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Getting the most from coin price guides -- periodic post
What follows is a distillation of many people's opinions and
observations, including my own. Additions and corrections are welcomed. This document is copyrighted -- please don't republish elsewhere. HTML version available he http://rg.ancients.info/guide Getting the most from coin price guides -- periodic post - - - IN A NUTSHELL: Price guides are just that -- guides. Some are mostly accurate approximations of actual coins prices, while others appear to have as one of their goals helping dealers sell coins at attractive prices. - - - How much a coin is worth is crucial information. It affects what you're willing to pay for a coin, what you're willing to sell it for, and how you look at and appreciate coins in general. There's lots of information about coin pricing out there, online and off. Some pricing guides are more accurate than others. No single guide is foolproof. All guides are approximations of market values. That's why, if you really want to know the market, you should also see what coins are actually selling for. Options include eBay and various auction houses, such as Heritage, Teletrade, Bowers and Merena, Stacks, and Classical Numismatic Group (for ancient coins), not to mention local and national coin shows and local coin shops. Here's a rundown of the most commonly used price guides for U.S., world, and ancient coins. Red Book Officially titled A Guide to United States Coins, the Red Book is a comprehensive book of U.S. coin retail prices with a list price of $12.95 and is available at most coin shops. It's a good book to have, but more for background information than for pricing. By the time the book is out, some of the pricing information in it is dated. Also, prices are included for far too few uncirculated grades. The Blue Book, officially titled A Handbook of United States Coins, is a similar, though smaller, book that includes the prices that dealers typically pay for coins. U.S. Coin Digest http://www.krause.com This is a new coin price book from Krause Publications (publisher of Coins Magazine, Numismatic News, and other periodicals), with a list price of $11.95. It's much like the Red Book, but it includes pricing for more grades. With Morgan dollars, for example, the Red Book has pricing for only six grades, while U.S. Coin Digest has prices for eleven grades (but it still ignores pricing for VF-30 grades). It also includes a bit more background information about coins in general. Greysheet http://www.greysheet.com Officially called the Coin Dealer Newsletter, this is a pricey subscription periodical, costing $98 per year (you can buy the current issue for $4). It's the most commonly used price guide by dealers in setting their own prices, and though it contains wholesale prices, it's a good choice for savvy collectors too. The prices are based on coins graded according to industry standards "as exemplified by PCGS and NGC," though pricing for properly graded raw coins is considered too in the compilation of its figures. Greysheet "bid" is the amount that dealers are typically willing to pay other dealers for a coin. Greysheet "ask" is the price dealers typically ask other dealers for a coin, which is higher. For collectors, one rule of thumb is to add 25 to 75 percent to bid when you're buying and to subtract 10 to 40 percent from bid when selling. The Bluesheet, officially called the Certified Coin Dealer Newsletter, includes bid prices for "sight-unseen" slabbed coins. These prices are lower than prices in the Greysheet. The Greysheet's biggest weakness is that the Coin Dealer Newsletter ignores the current state of the grading services. It ranks some of the services in terms of how the market values coins in their slabs. But it fails to rank SEGS, ACG, and NTC, three grading services that have a significant market presence. And it ranks two grading service with virtually no market share, INS (International Numismatic Society Authentication Bureau), which folded around 1992, and NCI (Numismatic Certification Institute), which folded around 1988. Whether deserved or not, this creates an aura of unreliability over all of its data. Coin World's Coin Values http://www.coinworld.com Formerly known as Trends, this is part of Coin World, another subscription periodical, costing $36.95 per year, and now also part of Coin Values, a new newsstand magazine. Unlike the Greysheet, it provides retail pricing, and it's the most commonly used price guide for this purpose. It generally does a good job, but like all price guides, it can be inconsistent, with the prices for some series above actual market prices and the prices for other series below. Coin World itself can be a good way to keep up with developments in numismatics and is a good read, as is Coin Values, the magazine. Heritage's Value Index http://www.heritagecoin.com/info/prices.asp You have to register to access this information, but registration is free. The prices are based on wholesale and auction transactions for PCGS and NGC certified coins, which encompasses not only Heritage auctions but other observations of the marketplace. Impressively, pricing