How Useful Is The "red Book" As A Price Guide?

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Author	Replies: 8 / Views: 4,711
houston_guy462004 Valued Member United States 235 Posts	Posted 10/26/2006 1:49 pm I recently returned to collecting US coins. I know that the " Red Book" contains a plethora of useful information, but I question the accuracy of its values. I believe that it started as a survey of fixed price lists of well-known dealers, but now think the prices are artificially increased each year and bear no relationship to the true fair market value of a coin. Auction prices are great for estimating fair market value of very high grade and rare date coins, but what about the lower grade, common date coins for the average collector? I have looked at the fixed price list at Heritage and Bowers & Merena, but they sell only ridiculously unaffordable coins. A lot of dealers seem to advertise that their price is "below Red Book" -- thus making the Red Book a sales gimmick. I am beginning to think that the fair market value of a coin is only 60 - 80% of the Red Book price for lower grade and common date coins, and maybe 80 - 90% for MS or rare date coins. How many of you agree? Harlan Berk offers affordable coins on his website which I also use to gauge a reasonable bid on ebay. Are there any other more down-to-earth dealers who maintain an online fixed price list or frequent bid-or-buy sales? Report this Post to the Staff

Susanlynn9 Forum Mom United States 5877 Posts	Posted 10/26/2006 2:03 pm There are a number of price guides available. The grey sheet, which is the most popular, actually represents the trade value between dealers, not retail. I have found that, with a few exceptions, the Red Book is improving in its values. They are still way off on common-date Morgans and a couple of other series, but are surprisingly close with coppers, classic silver coins, and others. We sell coins on consignment and have always used the Red Book as a baseline for valuation of the coins as it creates less confusion for our clients and we have a common price guide to use throughout the year. The prices tend to be a little high when the book first comes out, pretty accurate around the middle of the year, and then a little low by the time the new edition is due. Report this Post to the Staff
Bigfella Pillar of the Community Australia 853 Posts	Posted 10/26/2006 9:50 pm Gee whiz.....there is nothing like a grey sheet in Aussie Land....how do you get the Grey Sheet of US coinage. Report this Post to the Staff
Susanlynn9 Forum Mom United States 5877 Posts	Posted 10/26/2006 9:59 pm Here is the link. It costs $3.99 per issue and it comes out every month. There is one for raw coins, graded coins, and currency. http://www.greysheet.com/ Report this Post to the Staff
whitesid Valued Member United States 82 Posts	Posted 10/26/2006 10:02 pm i don't know really but when ever I got to the coin shop around here he charges buy the Red Book price Report this Post to the Staff
Susanlynn9 Forum Mom United States 5877 Posts	Posted 10/27/2006 05:53 am There are quite a few dealers who buy by greysheet and sell by Red Book. Red Book is supposed to be retail price. It actually seems pretty fair to me. The profit margin doing it that way isn't very high. Report this Post to the Staff
just carl Bedrock of the Community United States 20753 Posts	Posted 10/27/2006 12:28 pm A long, long time ago there was fery few coin price guides and the Red and Blue books were the way to go. Red for highest prices and blue for lowest prices. Then after a period of time both books became outdated as modernation of communications improved where you could find out the price of anything via the internet. Prices on coins change regularly and the Red Book comes out to infrequently to be used for valuations. The latest Edition is the worst such case. The 2007, 60th Edition came out back in March or April of 2006 so by now the prices are outlandishly a joke. Utilizing Red Book prices when attending a coin show, for instance, could actually get a few laughs nowadays. There are a multitude of web sites with coin prices and as already noted most dealers use the grey sheet. At most coin shows I attend they pass out a magazine of coin prices called "Coin Prices". It's free so I pick one up at each show and I go to about 3 coin shows a Month so I get them all the time. It is advertised on their web site as https://www.coinpricesmagazine.net Then there is places like the PCGS web site where they have a list of well overpriced coins. Prior to going to coin shows I print out the PCGS coins price list, go to dealer web sites like Millersmint and print out their prices, put those sheets in the latest copy of that mag I mentioned and go to a coin show. So far I've never ended up using any of that stuff though because at coin shows prices are what they are regardless of any such documents. But back to the Red Book. It is just about the most usless coin pricing document available. Report this Post to the Staff
Bigfella Pillar of the Community Australia 853 Posts	Posted 10/27/2006 9:30 pm In Australia we have two pricing guides that come out roughly (and I mean roughly) annually. As a professional dealer I find the prices are over inflated on some items, under priced on others and just right on some. You have to keep in mind that any price guide can be out of date from release date as it it probably been at the printers for 3 months. As the year goes no some prices get further from the mark. To say a price guide is useless is an unfair statement. Prices guides are only a guide....they are not a bible of exact prices. It will be very rare you will pay exactly what the books says. You will pay what the market dictates and on how good you are in negotiating. Prices guides will give any collector an idea of what is availabe (to make up complete sets) and a ballpark price. This will in particular allow novice collectors to not be completely ripped off. At the end of the day if in general a price guide is within 20% of the real market price upon the books release date then I am more than satisfied with its' accuracy. After all it it just a general guide. Report this Post to the Staff
OldDan Pillar of the Community United States 1203 Posts	Posted 10/27/2006 10:12 pm Bigfella said, "To say a price guide is useless is an unfair statement. Prices guides are only a guide....they are not a bible of exact prices. It will be very rare you will pay exactly what the books says. You will pay what the market dictates and on how good you are in negotiating. Prices guides will give any collector an idea of what is availabe (to make up complete sets) and a ballpark price. This will in particular allow novice collectors to not be completely ripped off." To this I could agree with 100%, as it's the novice that need the protection from those who whuld use the situation to gouge. As Bigfella said, "they are only a guide". Report this Post to the Staff
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How Useful Is The "Red Book" As A Price Guide?