Question About "Price Guides..."

BStrauss3 -- so, is the only way to get grey sheet prices to purchase the books monthly? There's no "online" source for those prices?

Gotcha on the "NumisMedia;" and, I understand what you are saying about the Red Book values.

So, here's a REALLY bad question -- what is a "bid" and an "ask" price?

Steve

Greysheet is published weekly. It's available as print, online, or a combination of the two. Any way you look at it, it's a dealer-centric, industry publication which will cost you. Bid is what dealers who want to buy are offering, Ask is what dealers who are selling are asking for the coin. You'll be lucky to see either of these numbers as a private purchaser.

My personal idea of "price guide" is what people are paying for real coins in the real world today; only Greysheet even comes close.

Some great info here, guys...thanks! Denco -- thanks for the info on the "bid" and "ask" thing...makes sense.

So, the Red Book and PCGS are too high; Blue book is too low; NumisMedia is how much a coin might be worth to a collector, greysheet is kind of a "wholesale" value, and the best indication is what things are currently selling for -- ebay, Heritage, etc.

Complicated, but it does make some sense. Yes, Carl, something is "worth" what people are willing to pay for it...so seeing what different types of people are paying for something would be the way to determine current "value." Obviously, a dealer pays a lower price, and a collector pays a higher price usually (since they usually get them from a dealer). Sort of a "wholesale" and "retail" perspective, I guess...

Steve

Carl, in a long history of excellent posting here, that may be the single finest line you've ever typed. It says so much, with so little, and I hope you don't mind me using it again in the future. I'll credit you.

I'm a dealer and, while I do use the greysheet; I generally use ebay completed listings to set my prices. Why? Simple; ebay is the real world. Yes, you can go to Heritage et al, and look at real prices SOME people are paying. However; many times you can find the same coin (assuming it is not something exotic like a Brasher Doubloon), on ebay for much less.

It's like the Barrett-Jackson Car Auction. I used to own a Car Restoration business. I had a good friend who insisted that he sell his Car at Barrett-Jackson rather than use the normal selling outlets.

For weeks he bragged to anyone and everyone that HIS car was selling at Barrett-Jackson. He even carried around the Cat. to show everyone.

The final bid WAS more than what he could have gotten "on the street", but subtract the buyers fees and premiums; the Catalogue ( yes I know I can't spell), transportation and TAXES, he ended up with 10 percent less than what he would have made selling it in other venues. So be aware that people will sell on Heritage et al, and those are real prices. But they do not show what the seller actually pocketed.

ebay is your best bet, and even then you need to subtract 13 percent to arrive at the "REAL" price of a coin.

A lot depends on what the item is.

If we're talking dirt common - say a MS69 State Quarter in oh, NGC holder - there is enough volume everywhere to give solid pricing. Dozens sell each day. So it's basically a commodity - in fact it will probably be listed in the blue sheets (sight UNSEEN dealer pricing).

But the rarer and less common the item, the more difficult to price. We all talk about how hard it is to grade raw coins from pictures and detect cleanings and fakes - so that "price" from ebay could be influenced by several factors UP or DOWN... equally could be somebody thinks they see a nightcrawler Ike and bids it up a bit - is that valid for ALL Brown Box Ikes? No. Etc.

Ultimately, an item is worth what somebody will pay for it and equally you will only pay what it's worth to you. Unless you are buying only the finest known, be patient and another will come along. Just like busses.