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 Replies: 18 / Views: 6,410 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5850 Posts |
Not sure if there are any other threads about this, but when I was at the coin show the other day a number of dealers were talking about something that happened recently with the Gray Sheet (one dealer asked me, "I assume you heard about the Gray Sheet Debacle?"). I didn't get much details, but apparently the latest Gray Sheet price guide for dealers had dropped the prices quite a bit on a number of classic coins.
I guess it was good for me as a buyer since most of the dealers were willing to drop their prices a bit as a result, but I'm just wondering if anybody else has heard anything about this.
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New Member
United States
28 Posts |
the grey sheet has the values of every coin I circulation or somthing like that when I went to a convention I heard that too
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Moderator
 United States
23522 Posts |
When you price based on someone else's subjective opinion, you price based on their agenda and not yours. Are they completely altruistic, interested only in making you more money? For that matter, wouldn't the most pure form of altruism to price based on the good of the hobby and not your profit margin?
I'm left envisioning something like Sheldon's original intent with his scale, a purely value-based interpretation of the difference between grades. Base your wholesale buys on a strict mathematical formula starting from melt. The lesser coins cost you money, and the Condition Rarities your knowledge or available time keep you from catching become your decent profit margin. I get that dealers have to be generalists, not specialists. Maybe you'd be a better generalist if your pricing structure wasn't issue-specific.
You've heard the stories of people who buy based on snap decisions after looking at the whole, not drilling down to individual coins in the pile. I wouldn't be surprised if that's how they do it, because effective marketing can turn even dogs into at least well-groomed dogs.
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Rest in Peace
United States
4078 Posts |
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Moderator
United States
188213 Posts |
I suppose it was only a matter of time. A guide is just a guide. Pricing is too fluid to expect otherwise.
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Valued Member
United States
211 Posts |
A far as I can tell dealers had been working below greysheet on a lot of items lately. Prices have been going down in general, and a pricing guide isn't worth a darn if it can't go down too.
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Moderator
United States
23522 Posts |
Anyone who watched the recent Legend auction of Dimes (among other things) understands the reason for the "debacle." Not all issues are rising, and few are moving consistently.
News flash: a hobby where values are totally subjective, is displaying subjective value behaviors.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
826 Posts |
Speaking purely as a collector, I hope they keep going down.
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Moderator
United States
188213 Posts |
Quote:
Speaking purely as a collector, I hope they keep going down. So do I. I have some of the pricier holes left to fill. |
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Rest in Peace
United States
4078 Posts |
Lower prices will help me too. I have a lot of pricey holes.  |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
Prices of coins in that paper, the Red Book, Numismedia and many other sources are always just guesses. At coin shows it always amazes me that two dealers next to each other have similar coins for completely different prices. And when you ask really how much, they always pull out the grey sheet, then still come up with their own prices. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1839 Posts |
Price guides are only good the day they are printed (and frequently not even then). Something is only worth what someone is willing to pay and to know that you have to look at ACTUAL sales. Since coins are sold in so many ways to so many people every day there's no realistic way to capture all of that information. In my opinion the closest you're going to get it is to look at past auction records. Of course this won't take into account the millions of coins that are sold at brick and mortar shops, at coins shows by dealers, and on the may dealers that sell coins straight up on their websites. Fortunately there's a fairly good tool to view past auction results and it's provided free of charge by PCGS. It was discussed in another thread but here's a link. http://www.pcgs.com/auctionprices/And here's a link to a list of all the auction houses that it surveys: http://www.pcgs.com/auctionprices/a...irmlist.aspxThe nice thing is that this tool will provide results foir coins graded by more than just PCGS. It also includes NGC, ANACS and ICG. Unfortunately it doesn't capture coins that are sold raw. This is nowhere near a perfect way to estimate value but it's a whole lot better than using the Gray Sheet if you asked me. Edited by Tbone
04/21/2015 6:07 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1554 Posts |
I receive the GreySheet on a weekly basis. I found no debacle. There were a few price drops in AU Draped Bust Large Cents, some in MS63 Brown Braided Hair LC's, a few in MS64 and MS65 Liberty Seated half dimes, Proof MS64 Morgan dollars were down, Proof MS64 and 65 Liberty Seated dimes were down, and XF and AU Capped Bust quarters were down. Probably these issues just haven't been selling well lately. Just a small blip as far as I can see because it wasn't a price drop in all grades. Minor correction. |
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Moderator
United States
188213 Posts |
So basically those calling it a debacle are blaming the market dip on the gray sheet. Is that like the tail wagging the dog?
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Moderator
United States
23522 Posts |
Money is the tail that wags everything.
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Moderator
United States
188213 Posts |
Quote:
Money is the tail that wags everything. Quoted for truth. I will be using that one later today.  |
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Replies: 18 / Views: 6,410 |
Posted 04/19/2015 3:35 pm