is given for a wide range of grades and include a range rather than a single value. With Morgan dollars, for instance, prices are included for forty different grades: P-1, FR-2, AG-3, G-4, G-6, VG-8, VG-10, F-12, F-15, VF-20, VF-25, VF-30, VF-35, XF-40, XF-45, AU-50, AU-53, AU-55, AU-58, MS-60, MS-61, MS-62, MS-63, MS-64, MS-65, MS-66, MS-67, MS-68, MS-69, MS-70, PR-61, PR-62, PR-63, PR-64, PR-65, PR-66, PR-67, PR-68, PR-69, and PR-70. You can also use the site to search for individual auction results. Teletrade USA Coin Price Guide http://www.teletrade.com/coins/search.asp?pguide=1 As with Heritage's Value Index, free registration provides access to this information. The prices are based on Teletrade's own auctions. Unlike Heritage's Value Index and the other price guides, the information here isn't presented in an easy-to-use grid. You search for prices realized in past auctions of coins based on parameters of your choosing, such as denomination, year, mint, grade, and slab. Teletrade Non-USA Coin Price Guide provides pricing information for world coins, from Afghanistan to Yugoslavia. PCGS Price Guide http://www.pcgs.com/prices Some people feel that the prices in this free online price guide are higher than in some of the printed price guides. The editor of Coin World, which has its own printed price guide and is thus a competitor, called the online price guides "dealer price sheets" in a column in the Numismatist, meaning that their prices are those that dealers would like to obtain for their coins rather than reflections of actual market prices. PCGS Price Guide can be useful, but one piece of advice that has been offered is to subtract about 25 percent to arrive at true retail prices, depending on the series. Numismedia Price Guide http://numismedia.com/fmv/fmv.shtml This online service is similar to PCGS Price Guide, and its prices are also said to be higher than in some of the printed price guides. But beginning in February 2003, the service charges a subscription fee to see pricing for grades above MS-60 -- $96/year, with other subscription plans available. Compared to PCGS Price Guide, pricing is given for more grades. With Morgan dollars, for instance, while PCGS Price Guide provides grades for ten grades, Numismedia does so for twenty. Numismatic News, Coins Magazine, Coin Prices http://www.krause.com The price guides in these Krause Publications periodicals suffer mainly from lack of use compared with other more commonly used and quoted pricing information. A subscription to Numismatic News (weekly) is $32 per year, Coins Magazine (monthly newsstand magazine) is $25.98 per year, Coin Prices (bimonthly) is $18.98 per year. Numismatic News and Coins Magazine both include articles and lots of other useful information. COINage http://www.coinagemag.com This price guide has the same limitation as those in Krause Publications periodicals. An introductory subscription is $11.88 per year. COINage is a good read for the articles and columns. Standard Catalog of World Coins http://www.krause.com Krause Publications also publishes this guide, which is 2,304 pages and lists for $52.95. The book covers the period from 1901 to the present. Related Krause books include Standard Catalog of World Coins, 19th Century, 1801-1900; Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1701-1800; Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1601-1700. Despite their size, these books provide overviews rather than all-inclusive lists of world coins. Wildwinds http://www.wildwinds.com/coins This free online service provides auction results for ancient coins, primarily from eBay. Included are Greek, Roman, Celtic, and Byzantine coins. Attributions are included too, but they're only as trustworthy as the sellers offering them. CoinArchives.com http://www.coinarchives.com This is another free service that provides the auction results for ancient coins, but in this case primarily from European auctions, which are typically for higher-end coins than those auctioned through eBay. -- Email: (delete "remove this") Consumer: http://rg.ancients.info/guide Connoisseur: http://rg.ancients.info/glom Counterfeit: http://rg.ancients.info/bogos |
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Reid Goldsborough wrote:
What follows is a distillation of many people's opinions and observations, including my own. Additions and corrections are welcomed. This document is copyrighted -- please don't republish elsewhere. HTML version available he http://rg.ancients.info/guide Getting the most from coin price guides -- periodic post - - - IN A NUTSHELL: Price guides are just that -- guides. Some are mostly accurate approximations of actual coins prices, while others appear to have as one of their goals helping dealers sell coins at attractive prices. - - - How much a coin is worth is crucial information. It affects what you're willing to pay for a coin, what you're willing to sell it for, and how you look at and appreciate coins in general. There's lots of information about coin pricing out there, online and off. Some pricing guides are more accurate than others. No single guide is foolproof. All guides are approximations of market values. That's