How to properly price coins?

I've been wondering something recently. It is about the Greysheet being regarded as the most accurate coin guide, but what about the CPG book?

First of all, I'm wondering if the CPG has many of the ol' Sheet prices. I'm also wondering if I should buy that book and, when buying coins, trim the price back a certain percentage of the CPG prices.

For other price guides, like PCGS, NGC, and the Red Book, there could definitely be something going on here. Many people value their coins to sell on the online worldwide flea market (yes, that one) by price guide values from those, but I've got a weird story to tell about "inflated" prices. No one price guide seems to hit the nail on the head in what's below.

As an honest coin dealer, I try to price coins cheap while still making a profit. I mean, I won't take an 1881-S Morgan dollar that I know is SPL, and it's PCGS MS63, and label it as PL to sell it for more. Naturally it would bring in more due to its great strike and semi-prooflike quality, but not PL money.

I actually found that the CPG says a 1969-S nickel graded MS66 is worth about $85. PCGS says $52 and NGC says $180. Common selling prices, though, are between $30 and $150. I got mine for $24.

Let's draw a conclusion, folks. How can we properly price coins if we won't pay $27.99 a month for physical copies of the Greysheet, or $40 for a single issue, but we will pay $15 for a CPG? What are your opinions?

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

If it's the greysheet CPG quarterly, that's intended to be a retail price guide for collectors. The greysheet itself is a wholesale price guide for dealers.

It's not wrong to think of them as collector's buy prices and sell prices if you're talking a nice coin shop, one where the chairs aren't held together with duct tape and the proprietor's shirt only has one mustard stain.

As a collector, if you are at a show, you might expect to pay slightly over greysheet and sell for slightly under.

Take current editions of both and compare the pricing side by side, you'll see what I mean.


For material that frequently trades, you can use sold prices from auction guides or even fleaBay too.

Little known (I only found out about it a few months back) is eBay's TeraPeak resource

https://www.ebay.com/sh/research?ma...-datelastsold&tabName=SOLD&tz=America/Chicago

 

I am talking about the Collector Price Guidance, yes. I've been told by many that the Greysheet is reliable, but a lot of others say the market decides what it's worth. That is the CPG book, as I have referenced it as.

As for price guides, there are many I don't trust at all. Some include PCGS, NGC (to some extent, mainly for non-proof coins) and even the Red Book. I also know a coin dealer who sells most stuff at literally the Greysheet price, which seems quite generous, but it's very strange to think that of all the price guides in the world, not one can hit the nail on the head.

How different is the pricing on the Greysheet vs the CPG? I don't have either current issue as of right now, mainly because I don't yet want to pay $40 for a single issue or $27.99 a month.

I do agree with the fact that someone will usually pay more than Greysheet for a coin. Often the usual price is bid plus 10 percent, which is not bad on some coins, like most of what I buy.

Here's a conclusion: would it be better to look up what similar coins have auctioned for, and go from there?

 

Generally, I use ebarf as my main guide when buying coins. I do look at other sources, but the key word for me in all of them is, 'guide'. I've never bought a grey sheet, and all dealers here have let me look at after they whip it out to price coins I'm interested in.

Ultimately I consider two things; how much work did I have to do to get the funds, and what are the opportunity costs for buying the coin. I tend to favor experiences over possessions. I'm in no hurry to buy a coin today. I have the luxury of having several larger shows in my area regularly.

 

eBarf? Sir, you literally made me burst out laughing over that! That's definitely one of the best twists of the Bay that I've heard.

Honestly, dealers have been quite friendly with me and Greysheets; for example, the 2 local coin shops I go to both let me look at them to determine accurate pricing, which I see as very fair considering that they made most of the decisions based on the Sheet. I'll admit, there are times I've flopped on a coin deal, but experiences are how collectors learn. I'm glad that I've been able to have these experiences, though, as they've taught me a lot about numismatics.

 

I use ebay since sometimes the charts can be severely wrong as sometimes certain coins can flip and flop daily price wise.Take the recent gold rise for instance which is a pretty decent sudden change.A sheet is a sheet and the prices don't magically change while checking auction results will help you in real time day after day.

 

Why should there be a single price guide? Even within a single TPG, coins aren't all the same.

A PCGS plastic 1909-S VDB in XF40BN could be just barely a 40, a solid 40, or almost a 45.

There was a time when there were two dealer prices quoted - Sight Unseen and Sight Seen - with the expectation that if the dealer saw the coin, they would either be willing to pay a little more, definitely be willing only to pay less, or not be interested at all...

If you follow the link I posted, you will see

• March 1st, XF40, auction - sold for $1,252.
• February 25th, XF45, auction - sold for $1,350.
• February 23rd, XF40, BIN - sold for $1,345.
• February 18th, XF40, BIN - sold for $1,424.99

PCGS' price guide says $1,450. If you look at their auction prices including eBay (but note they are all 2023 sales)



and they reference two for-sale listings:


NumisMedia Fair Market Value says $1,530

(https://www.numismedia.com/rarecoin...e=any&searchtext=fmv&search4=any&proof=&plus=)



So what's it worth? You can probably buy one for around $1,300. A dealer would probably offer you $1,200. A shop might sell it for $1,400 or even $1,500.

