Question About Krause Catalog

Somewhere in the introduction pages to your Krause volume it will tell you what the bullion spot prices were at the time the catalogue was compiled. If spot prices have changed a lot since then, you'll need to do some calculations... or find a more up-to-date catalogue.

For example, suppose you work out that the BV of your coin, at the time the catalogue was printed, was $95. That means that the numismatic premium (the amount above BV that a coin collector would pay for the coin) of that coin in that condition at that time was $15. A reasonable estimate of current catalogue value would therefore be whatever the BV is right now ($160) plus the same premium of $15, giving you $175.

Well, if the price of bullion does not change much over the course of a year, then quoting a single price is easier and more convenient for catalogue users than making them stop, find out the current BV and then and do maths each time they want to look up a coin. Krause is still working on the assumption that the bullion price does not change very much, or very fast. This assumption has been valid for most of the history of the production of the Krause catalogue.