why, if you really want to know the market, you should also see what coins are actually selling for. Options include eBay and various auction houses, such as Heritage, Teletrade, Bowers and Merena, Stacks, and Classical Numismatic Group (for ancient coins), not to mention local and national coin shows and local coin shops. Here's a rundown of the most commonly used price guides for U.S., world, and ancient coins. Red Book Officially titled A Guide to United States Coins, the Red Book is a comprehensive book of U.S. coin retail prices with a list price of $12.95 and is available at most coin shops. It's a good book to have, but more for background information than for pricing. By the time the book is out, some of the pricing information in it is dated. Also, prices are included for far too few uncirculated grades. The Blue Book, officially titled A Handbook of United States Coins, is a similar, though smaller, book that includes the prices that dealers typically pay for coins. U.S. Coin Digest http://www.krause.com This is a new coin price book from Krause Publications (publisher of Coins Magazine, Numismatic News, and other periodicals), with a list price of $11.95. It's much like the Red Book, but it includes pricing for more grades. With Morgan dollars, for example, the Red Book has pricing for only six grades, while U.S. Coin Digest has prices for eleven grades (but it still ignores pricing for VF-30 grades). It also includes a bit more background information about coins in general. Greysheet http://www.greysheet.com Officially called the Coin Dealer Newsletter, this is a pricey subscription periodical, costing $98 per year (you can buy the current issue for $4). It's the most commonly used price guide by dealers in setting their own prices, and though it contains wholesale prices, it's a good choice for savvy collectors too. The prices are based on coins graded according to industry standards "as exemplified by PCGS and NGC," though pricing for properly graded raw coins is considered too in the compilation of its figures. Greysheet "bid" is the amount that dealers are typically willing to pay other dealers for a coin. Greysheet "ask" is the price dealers typically ask other dealers for a coin, which is higher. For collectors, one rule of thumb is to add 25 to 75 percent to bid when you're buying and to subtract 10 to 40 percent from bid when selling. The Bluesheet, officially called the Certified Coin Dealer Newsletter, includes bid prices for "sight-unseen" slabbed coins. These prices are lower than prices in the Greysheet. The Greysheet's biggest weakness is that the Coin Dealer Newsletter ignores the current state of the grading services. It ranks some of the services in terms of how the market values coins in their slabs. But it fails to rank SEGS, ACG, and NTC, three grading services that have a significant market presence. And it ranks two grading service with virtually no market share, INS (International Numismatic Society Authentication Bureau), which folded around 1992, and NCI (Numismatic Certification Institute), which folded around 1988. Whether deserved or not, this creates an aura of unreliability over all of its data. Coin World's Coin Values http://www.coinworld.com Formerly known as Trends, this is part of Coin World, another subscription periodical, costing $36.95 per year, and now also part of Coin Values, a new newsstand magazine. Unlike the Greysheet, it provides retail pricing, and it's the most commonly used price guide for this purpose. It generally does a good job, but like all price guides, it can be inconsistent, with the prices for some series above actual market prices and the prices for other series below. Coin World itself can be a good way to keep up with developments in numismatics and is a good read, as is Coin Values, the magazine. Heritage's Value Index http://www.heritagecoin.com/info/prices.asp You have to register to access this information, but registration is free. The prices are based on wholesale and auction transactions for PCGS and NGC certified coins, which encompasses not only Heritage auctions but other observations of the marketplace. Impressively, pricing is given for a wide range of grades and include a range rather than a single value. With Morgan dollars, for instance, prices are included for forty different grades: P-1, FR-2, AG-3, G-4, G-6, VG-8, VG-10, F-12, F-15, VF-20, VF-25, VF-30, VF-35, XF-40, XF-45, AU-50, AU-53, AU-55, AU-58, MS-60, MS-61, MS-62, MS-63, MS-64, MS-65, MS-66, MS-67, MS-68, MS-69, MS-70, PR-61, PR-62, PR-63, PR-64, PR-65, PR-66, PR-67, PR-68, PR-69, and PR-70. You can also use the site to search for individual auction results. Teletrade USA Coin Price Guide http://www.teletrade.com/coins/search.asp?pguide=1 As with Heritage's Value Index, free registration provides access to this information. The prices are based on Teletrade's own auctions. Unlike Heritage's Value Index and the other price guides, the information here isn't presented in an easy-to-use grid. You search for prices realized in past auctions of coins based on parameters of your choosing, such as denomination, year, mint, grade, and slab. Teletrade Non-USA Coin Price Guide provides pricing