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

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

Good job Reid - thanks
John N

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.

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

"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"

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

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