What book do you guys recommend for buying & selling prices? something that's not totally out of the park on cost.
Krause catalougues are the best for "world coins" (ie: everything post 1600), but tend to be $80 a volume, so not your sort of thing. For USA coins, The "red book" gives fairly up to date retail prices, and there is a relative blue book for wholesale prices.
I totally disagree with using the Red Book for prices any more. The book is produced almost a year ahead of time. The 2008 Edition is now out. Just as the 2007 edition was outdated many months after it was produced, now the 2008 is going to be a complete joke on prices by the time 2008 comes along. For prices of coins I recommend using the internet, not a book at all. Make a list of what your interested in, check them on ebay, then a few on like dealers, add in the prices from places like the PCGS web site, average them all and you get a decent pricing of coins. This is what I do when I go to a coin show. I make a list of the coins I may be interested in with many columns and check out about 5 or 6 different sources for prices, average them out and that is what I try for.
Although it isn't a book, the best place to go for pricing is to an auction site such as Heritage, eBay, Teletrade, etc. You can view actual, realized prices that coins trade for instead of estimates, and access to completed auctions is free. Second place - Greysheet.
I'd go along with that. Especially since that grey sheet is what you always see at every coin show. I've never seen anyone wip out the stupid Red Book for a price. Remember they started the printing of this Red Book 2008 about a year ago back in 2006.
Books Has anyone ever used the BLACK BOOK published by Random House (House of Collectibles) Any Opinion(s)?
The realized auction prices are the best place to go to determine how much you should be willing to pay for a coin, assuming you have to buy it now and are happy to pay what everyone else is paying and don't want to pay much more. But it won't tell you what a coin is worth. Sometimes a particular coin, or series, or coins in general can be overpriced or underpriced. That takes a whole different mindset to determine. Many people will just say that whatever people pay is what it is worth. In a distress sale or emergency purchase that is true. In other cases it might pay to be a little more selective if your particular collecting habits permit it. In the end it's up to you.
Yes, but the prices don't make any sense. The little lead-in articles that preceed each series are interesting to read. My personal favorite price guide is the "North American Coins & Prices" published by Krause. It covers Canadian and Mexican coins as well as US coins, and prices for more grades. It suffers from the same drawbacks as other guides but I prefer it to the Redbook.
