I've recently been using the NGC cert verification page to get better pictures of coins from ebay, and was wondering if anyone had thoughts on the "Numismedia value"? Is it a good price to go by?
If you want to buy at those prices, no problem. You'll find a willing seller. However, if you want to sell at those prices, good luck a finding buyer.
Numismedia Pricing The rule of thumb used to be 2/3 of CW Trends for many of the certified type gold coins. I would say that Greysheet and Bluesheet are good to get for $3.99 each, and they give you a good idea of what the CoinNet buyers and sellers are trading at. Copper spots and problem coins are discounted. It wouldn't hurt giving the Heritage buyers a call or Spectrum to see where their prices are currently. Heritage has excellent auction archives for the higher end coins--no one will offer you those prices unless you have a really high-end coin.
I get both the greysheet and Coin Values. I shoot for halfway between them. But you have to watch out using Coin Values. Some of their prices are WAY out of whack.
Okay guys, thanks for the help. How often do you get a new greysheet? Would the prices change significantly from week to week? If not, I'll probably just request a free one, or ask my coin shop for some of their old ones.
okay, here is a bit of info, as soon as those magazines, books etc hit the streets or your doorstep, the coin values in them are outdated. They are useless when using for considering buying .
They are very accurate if you are selling, as a dealer. Very poor if you are buying! Extremely poor if you are a collector who is selling.
It is an axiom that past prices are irrelevant. At best they are a guide. They show what other buyers and sellers agreed on at some time. (Whether historical charts can predict feature prices is arguable.) Auction results have some merit, but realize that in auction, many bidders pursue one object. On the bourse floor, many sellers seek you, the buyer. At the shop, your relationship is worth more than all the guides. Auction results are reported. The others are not. Read the fine print in the price guides. They say that they neither buy nor sell the items listed. They only report a summary of prices reported to them. They also say that a price in a category does not mean that an item in that category was actually bought or sold at all. In every case, the chief editor has a set of valued dealers who help fill in the sheet, even if no sales were made. People will swear that this guide or that is reliable or way off. That is based on their own limited personal experience -- and that is fine: for them. "Your mileage may vary." I know active collectors and vest pocket dealers who get up to a dozen price guides: Red, Blue, Grey, Blue, Values, ... For all the difference it makes, the Standard Catalog of World Coins is a price guide for US coins. When I go to a coin show I carry a Red Book -- from 1973, because I don't know all the mintage numbers. (I mark it up, paste in ads, draw my own tables in the back....) There is an old joke: At Kurtz's Meat Market the customer says, "How can you charge 29 cents a pound for lamb, when Lennie has his for 25?" So, buy from Lennie. "But his is terrible." (Alternately: "He is sold out.") Our theories of pricing come from disparate -- often contradictory -- sources. Some people want coins to be fungible commodities, like wheat, so that all MS-63 1883-P Morgan Dollars are equal. Some people think that the price posted for that moment is the price that everyone paid at that moment, like the federally regulated stock markets. Visit the website of the Early American Coppers. There, active dealers post pictures and prices past and present. You can find the same thing at VCOINS, as well. And boards like CoinTalk have market areas, too. Price guides are only one source of information.
Coin Dealer Newsletter can be downloaded here: http://www.greysheet.com/ There is a range in pricing on same date, grade and denomination, but when you are dealing with semi-numismatics such as generic $20 libs and saints, there is not much range in price, unless you are dealing with problem coins such as the MS65 Saint someone recently inquired about or very high end coins for the grade. When you call up a wholesaler such as Heritage or Spectrum, they will not care that much that the coin you are selling is high-end, and will make an offer based on buy indications. They will probably not sell you their high end coins at generic prices. CAC has been able to make a market in PQ coins while hungrily eyeing submitted coins for upgrade potential. Those coins they buy knowing they can make substantial profits with one of the buyers that they know as offering top dollar.
I agree 100% Michael. However - the majority of the price guides, magazines, various web sites that advertise themselves as price guides - let's say one of them list a coin of a given grade with a value of $1500. But you can go to 2 or 3 different dealers, Teletrade or Heritage, and buy that very same coin in that very same grade for $500. Then just how useful is that price guide ? You see, to me that is the point. For a price guide to even be considered as a useful guide - it at least has to be in the ballpark with the prices it has listed. If the price guide said the coin was worth $450, or even $600 - that I could accept and that I would call a guide. But when they are so far from reality as to be a joke - then that's all they are, a joke. And in point of fact that's all most of the price guides are - a joke.