 

There are 3 different issues (4 with Paper Money issue and 5 with World Paper Money access). Read what each issue states is the basis of the prices published.

I posted all 3 of the various publications and the statements some time ago, when a few members seemed befuddled (I like that word...it is the kind of word that I think of when someone doesn't trust any price guide printed by anyone and aligns their complete pricing Faith in auction results only).

Anyway your stated publication costs may be because you do not consider the benefit of a 1 year subscription for all the publications, at a cost of $500.00 (and the entity tends to be very generous with a first-time subscriber).

You quoted a digital only price @ $27.99/month, and that does not include the Paper Money...U.S. and World......or the 4 magazines: CPG/CAC/GREYSHEET and GREENSHEET.

The $27.99 per month is digital only access for CPG REtail Values (U.S.Coins,CAC Pricing), CPG Retail Values (U.S. Paper Money), Banknote Book Retail Values (World Paper Money), and GREYSHEET Wholesale Values (U.S.& World Coins and , CAC). The price of $27.99 per month IS NOT FOR PHYSICAL COPIES. IT IS DIGITAL ACCESS ONLY.

The $40 you stated is the price stated on the front cover of the CDN Monthly wholesale publication for a single copy.
The CAC Rare Coin Market Review is $15.00 per single copy, as is the Coin and Currency Market Review. Buying them separately for 1 year would be a ridiculous method to purchase, when the price of each is extended.

The premise of your question concerning pricing publication/s is incorrect and misleading and causes a false logic posit for the follow-on question/s, namely: 1) how to properly price coins if the person does not purchase the physical publication, and 2) trimming back the price of the CPG stated value when BUYING.

The questions emanate from an illogical and weak foundation, based entirely on a misunderstanding of the pricing tools and what the stated pricing represents.

Accordingly, making decisions, as a Dealer or Collector, is not going to be helpful.

However, we should all acknowledge that individually we have every right and ability to make mistakes as long as it doesn't become a habit doing so... which is what I conconclude would occur and be the outcome based on your present misunderstanding.

I am sincere when I state I wanted to give you a suggestion or 2 for re-consideration of your position an at a minimum realize there is a possibility that you should research.

Truth in editing: changed "i" to "I", added an "s" and removed an extra "and". I hate that....

 

It still is...read the description in the various publications of what the listed pricing means.

 

That's crazy. It's like nobody can agree on an average value, and while PCGS says one thing, everyone else says another!

Also, I totally agree with the statement of a coin grading XF40 and possibly being barely or almost 45. It's fairly possible that you could send that 1909-S VDB penny to PCGS three times and it receive 3 different grades. I think it's mainly the graders who are doing it as to what grade gets put on the coin.

 

I must've definitely been mislead on physical copies of the Sheets for $27.99 a month. I could've sworn that that was the price, but often, sites can be misleading. However, with the CPG, I would never pay those prices for a coin, but I was thinking more along the lines of buying coins at CPG minus 20%.

I can, though, see what auction prices are, and potentially go from there on the subject.

 

I think you are digging the illogical conclusion hole deeper.

 

You can that is up to you. BUT (there is always a "but").... explain how you would conclude the auction pricing was more acceptable to base your own conclusions on...i.e., physical sight unseen, quality of images, knowledge level of the bidders, as an example.

 

C'mon now, you don't even know what the stated publication pricing represents...don't skip over that part. It is a hill you need to conquer before you move forward with other premises of pricing preference. I don't think you understand.

 

Knowledge level of the bidders is probably the most important thing. I've known some people at my local coin club that won a Libertad for $50, and it was apparently a high-quality coin. It's better to bid on coins like that and know what you're doing than be like a woman my aunt knows, who paid $20 for a Buffalo nickel only to find out it was dateless.

 

I wish you well in your endeavors and conclusions.

 

For slabbed coins I always check recent auction prices from PCGS coin facts, Great Collections, Heritage, David Lawrence, Stack Bowers, ... Of course, the numbers of examples depends on date/condition rarity, etc. Sometimes there can be quite a range of auction prices for a given coin and grade. I usually look at images (if available) to get a feel of why one coin was priced higher than the other. If it has a CAC bean then the market will add a premium to the price.

For raw coins, I will never pay anything close to what a similar slabbed coin sold for; especially if using seller photos when buying online. It can be difficult to determine if the surfaces are original (cleaning). One should also question their grading skills; especially for series they are not familiar with. If I really want the coin, I'll set a bid several points below the grade that I think.

 

Basic Logic has emerged.....

 

Setting a bid quite low is actually reasonable. I'm one that can grade Indian Head cents pretty decently, but when it comes to certain other coins, I'm sadly not very educated. I can usually tell rimmed coins up to F-12, but then it's a lost cause.

Also, remember this: cleaning on a coin can either nearly maintain value (if properly cleaned) or destroy it (if harshly). I'm hoping that people will be able to recognize the importance of seeing through all this MAC crap as well. I don't even know what they are, but I heard that the man behind Accugrade founded it.