information for world coins, from Afghanistan to Yugoslavia. PCGS Price Guide http://www.pcgs.com/prices Some people feel that the prices in this free online price guide are higher than in some of the printed price guides. The editor of Coin World, which has its own printed price guide and is thus a competitor, called the online price guides "dealer price sheets" in a column in the Numismatist, meaning that their prices are those that dealers would like to obtain for their coins rather than reflections of actual market prices. PCGS Price Guide can be useful, but one piece of advice that has been offered is to subtract about 25 percent to arrive at true retail prices, depending on the series. Numismedia Price Guide http://numismedia.com/fmv/fmv.shtml This online service is similar to PCGS Price Guide, and its prices are also said to be higher than in some of the printed price guides. But beginning in February 2003, the service charges a subscription fee to see pricing for grades above MS-60 -- $96/year, with other subscription plans available. Compared to PCGS Price Guide, pricing is given for more grades. With Morgan dollars, for instance, while PCGS Price Guide provides grades for ten grades, Numismedia does so for twenty. Numismatic News, Coins Magazine, Coin Prices http://www.krause.com The price guides in these Krause Publications periodicals suffer mainly from lack of use compared with other more commonly used and quoted pricing information. A subscription to Numismatic News (weekly) is $32 per year, Coins Magazine (monthly newsstand magazine) is $25.98 per year, Coin Prices (bimonthly) is $18.98 per year. Numismatic News and Coins Magazine both include articles and lots of other useful information. COINage http://www.coinagemag.com This price guide has the same limitation as those in Krause Publications periodicals. An introductory subscription is $11.88 per year. COINage is a good read for the articles and columns. Standard Catalog of World Coins http://www.krause.com Krause Publications also publishes this guide, which is 2,304 pages and lists for $52.95. The book covers the period from 1901 to the present. Related Krause books include Standard Catalog of World Coins, 19th Century, 1801-1900; Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1701-1800; Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1601-1700. Despite their size, these books provide overviews rather than all-inclusive lists of world coins. Wildwinds http://www.wildwinds.com/coins This free online service provides auction results for ancient coins, primarily from eBay. Included are Greek, Roman, Celtic, and Byzantine coins. Attributions are included too, but they're only as trustworthy as the sellers offering them. CoinArchives.com http://www.coinarchives.com This is another free service that provides the auction results for ancient coins, but in this case primarily from European auctions, which are typically for higher-end coins than those auctioned through eBay. Thanks! -- Bob |
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Good job Reid - thanks
John N |
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I really appreciate the information in your post, but you might note that
Coin World is now available as an online subscription, too. For a couple of bucks more, you can get both the online and the hard copy. The only real advantage I see to the online version is that you can get it sooner than by snailmail. But since I've always been one for instant gratification.... Jerry S. |
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On Wed, 21 Jul 2004 00:14:33 -0500, "Jerry Salley"
wrote: I really appreciate the information in your post, but you might note that Coin World is now available as an online subscription, too. For a couple of bucks more, you can get both the online and the hard copy. The only real advantage I see to the online version is that you can get it sooner than by snailmail. But since I've always been one for instant gratification.... Thanks for the update. I'll include this information in the next go-round. -- Email: (delete "remove this") Consumer: http://rg.ancients.info/guide Connoisseur: http://rg.ancients.info/glom Counterfeit: http://rg.ancients.info/bogos |
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"Jerry Salley" wrote
Coin World is now available as an online subscription, too. For a couple of bucks more, you can get both the online and the hard copy. The only real advantage I see to the online version is that you can get it sooner ... The _REAL_ advantage to the online subscription is the ARCHIVES. If you use the magazine archives to their fullest, you have an incalculable wealth of information at your finertips. Coin World is building the archives in reverse chronological order from newest to oldest, year by year. When they are done, they will have created the ENCYCLOPEDIA NUMISMATICA. Michael "former Amos Press employee" |
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On Tue, 20 Jul 2004 11:11:59 -0700, "Bob Flaminio"
