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 Replies: 15 / Views: 5,093 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1026 Posts |
I know that catalogs - be that for coins, stamps or anything else for which their are collectors - generally overvalue everything. But the question is, by how much? Take the Red Book for example. What would be a reasonable asking price for a US Mint commemorative coin in OGP which is otherwise flawless in percentage of its Red Book value? 50%? 90%? I reckon somewhere in between... |
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Moderator
 United States
56855 Posts |
Red Book is at least 20% high. I use NumisMedia.com and ebay sold values to get a realistic idea of value. John1 
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7375 Posts |
A lot depends on whether it's a high demand or low demand coin. I think commemoratives are relatively low demand coins, so the RedBook can be very high. The Bluebook is closer. If I want the real price of a coin, check out the Numismedia FMV, or better yet, Do an Advanced Search on ebay for the actual sold prices. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1158 Posts |
I don't think you can say Red Book is always x% higher than market. Sometimes it is actually spot on, other times it can be low. The main point is that it only realistic at time of printing and it's just a guess how it changes from there. Also keep in mind that Red Book is supposed to be dealer retail. I agree with John1 for ideas on how to get true market value. |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
4944 Posts |
Quote:I use NumisMedia.com and ebay sold values to get a realistic idea of value. That's what I do. I'll use Heritage as well, from time to time. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5854 Posts |
I typically use a combination of resources mentioned above in addition to Stacks and a backdated issue of greysheet. When valuing a coin, I put the most weight on actual sales on sites like Heritage, Stacks, and ebay. It is hard to generalize how much a price guide is off. For some coins, it may be overvalued significantly and for others undervalued significantly. There are probably exceptions, but modern commemoratives don't seem to be in demand and I would expect it to sell for less than RedBook. |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
The Red Book is good for a laugh when it comes to prices. However, try to remember that it is an annual publication and the publishers really have no idea of what a coin will be worth when the book comes out. More than likely they start putting together information for an issue a year or more in advance. Then it is proof read, printed and finally sent out for sale. In that time a coins price could have gone up, down or stayed stayed the same and they just don't know. The publishers of the Red Book are probably the same people that predict the Weather.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
523 Posts |
I used many, I prefer the blue book as it seems closer to real. ebay can be good but you have to weed through bidiots......Blue book, cheap and the most accurate I have found. Here are some online ones.. http://www.numismedia.com/www coinsociety / priceguide Edited by eSinger
12/13/2014 9:55 pm
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Valued Member
United States
166 Posts |
I find Heritage to be the most helpful to me. In most cases, I can view a photo of a specific coin, and try to compare it to the subject coin I am examining in regards to appearance. By examining total sales, I can also get some sort of an idea of a coins availability over time.
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Moderator
United States
23522 Posts |
I recommend Heritage so often here it's a wonder people don't think I'm on their payroll.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1247 Posts |
a 2012 RedBook is pretty close to 2014 prices. |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
19935 Posts |
Quote:
Sometimes it is actually spot on, other times it can be low. Spot on! Mostly the values are inflated but I've seen some WAY WAY off to the low side too. Numismedia.com is pretty darn good. When I've compared the values there to CDN, they've been very close and sometimes dead-on. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1314 Posts |
Be careful using Heritage for Morgans and Peace dollars. VAMs of interest can go $5k or higher. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4541 Posts |
Yeah heritage and closed ebay are close to market value. A 5, 6 year old Red Book is probably close to accurate but could also be way pff |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
11951 Posts |
Buying and selling coins, is a lot like buying and selling cars. Most times the same grade coins will have a different price from one deal to the next. The Red Book is historically higher then you should be paying for coins. But there are exceptions. With the Red Book coming out once a year a coins price can soften. Also there can be mistakes In the listed prices. I did notice this past week, I was buying a VF 1853 R/A quarter. The greysheet and RedBook prices were only $2.00 different. IMO ...and as others are saying ... You have to look at several sources before buying coins, well coins that are above their bullion value. Check ebay, auction sites, price guides, coin shows and local coin shops. Learn what is a good price, and be ready to buy when you find the coin you are looking for. All price guides are more of a suggestion ... Based on past sales of what a coin should trade at. Many times I have bought coins for less than any of the guides ... But there are times I had paid more too. |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
I normally use a 5 year old Red Book for pricing. Right now I'm using a 2010 edition and I find it fairly accurate. |
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Replies: 15 / Views: 5,093 |
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Posted 12/12/2014 5:10 pm
