What the heck is going on?

I have just started going back threw my different collections. I planned on doing some up grades and fill some holes.
I decided to start with the IHCs. I went on ebay and found that I could not purchase a Grade (G) or (AG) for under $10.00.
Most of these dates are common and list in red book for that grade at $2.50 or $3.00. What am I missing. I placed bids on 10
coins and waited for the bidding to end, I didn't win one bid. To up-grade I see pricing being extreme over any pricing guides.
Thanks Big Ed

 

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It depends what year ranges you're looking for. Generally the 59's-later 1870's will command higher prices.

 

Plus there is a "give a crud" factor. Most dealers simply do not wish to list cheap coins, due to expense of processing the order. Inexpensive coins still are much better to buy in person at a show or shop than online. If you wanted a base of IHC, I would go to a show and pick all of the common dates out from pick lots. From 1888 or so to 1908 most dealers have coins up to F or so all at one cheap price.

 

Most of my IHC will grade as follow AG to G some Fine. 1859 F, 1863 G, 1879 G, 1880 G/F, 1881 AG, 1882 G, 1883 G, 1884 AG, 1885 AG,
1887 G, 1888 F, 1889 G, 1889 F, 1900 VF, 1901 F, 1902 G, 1903 F, 1904 F, 1905 VF, 1906 F, 1907 F, 1908 G, and 1909 AG.
I tend to grade, a grade lower in most cases.
I have a hard time getting to shows. Most of the time the timing is bad. As for dealers, most are a little on the high side right now. I get a deal every now and again, only because I am there a lot.
Thanks for the response. Big Ed

 

why don't you post a list in the wanted section here. I'm sure someone here can help you

Richard

 

Crazily enough, maybe because I am a haggler on prices, but I never pay more than about $1.20 or so for Indians. I do buy them in quantities though, usually several hundred at a time. And yes I end up with mostly 1890s and 1900s stuff - but my last big buy I found an 1864, an 1866, several from the early 1870s and late 1870s.

 

Wow!

I really have to start listing my dups!

Tons of them.



Comment added:
I just went to eBay, there are many under $10.

 

Then, there are the idiots:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1906-Indian...79?pt=Coins_US_Individual&hash=item336dd32fd3

and more idiots:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1909-INDIAN...67?pt=Coins_US_Individual&hash=item2a0fc8c0f3

The fun just goes on and on, with this seller: amazing deals:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1901-INDIAN...15?pt=Coins_US_Individual&hash=item2a1092f083

The real question is: Where does this seller find these buyers!

 

Treashunt
Thanks for the input. I have been watching and buying for over a month, and what you have to look at is the final bids. I put several in my watch list every day and they are being bid up to $8.00 to $10.00 on coins in G grade condition. Every morning I start a search 1859 thru 1909 each cent and go 12 hours (not key dates). I place what I am interested in my watch list. Most coins in good condition will over bid by $2.00 t0 $4.00 dollars, plus with any shipping puts the coin way over priced.
And after this I am going to Buffalos. LOL
Thanks Big Ed

 

ah, I see, well, I'd be happy to get just plain trends.
Plus a bit of postage
I have a ton of dups.

 

Don't use Redbook as a price guide as their prices are 20% off the mark for what things are actually selling for.

Check eBay completed sales for what you're looking for, and Greysheet can give you a good idea on retail and wholesale prices for different coins as well.

Check this link out and look at what some have sold for.

http://www.ebay.com/csc/Indian-Head-1859-1909-/41084/i.html?rt=nc&LH_Complete=1&_catref=1&_dmpt=Coins_US_Individual&_fln=1&_trksid=p3286.c0.m283

 

I find for common coins like IHC and the like, book value and Ebay prices for an individual date are always too much. If I wanted to buy IHC I would expect to pay around a dollar for the common dates in g-f condition. Now, to get a SPECIFIC date the dealer would have to spend time to dig that date out for you, time=money, so that is why a specific date lists higher than its worth as a common.

