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 Replies: 9 / Views: 1,364 |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
7966 Posts |
There have been discussions here on whether the prices on the NGC World Coin Price Guide are accurate or not, but I have a different question. While using that site to look up the KM number for a coin recently. I ran across some mistakes: wrong photos for type, coins listed in wrong sub-section, etc. I was curious if anyone else has experienced this, and whether there is anything that can be done. The only possibility for contact I could find was customer service, so I sent an email.  |
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21788 Posts |
In the scale of work that the NGC World coin price guide happens to be it come come to no surprise that it is possible to find the occasional mistake. I would find it entirely reasonable that the publishers would be very open to any assistance to find and correct any mistake that is found by the readership. You have helped all coin collectors (and NGC), by sending that email.  I have heard a rather cynical (and perhaps unfair) comment a professional coin dealer, that the values are something akin to a rational number generator. I think rather differently, and despite some mistakes, I find NGC World Values a very useful preliminary guide to coin pricing, and a valuable photo resource. |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
7966 Posts |
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I find NGC World Values a very useful preliminary guide to coin pricing, and a valuable photo resource. Thanks for the thoughtful comment. Indeed, that point on "photo resource" is the reason I wrote the email. I also use that site ... along with others like Numista ... to check identification using the photos. IN this instance, it was Poland (not surprising for anyone who knows my collecting areas), and I must say that the Numista catalog, curated by one of our CCF members, is both better organized, and more accurate than NGC. I know this is not a general trend for NGC, but in this instance was quite egregious. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1156 Posts |
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The World Coin Price Guide is a complete catalog of values for World coins from 1600 to date. Created by NGC and Krause Publications' NumisMaster, the price guide pages are arranged by Krause catalog numbers and include values, images and specifications such as weight, composition, engraver and current bullion values. Found at NGCcoin.com, it is the most comprehensive online valuation guide available, and is free to all users. The key point here is Krause Publications. It went bankrupt in 2018 and pieces were sold off to other companies. I thought I read where NGC sometimes uses their own images but fixing problems may not be under their control. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7966 Posts |
The particular example that astounded me was the 1 groschen types minted in Krakow 1601-1623. Two well known types, nothing exotic. The NGC census report shows that they have graded 130 of these, but they have two different pictures in the World COin Price Guide, both wrong, for KM-5 and KM-11.  |
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Moderator
 Australia
16868 Posts |
Over the years, I have seen numerous faults, errors and problems with both the Krause world coin catalogues and the NGC database, which uses Krause as its primary source. These errors usually get corrected within a year or two of me spotting them, though errors in the 1600s are more likely to linger, due to the cruder nature of the coins and the smaller number of people who collect them. Usually, any "errors" on NGC are as a result of an error in the Krause source.
Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
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Pillar of the Community
United States
574 Posts |
It's 2020, the whole idea of "price guides" as we knew them is barbaric.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7966 Posts |
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It's 2020, the whole idea of "price guides" as we knew them is barbaric. I couldn't agree more. You'll never see me recommending this approach for up-to-date market pricing. But my issue has more to do with using this site for identification/attribution, where having correct images is absolutely essential. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
574 Posts |
Yes. And I've seen incorrect spec's, too, which can be a big deal when you're looking at gold coins.
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21788 Posts |
NGC / Krause does have it's advantages (pictures and pricing guide) and disadvantages (beware of errors).
I make occasional high end purchases via public auction.
Due diligence (research before lodging a bid):
1. Go to the on line catalog and select those lots that I may be interested in.
2. Research prices** and data bases (investigate for possible fakes - almost never a problem when dealing with a specialist numismatic professional auctioneer).
**This where vcoins or NGC / Krause comes in.
Spend a lot of time researching in my own specialist numismatic library - which for me, is an essential tool.
I quite often go to Google Images, and search:- "fake (the coin I am interested in").
3. Go in person to the auction view day and carefully examine in hand those lots that have attracted my interest.
4. Having established authenticity and current fair value for a lot, I write a single fixed priced bid for that lot.
5. Go home and wait for information that I have made successful highest bids.
6. Return to the auctioneer and pay in cash for my new prizes.
Edited by sel_69l
06/10/2020 12:21 am
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Replies: 9 / Views: 1,364 |
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Posted 06/08/2020 10:36 pm
