Posted 04/05/2011 11:34 am
This is an issue I've come across as well as I collect IHC varieties as well. Generally, the rarer the variety the higher the premium, however some are not that rare but because of the market demand have a much higher premium. For example, the 1869/9 S3 variety is not overly rare, but it has a very high market demand, largely due to there being a space in folder/albums and b/c it was incredibly popular when it was believed to be an overdate. However, other varieties may not even warrant a premium or a small one if that. For example, I recently purchased an 1866/6 S2 variety for just about the price of a regular 1866 in the same condition. In order to help me determine a price I try to look at auction histories and prior ebay sales. Some more common varieties, such as the 1869 S3, have retail estimates in book, but most do not. Even if you find an auction/purchase of a coin in a much higher grade, you can use that to estimate what the price would be in the grade you are looking at. As another example, I purchased an 1887 DDO S1 in what I would call VG8. I was only able to find sales of coins that were in VF+ condition which were in the $400-$500 range, so I used that price to estimate about what I should expect to pay. However, as Nybird said, it also comes down to how much you are willing to pay. If you really like the variety or coin, pay what you think is reasonable, there is no real right or wrong. You can also search for the variety and see if you can find a retailer online selling the coin and see how much they are selling it for. In the end, I always start with the value of the coin w/o the variety and add a premium accordingly.
