Are Cherrypickers' Guide Varieties Worth Anything In Circulated Grades? Details Grades? Unslabbed?

In short, I think you kind of answered your own question. The more extreme and out of the ordinary a variety is, the more will be paid for them. There are some of the CPG's that are much more "rare" than some of the biggies but just do not command the same price and recognition. There are also MANY that do not carry any FS/CPG recognition that most definitely should, even more than some that do. I feel much of this is created by the powers that be, nothing more than politics and those in control, like the rest of the world. For these off the wall varieties, I suggest you list as you do other things on the bay, a "buy it now price" or a starting price of what you would like to get out of it in an auction format and set it up to relist when it's over. The folks that want these will find them eventually.

I did not address the actual question very well but it follows everything I have already said. Regardless of the condition of the coin, I think there is someone out there who needs to fill a hole and a lesser coin may be better than what they have. It may be hit and miss trying to figure out a price to put on it though....

I think makecents' comment about "fill a hole" gets to the real question. We know that registry set competitors have an empty slot for a top-grade slabbed variety. Is there any corresponding "hole" in people's ordinary collections for CPG coins? In theory, I think that rmpsrpms is right to say that rare varieties are more valuable, but then which varieties are rarest and which are in real demand? The former does not guarantee the latter. For example, a 3.5 legged Buffalo nickel is in much, much higher demand than some rare but obscure varieties. A solid D/S or S/D nickel is way more fungible than most of the doubled dies and RPMs.

TB, I remember on a prior thread, you said that varieties with some collecting interest might sell for 50% more than the ordinary version. To your point here, how long does it take to get a feel for the market and for what random collectors are collecting? Obviously the numbers in the CPG are plucked from thin air, and the most reliable numbers are registry grade coins sold at auction. I can see that some varieties do sell on ebay over time, even as raw coins, but ebay doesn't exactly represent a wealth of data.

My thought process has been that I am rescuing varieties from obscurity (and enjoying a little treasure hunt), with the ultimate goal of delivering them to appreciative collectors. Perhaps it could generate a few extra dollars to finance my modest personal collection. But if I am acquiring coins that I cannot liquidate at any price, then ultimately I am failing at the goal of helping other collectors, and tying up my cash in the process. I would like to understand which coins have demand and which do not, or which varieties have a true premium and which do not. But what is the next step in the learning process for varieties as a market? I know that some people—including yourself—navigate these waters quite successfully, but the path to acquiring that knowledge is not presently obvious to me. How do I take another step towards figuring it out?

Cherry Pickers Guide.

No sweat. I updated the topic title since the initialism had the wrong auto-case (Cpg).

I would first suggest the book strike it rich with pocket change (currently 5th edition) which points out a curated list of varieties that might be more worthwhile to be regularly searching for or casually when you happen to come across some change than say going by a list of every single variety known on a free site like a https://www.doubleddie.com/ and http://varietyvista.com/index.htm

This is because many of those varieties listed not covered in the book might be of low value and sometimes a bit harder to identify so time consuming to search (but is a great resource for those who are doing it for more than just casual search and fun) and want some other things to look for. The strike it rich book lists both circulated and uncirculated value ranges to give you a general idea. Keep in mind that these values are more for those condiitons you may find in pocket change as you mentioned. In other words if you happen to be searching uncirculated mint rolls and bags etc instead and find super high condition versions of that variety, its quite possible then it can actually go far higher than the listed price ranges for a top grade example.

You can then use sites like ebay if its a bit lower end that may not be worthwhile to even do say a ngc or anacs grading. A lot of minor errors also fall into that category. I would not worry so much as if something has demand or value it can be sold to those who are looking. Many people don't realize a lot of these lower end errors/varieties have demand to casual collectors. You could potentially use sold listings or ebays terapeak to research.

A few others like https://coppercoins.com/advsearch.php and the cherrypickers have some basic values as well since looking only for unicorn coins would generally not provide results to most. You could also perhaps learn about general error coins, key and semi key dates that may still be out there but don't come up often, browse price guides like pcgs for which coins have value to search out in different conditions. You will better be able to know which coins might be worthwhile in lower grades as well besides looking for top grades from specific years of uncirculated coins which you will notice might be worthwhile to add if searching beyond pocket change.

Finding older coins and silver for example happens far less often so it may also help those who are just doing this for fun, collecting etc find some other things to look for as well. I know many use far less currency than digital these days so for many like me its more just about fun in the hunt, perhaps collecting to others, and only some try to get into it solely for a profit motive. Its mainly the knowledge of what to look for, the availability of things to search and a little luck but with the lowering of change availability its not like the old days. I still would rather try to find something in pocket change or currency for example than buy it unless I was trying to build a collection and could not possibly find it in that manner. Who can find old Mercury dimes in pocket change if you wanted those...

I appreciate the insights, guys.

To datadragon's point, I already own Strike It Rich, the CPG 4th edition, and I have studied Wexler, VV, PCGS for the technical points of identification. Let's just put this out there: the prices listed in the books are (to put it very kindly) inaccurate to the real market. Even the Red Book and Numismedia are disconnected compared to real sales prices on ebay, in the same way that PCGS price guides are disconnected from Great Collections, Stacks Bowers, and other auction houses.

I appreciate the value of experience, but I think it is a truism to say that years of experience will give a better idea of specific variety coin prices. I have to believe that systematic study will always give better results than waiting and watching. If there are no established sites, guides, podcasts, or blogs that discuss variety pricing, then I will take that as an opportunity rather than a setback. I have studied the ebay sales and Great Collections records for specific varieties of interest, and the only conclusion that seemed immediately apparent was that the top grade stuff is driven by registry sets, the mid-grade stuff trades infrequently with volatile prices, and the circulation grade stuff is a Sphinx-esque ebay mystery.

Maybe the only way to really take the next step in understanding is to try and sell some of it on ebay. However, I have the sense that marketing reach counts for way more on ebay than the actual variety coins being sold.

Thanks you all of the input was a great thread to read and very interesting and informative I appreciate the time and effort you all gave.