wrote: Reid Goldsborough wrote: What follows is a distillation of many people's opinions and observations, including my own. Additions and corrections are welcomed. This document is copyrighted -- please don't republish elsewhere. HTML version available he http://rg.ancients.info/guide Getting the most from coin price guides -- periodic post - - - IN A NUTSHELL: Price guides are just that -- guides. Some are mostly accurate approximations of actual coins prices, while others appear to have as one of their goals helping dealers sell coins at attractive prices. - - - How much a coin is worth is crucial information. It affects what you're willing to pay for a coin, what you're willing to sell it for, and how you look at and appreciate coins in general. There's lots of information about coin pricing out there, online and off. Some pricing guides are more accurate than others. No single guide is foolproof. All guides are approximations of market values. That's why, if you really want to know the market, you should also see what coins are actually selling for. Options include eBay and various auction houses, such as Heritage, Teletrade, Bowers and Merena, Stacks, and Classical Numismatic Group (for ancient coins), not to mention local and national coin shows and local coin shops. Here's a rundown of the most commonly used price guides for U.S., world, and ancient coins. Red Book Officially titled A Guide to United States Coins, the Red Book is a comprehensive book of U.S. coin retail prices with a list price of $12.95 and is available at most coin shops. It's a good book to have, but more for background information than for pricing. By the time the book is out, some of the pricing information in it is dated. Also, prices are included for far too few uncirculated grades. The Blue Book, officially titled A Handbook of United States Coins, is a similar, though smaller, book that includes the prices that dealers typically pay for coins. U.S. Coin Digest http://www.krause.com This is a new coin price book from Krause Publications (publisher of Coins Magazine, Numismatic News, and other periodicals), with a list price of $11.95. It's much like the Red Book, but it includes pricing for more grades. With Morgan dollars, for example, the Red Book has pricing for only six grades, while U.S. Coin Digest has prices for eleven grades (but it still ignores pricing for VF-30 grades). It also includes a bit more background information about coins in general. Greysheet http://www.greysheet.com ================== I think it would be useful for someone to describe the various issues that are available over a period of time. I know each issue is specific to different series of coins, but I cannot remember what the issue order is. If you are interested in a "type" coin series, you will not find it in most issues of the CDN, just the one where these are listed. HTH. Aram. ================= Officially called the Coin Dealer Newsletter, this is a pricey subscription periodical, costing $98 per year (you can buy the current issue for $4). It's the most commonly used price guide by dealers in setting their own prices, and though it contains wholesale prices, it's a good choice for savvy collectors too. The prices are based on coins graded according to industry standards "as exemplified by PCGS and NGC," though pricing for properly graded raw coins is considered too in the compilation of its figures. Greysheet "bid" is the amount that dealers are typically willing to pay other dealers for a coin. Greysheet "ask" is the price dealers typically ask other dealers for a coin, which is higher. For collectors, one rule of thumb is to add 25 to 75 percent to bid when you're buying and to subtract 10 to 40 percent from bid when selling. The Bluesheet, officially called the Certified Coin Dealer Newsletter, includes bid prices for "sight-unseen" slabbed coins. These prices are lower than prices in the Greysheet. The Greysheet's biggest weakness is that the Coin Dealer Newsletter ignores the current state of the grading services. It ranks some of the services in terms of how the market values coins in their slabs. But it fails to rank SEGS, ACG, and NTC, three grading services that have a significant market presence. And it ranks two grading service with virtually no market share, INS (International Numismatic Society Authentication Bureau), which folded around 1992, and NCI (Numismatic Certification Institute), which folded around 1988. Whether deserved or not, this creates an aura of unreliability over all of its data. snip |
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On Wed, 21 Jul 2004 23:31:23 -0700, Aram H. Haroutunian
wrote: I think it would be useful for someone to describe the various issues that are available over a period of time. I know each issue is specific to different series of coins, but I cannot remember what the issue order is. If you are interested in a "type" coin series, you will not find it in most issues of the CDN, just the one where these are listed. The same happens with not only the Greysheet but also Coin Values and other price guides too, I believe -- they don't list all coin series in each issue. -- Email: (delete "remove this") Consumer: http://rg.ancients.info/guide Connoisseur: http://rg.ancients.info/glom Counterfeit: http://rg.ancients.info/bogos |
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