OP I would recommend trading here on CT with members. Sounds like you can get a good deal. If not, I would simply try to make it to a regional show or a larger coin store, as I am sure you could pick out what you need from their piles of IHC there.

 

I got a good to fine 1902 IHC on ebay not too long ago for 49 cents along with the cost of the stamp for shipping. Just have to be picky and persistent and yeah, watch out for those people who want to charge $4.95 or more to send a penny in the mail.

 

Your "math" seems to be a little off: 20% off the mark for a $1.50 coin is $0.30. I don't think that kind of difference really makes a difference...and isn't what the OP was really referring to. It was a lament of prices being 500%-1000% overpriced on eBay.

As Doug stated, there really are no good price-guides. Even Greysheet is just an opinion of people, trying to sell their product...in this case, the "product" being a weekly newsletter-type price sheet that some dealers seem to think is somehow magical. The value of a coin at auction is what two (or more) people interested in the coin are willing to pay. PCGS price guide values are almost always high, Numismedia (NGC) prices are usually somewhere within the ballpark, but again, they won't be spot on. If the price guides were only off by 20% (high or low) the world would be pretty good...my personal experience has been that they are usually off by 100%-300% high (or the converse, the real value when sold is about 30% to 50% of what the price guides say -- all depending on the coin of course). Put another way, no coins (or almost no coins) sell for what any guide says. The only ones that sell for exactly the price guide price are the ones sold by people who think that a price guide is some magical tool by which the market is bound.

For the types of IHCs you are looking for, you should be able to find these in the "junk" bins of most medium-size or larger coin shops. I have a complete run of 1881-1909 IHCs (minus the "S" mints) which I purchased in around "G" to "F" condition for $1 each. I put them in a cent tube and gave them to my nephew. If you post the dates here that you need, I bet (as others have said) someone would be able to help you out!

Best of luck!

 

I'd agree about the price guides, use them just as they are, a guide to get an idea of a possible going price for the item. But use your own judgement and wallet as to how much you're actually willing to spend on it if you really want it.

 

So what you all are saying is if I am evaluating my collection, the value of my collection is going to be based on what my
own opinion is? Or there is a guide to keep collectors in some type of value for coins? Or everyone is just pricing as we go?
I am very confused.
Thanks Big Ed

 

Big Ed, I think price guides are useful for pricing yoru collection, as long as you recognize these are retail prices. Even then, prices guides always overprice common, low priced items. Think of it this way, if the dealer has a cost of $1 minimum to put a coin in a flip and price it, then for a coin that is really worth $1 it will be priced at $2. There is a built in dealer minimum cost to handle a coin built in, for a $200 coin this cost is almost meaningless, for a $1 items its considerable. This is one of the reasons price guides overvalue the most common coins all of the time.

Basically, I keep in mind in tallying cat value, the cheap stuff is valued too high, the middle stuff is about right, and the high priced stuff is probably valued too low. If you keep those facts in mind, and the fact the price guide is for retail prices, I believe it should help you reconcile what you see in price guides and real life.

Your experience with Ebay is simply people being dumb, something not infrequent on Ebay. If I weren't too lazy I would sort through my IHC for you, but I believe at least one member has offered assitance.

Hope that helped a little.

Chris

 

No, not necessarily. Price guides try to represent the median average of the price coins are being sold at. But yeah, you can claim one of your coins is worth a million dollars but someone else might say it's worth $10 dollars. The books and greysheets are just a guide to give you a representation of what others are buying the coins for, perhaps give or take some dollars here and there. I might want an EF 1909 VDB Lincoln penny and willing to pay $30 for it when the book value says it's only $18 or so.

 

I have gotton some runs of coins in the 80's,90' early 1900's in VF shape for around 10 dollars. I did have to bid on quiet a few lots before winning some. Several of the lots surprised me on how nice they were. Then again this was a year or so ago. I don't think they have changed that much.