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 Replies: 26 / Views: 1,887 |
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Forum Dad
 United States
23755 Posts |
Written by a Facebook friend, Matthew Demattei. I think it is a great article.I have often seen the refrain, "A coin is worth what a person is willing to pay for it." Well, kind of. To some extent, this is true. Prices are driven by market forces and are influenced by the coin's popularity, rarity, or age. Bashlow restrikes of Confederate cents are essentially more recent counterfeits made from original, defaced dies, and yet may still command prices of $100 or more. Many coins are far more rare than the famous 1909-S VDB, but can't even come close to its steep price tag. In these cases, popularity, and consequently what people are willing to pay for these pieces, is what is in play here. But there are other cases where the argument for this begins to break down. ebay, Etsy, and other forums are clogged with fakes, tooled coins, and common/damaged coins that unscrupulous vendors attempt to sell for extremely high prices where they would normally have little to no value. Novices to coin collecting often reference Etsy prices here to justify why they think their common coin is worth hundreds or thousands, and get upset and tell the mods and admins that they're being "negative" when we tell them their coins are worth only face value. Even if one of these shysters on Etsy, etc. succeeds in reeling in someone, that doesn't mean that other examples do and should command the same prices. So, no. A coin is NOT worth what someone is willing to pay for it - a coin is worth generally what MOST knowledgeable people who buy coins are willing to pay for it. There's a reasonable range up and down, and then there are the extremes where either the buyer or the seller has no idea what's going on - this is where the ethical issue usually appears. Taking advantage of another's lack of knowledge has no actual influence on the real price of a coin. Caveat emptor, caveat vendor. Educate yourself, and have fun and happy hunting!
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
17530 Posts |
Good discussion. I tend to fall in the 'an item (coin, car, watch, cabin on Lake Tahoe, etc.) is worth what a person is willing to pay for it' basket. Of course, 'worth' fluctuates as various factors come into and go out of play. I chose to use the term item, not limited to coin.
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Moderator
United States
164495 Posts |
An interesting perspective, thank you for sharing.  Perhaps we should be saying that a legitimate coin is worth what an educated person is willing to pay for it.  |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
94367 Posts |
My dad used to say, "the value of anything is what you can re-sell it for the same day you bought it."
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Moderator
United States
164495 Posts |
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My dad used to say, "the value of anything is what you can re-sell it for the same day you bought it." That sounds right to me. 
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
7167 Posts |
I think we can parse that saying ad infinitum, but it's still basically true (other than possibly differences in value with channel to market). Adding P. T. Barnum's "There's a sucker born every minute" is the only other comment we need to help. Supply and demand can explain pretty much everything. We don't need to invoke terms like "popularity" (which affects demand), "rarity" (which nobody can define anyhow), or age, which most reasonably experienced collectors know is irrelevant. On any day, there is a supply of 1909-S VDBs available, and there are people looking to buy one on the demand side. The same thing is true for fakes. There is a supply, and on the demand side there are educated collectors, and a certain number of P.T. Barnum's characters. The value of the fake is still determined by what someone on the demand side is willing to pay, and we might not like the result, but it doesn't change the fact that they sell at some price (hopefully one that is lower than an authentic coin). The "channel to market" comment has to do with whether buyers are willing to pay differently for a coin that comes from an auction house, versus an LCS, versus on ebay, after taking all the real costs into account. I've never seen anyone try to analyze that. As for the questions we get here, we just continue to tell the questioners to check their facts and see if the coin has ever actually sold for that price. Edited by tdziemia
10/15/2024 12:14 pm
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Moderator
United States
164495 Posts |
Thank you for sharing your analysis. |
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Moderator
United States
54172 Posts |
A coin is worth only what I am willing to pay for it.
You see "worth" is relative to the person doing the paying.
Show your financial support of the Coin Community Family (click here)See my topic on Mexican Numismatic Medals (click here) |
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Moderator
United States
164495 Posts |
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A coin is worth only what I am willing to pay for it. Willing, but not able. A key distinction. 
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3740 Posts |
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a coin is worth generally what MOST knowledgeable people who buy coins are willing to pay for it I have a recent example. There was a bust half with tripled edge lettering on a choice coin. Knowing the market (probably less than 10 people actively seek out edge errors), the rarity of the error (scarce to rare), and the ability to cherrypick them in the wild for base price, I offered exactly what I was willing to pay. There is another collector who offered substantially more, clearly overpaying and could likely achieve 1/2 of his cost if he sold it the same day. I still value that coin 1/2 of what the seller got. I said congrats, someone was a sucker. But there are always suckers and unknowledgeable people willing to pay insane money for basic material. That drives the prices up. Whether we agree with them or not, that sets the value because nobody has to sell to the knowledgeable collector base if they can get more elsewhere.
Suffering from bust half fever. Want to learn how to attribute early half dollars by die variety? Click Here: http://goccf.com/t/434955Shoot me a PM if you are looking to sell bust halves. |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
959 Posts |
That's why it's always good advise to buy the book before the coin to get at least a ballpark figure on what the coin should be selling for. Also check ebay sold items. It's an interesting dynamic if something (like a low mintage medal) that hasn't come up for sale for a long time sparks a bidding war. If the price was more than expected, others with that item may put theirs in a future auction. It may turn out that only two people were willing to pay a high price for that item and subsequent items sell for much less. |
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Moderator
United States
164495 Posts |
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...at least a ballpark figure on what the coin should be selling for... Indeed! "Price guides are just guides." Yes, but guides are still important!
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7497 Posts |
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My dad used to say, "the value of anything is what you can re-sell it for the same day you bought it." My Dad said the same thing, too! And it still rings true today!
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Pillar of the Community
2208 Posts |
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a coin is worth generally what MOST knowledgeable people who buy coins are willing to pay for it. There's a reasonable range up and down, and That sums it up nicely, good discussion
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7167 Posts |
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A coin is worth only what I am willing to pay for it.
You see "worth" is relative to the person doing the paying. Respectfully disagree. If you are only willing to pay $75 for a coin, but the last five sales at auction are $100 - 150, the value of the coin is $100-150 (more if you take the other costs of the auction into account). So, maybe the better statement of the sentiment in the title is "A coin is worth what someone has SHOWN they are willing to pay for it"
Edited by tdziemia
10/15/2024 5:40 pm
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
94367 Posts |
Right - buy it, then try to re-sell it , that's what the coin is worth.
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Replies: 26 / Views: 1,887 |
Posted 10/15/2024 07:32 am
