British Coins And Krause

I can't comment on the up-to-the-minute trends, but can offer some general observations.

One factor to consider is that Krause's prices are supposed to be for "American grades", while anyone selling British coins in Britain is probably using the stricter "British grades". A good rule of thumb is that a British VF is about equivalent to a Krause EF.

The other factor is that Krause is an American book and reflects the prices being realised for the coins in America. This may differ quite considerably from prices being realised locally.

As a general rule, catalogues produced locally are a more reliable guide to "local value" than Krause. I know this is true of Australian coins, and is presumably true of Norwegian and British coins, too.

Let's do a quick comparison. I have a 2004 1800's Krause, and a 2004 Spink (a British catalogue). Let's choose a coin at random: say, a shilling of 1855. Spink quotes this coin at £20 in VF and £70 in EF, while Krause puts this at $26 in VF, $80 in EF. In 2004 £1 = about $1.80, so we convert the currencies and get Spink values of $36 and $126. Krause is lower, but remember that a "Krause EF" is equal to a "Spink VF". So based on this, the Krause value for one of these coins in "British VF" condition ($80) is actually higher compared to the Spink value ($36).

Of course, both Krause and Spink are "book values" and may have had nothing to do with actual prices people were paying at dealers, auction or ebay at the time. But the local book is likely to be closer to the mark. This "British gVF" 1855 shilling sold in 2003 for £40/$63 - pretty much on par with the Spink value, but well under what you might expect if Krause was your only guide.