Red Book Pricing - How Accurate (Or Not)

I use completed auctions combined with NumisMedia (retail). With those as a guide, I also factor in eye appeal. I will pay more for a coin that "just looks right," compared to one in similar grade.

Ultimately, the value of any coin is what one person is willing to give and the other is willing to accept at that particular moment in time.

Hmmm I was wondering this question for some time. But here is the thing--- If (U the seller) are selling a coin --u want the most out of it-correct?. OK so now lets make you are the buyer---- coin is with a price tag. Now,Ill look at the most stable reference -the RED and come to a fair conclusion with the salesman on what the book says. One note* The book has many fine print and symbols as for to look out for types, varieties and many other tips.

Not always! I've seen some really low prices too. For example, the 1936 proof Lincoln was REALLY low last time I looked (prob 2009). In reality, they were selling between $600-1000 when Red Book showed like $100.

Where can you get a graded slabbed modern cent for thirty cents? No that if for a raw coin and the thirty cets is what I call the "dealer nuisance" fee. What he has to charge just to cover the overhead of dealing with an item of no real numismatic value.

As to prices in the Red Book, here is what I do. I use a 2010 Edition for prices. Actually this may not be the smartest thing to do but I find a 4 to 6 year old version is fairly accurate for today's market.

I like using RedBook for mintage numbers and comparing similar coins of a series against each other with prices. Seeing which prices are higher for certain years and comparing it to other years/mm of the series. That's where the RedBook prices come in handy.

An example would be 1893 Barber dimes. Those are significantly more expensive than some of their counterparts, due to mintage numbers mostly. RedBook does a fine job helping me ballpark that increase in cost.

I only use the Red Book for casual reading. For current pricing use ebay, and Heritage archives, recently sold values. For a 'guide' I use the PCGS and NGC websites along with Numismedia FMV. With those resources you can really nail down the cost of almost any coin.