited pretty much to Red Book listed varieties.
Honestly... not really. This is a very difficult area to judge accurately. There are attribution guides and updates that provide rarity scales. There are also historical records that provide prices for each variety sold. For example, if you are inquiring about Bust Halves, you should search out Steve Hermann's Auction Prices Realized. I'd assume other series have other dedicated researchers which publish similar catalogues. Search out the collector club for the series you are interested in for the best results. Your other option... Heritage Archives. Heritage lists each coin by variety. Even coins which aren't attributed on the slab are usually attributed in the auction listing. Just search for the date, series, variety, and you should get a listing of every sale of that coin. As a general rule, however, anything R1, R2, or R3 isn't worth a premium. An R4 may be worth a slight premium (depending on the grade - higher grade, higher premium). R5 and up will be worth a significantly higher premium. Looking at the Heritage archives will show that to be the case. There is no hard and fast rule, however.... R5 = 20%, R6 = 35%, etc..... that would be nice, wouldn't it?
I agree that R1, R2, and R3 are pretty much the same in value. One example of a set that I like to get deeper into is the half cents, particularly the Liberty Cap and Draped Bust issues. I have the four listed in the NGC Registry Type Set. Then I saw a video (in here?) that expanded the types. That added as many as 7 more varieties to my list. C'mon lottery
This book exists for bust quarters, though I don’t know if any analogues exist for other series. http://www.earlyunitedstatescoins.c...es_Quarters_1796_-_1838_-_Newest_Edition.html
Don't forget about desirability. It doesn't matter if a coin is r-4 if less than 75 people need it to fill their collection. Some series are heavily collected by variety. Some are not. There are heavily sought after varieties, and ones that are easily ignored. It's a very finicky market changing constantly.
