GREY SHEET PRICING

koinkrazy

Why is "The Grey Sheet" so far behind on certain coin values? It seems like they are really lagging on bringing values up in certain areas. Where do they get their pricing information from, or what does it take in the market for them to adjust either up or down? Is there any other published coin values that seem to be more current?

MrEureka

The "Grey Sheet" is the best overall wholesale price guide. Their policies are stated in every issue.

Which CDN wholesale prices do you think are out of line, and WHY?

DennisH

I heard a number of dealers at the Long beach show make the same comment about the Grey Sheet, and several said they are using Numismedia Fair Market Values quite a bit.

MacCoin

I seen so many dealer use that Gray Sheet like it the word of God.

rays

The gray sheet is almost exclusively based on the Certifed Coin Exchange network. They rarely update values from recent auction sales (which in my opinion is far more accurate).

Barry

So why do they still list NCI and INS, but not some of the newer slabs? I don't think I've seen either in the 5 years since I started collecting again, but see plenty of the others. They may not be respected, but they do have share of the market

barberlover

The people that run grey sheet are going by the most recent direct transaction prices aren't they? Not auction prices. Auction prices lately seam to be a reflection more of competition between heavy hitters then every day collectors who as of late seam to be able to do better thru direct retail purchases then thru competing in nationwide coin auctions like Heritage signature sales, but then again that could trickle down to the retail as well.

As far as using numismedia as an accurate price guide goes, anyone who wants to pay me what numismedia says my 1884 pcgs 66 seated quarter is worth, it's yours right now for the "accurately priced" sum of 9,000 plus. What a bargin!!!

BigD5

Barry, I've written them 2x on the same question you just asked. They claim that INS and NCI coins still trade at sufficient levels to warrant their inclusion. A bunch of hogwash. Plus their inclusion of PCI values hurts their standing in the market, in my opinion.
If they are going to include those services, they may as well have ACG and SEGS, and whomever else is willing to put plastic on the coin.
Using auction pricing can be tricky. You have to distinguish between the retail sale and the wholesale sale, and just because a coin brought big money, doesn't mean the sheet should jump. The sheet is for an average coin for that particular grade. Not a monster that shattered the price guides.

On another note, pricing for Proof IHC's is ridiculously low, in comparison to what the trade for, proof Barber material also.
The Greysheet doesn't help itself by skipping prices in ms/64 brown Lincoln Cents, for example. How about ms/64 FH coins? There are many gaps that could be easily filled, and should be fixed.

rays

<< <i>Using auction pricing can be tricky. You have to distinguish between the retail sale and the wholesale sale, and just because a coin brought big money, doesn't mean the sheet should jump. The sheet is for an average coin for that particular grade. Not a monster that shattered the price guides. >>



For some coins in the gray sheet, the only verifiable pricing is from auction sales. To give one example: The 1797 gripped edge half cent. In the last 5 years there have been 3 verifiable sales, between $20,000 and $36,000 for AG3 examples. The graysheet lists the bid at $5000. There have been no sales at that level. One has to understand what constitutes a graysheet "bid". It is an electronic bid on the CCE to buy a sight-seen coin. There is no obligation on the bidder's part to actually buy a coin at that price. For very scarce coins. the bid can be manipulated very easily without a trade taking place. Hypothetically, if Dealer A were to own a coin of which only a few were known in that grade, and possibly only Dealer A's coin is on the market, Dealer A could post a high bid and the bid value on the graysheet would go up, even without a coin trading hands.
Auction results are verifiable and more reliable for valuable coins, in my opinion. The graysheet is great for fungible coins, such as MS65 Morgans or even 1909SVDB Lincolns, which trade frequently.

More and more, there is no difference between wholesale and retail sales.

BigD5

I agree Rays. I should have added that with the truly rare coins, there is no trading history except auction sales.