How come no one ever talks about the “Blue Book”, but the “Red Book” is often mentioned.

Mr_Spud

Just wondering. I saw an ad for the 2024 Blue Book, made me think of this.

may

The blue book is more helpful for dealers, and the red book is more helpful for collectors. There is just more demand for red books because of that.

BStrauss3

Because the blue book is useless for collectors and only minimally useful for dealers. It's supposed to be a dealer-to-dealer wholesale price. Nobody uses it, they use auction sales, the greysheet, etc.

And the RedBook has information way beyond just prices.

lilolme

I bought this blue book years ago (used not new ). I think it was in a used book store. It has some interesting prices in it.

MICHAELDIXON

How come nobody ever mentions the Black Book?

Mr_Spud

I either never knew, or totally forgot, that there is a black book until now

ShaunBC5

I bought (or asked for/received as a gift) a blue book back in the day for comparison purposes. I found it interesting to see some of the spreads. There’s not as much to talk about regarding the blue book, though, and was more interesting as a collector after having a few years under my belt with the red book.

ernie11

I have the Fourth Edition / Third Edition overprint variety.

ElKevvo

I have some older versions of the Blue Book that are useful at times. I purchase a new Red Book every few years in case there is some updated info that I can learn about.

K

Batman23

i have a copy somewhere, it sure would be nice to find coins at those prices. Never took it seriously other than a reminder of what liquidation value might be. I always wondered if there was enough use/demand for the blue book but they keep printing them and they are always available. Reading these responses here, I still don't know who those people are.

TwoSides2aCoin

The majority got swept up by Facebook . Now the blue book and red book are obsolete.

PerryHall

I knew a coin dealer many years ago that kept an old copy of the blue book in his coin shop. If someone brought in some rare coins to sell and it was obvious they weren't a coin collector, he would get out the old blue book so they could look up what the coins were worth.

divecchia

I have a blue book, but I don't use it for pricing. It's a bit out of date.

I bought it just to see what the prices looked like when I was born.

Donato

Catbert

I surmise that no one talks about it because it is generally useless!

NeophyteNumismatist

I have done some experimenting at local shows. Sometimes I walk around a show with my Greysheet in hand, and other times I leave it in my bag. I have come to find that I get better prices from dealers when I have the Greysheet in my hand (I don't have to open it).

I wonder what would happen if I carried the Blue Book. I suspect that I would not get the same result.

ajaan

@PerryHall said:
I knew a coin dealer many years ago that kept an old copy of the blue book in his coin shop. If someone brought in some rare coins to sell and it was obvious they weren't a coin collector, he would get out the old blue book so they could look up what the coins were worth.

I have seen this happen at a local coin shop.

Cougar1978

The blue book is a handy tool for a dealer to calculate offer basis on an estate or something that walks up off bourse. I have used it mainly with estates and sometimes from my table at shows.

Keep it out of sight in your briefcase on the back table. If needed simply turn around / out of sight is out of mind lol.

BillJones

As a collector, I have viewed the Blue Book as a poor second cousin to the Red Book. I have felt this way since I bought my first one in the 1960s. It has less information, and the pricing is useless, unless you want to use use to buy coins from an uninformed person.

I have a complete set of Red Books from the very first edition. They provide a bit of numismatic history. I have maybe three Blue Books and would never buy another one.

Barberian

I surmise that no one talks about it because it is generally useless!

It's useless today for me given all of the data available online. I still have one but haven't seen it in a year or so.

For my friend and I back in the '80s, that was our Redbook, i.e., the Bluebook was the price standard we strived for at DC Beltway coin shows chasing after what would be $20-$200 items today. The Bluebook was our guide/goal. I would scrounge junk boxes, dealer's 2x2 boxes of large cents, mid-grade Lincolns and common seated dimes, pick coins out of dealer's newly purchased coin albums where all coins were priced near bullion value, haggle with dealers over semikey Lincoln, then hit the after-bourse auction to grab some nice 19th century type coins for below BB prices. Neither of us had much money back then, but we did well.

The McGlaughlin and Robinson auctions were excellent so long as you looked at the material. At the end of the day, we'd compare our acquisitions and figure out if our total was under Bluebook for the day and by how much to decide who bought the beer for the coin party afterwards. If we weren't hitting coin shows, we were metal detecting or going to estate auctions., but those are other stories. Going back to school ended the coin shows until I attended the FUN show in 2020.

Sorry for the journey down memory lane, but someone mentioned the Bluebook.

1914-D VF35 - when I received the grade, I said a prayer of forgiveness and thanks to the seller wherever he is for coming down to my price (below BB).

1798/7 16 stars dime made into a love token - found in a junk box for 2-3 dollars.