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Bewildered by "blue book" and "red book"
SamThompson
Posts: 126
Being a newbie I received my copies of the infamous "blue book" and redbook" today and I must say that the first thing that bewilders me is that higher grades are NOT listed...in Mercury's, it only goes up to MS-63, and the VAST majority of Merc's don't have any price listed above au-50! The second thing that bewilders me is the stark contrast between the prices on this site's listings -vs- the redbook. Some coins appear to be 4, 5, even 10 times difference. What gives, and who is right? lol I'm thinking I'm just going to turn right around and sell these worthless books back for what i paid for em'
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blue book is inbetween
red book is higher prices
Ignore them all. I buy a redbook once every 10 years or so just because of the individual coin weights and measures listed for the coins and mintages I need to look up rarely.
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The Blue book is the the biggest waste of money.No reputable dealer will pay that low for a coin.I don't even know why Whitman prints that book.
The Red Book is a great guide for the beginning collecter and has alot of useful info.However prices listed in the Red Book are the values that were current when the book was printed.So they can not always be used for a pricing guide.
My advice is to subscribe to a coin newspaper that lists prices usually every month.Numismatic News is probably the best to get as it lists most grades.Coin World is a great publication,but their retail values are 150% to 200% over actual retail. Go to www.numismaticnews.net. It's $28.95/year
The greysheet is what the dealers use.It lists wholesale prices.It is expensive to get ($98/year) but its the only price guide real dealers use.The website is: www.greysheet.com
P.S. You can keep the Red Book but ship that good for nothin' Blue Book back were it came from!
know the real strenght of the market. Many people believe they are paying good
prices but find when they go to sell that they've been paying too much. Generally
you should figure on getting back at least 50% to 110% of what you've been paying.
You can always pick up nice coins cheaply just for the purpose of selling if you have
nothing you're willing to sell.
The greysheets are the most respected pricing guage overall in the hobby, but are by no means the final word on pricing, both buying and selling. They are considered to be wholesale prices that dealers use to buy and sell coins at the wholesale level from the public and to sell dealer to dealer (again it is not fixed in stone, just a guide). The same dealers usually have some multiple thay add to those wholesale prices to sell their coins at the retail level to their customers. Greysheet Link
My favorite combo is the current greysheet used in conjunction with the popular "coin prices" magazine Coin prices mag.. They are found at most Borders, Barnes and Noble and other large bookstores in the magazine section. Since I collect circulated coins with a much more consistent track record, the listed prices are usually very close to what a coin will sell for. For higher graded and more expensive coins in the $1000.00 and up range, the guides are usually just a starting point and more research will have to be done by consulting experienced dealers or collectors and or researching recent auction prices at coin auction venues.
Tyler
It's the one book I wish I had read before I started collecting!
Check out the Southern Gold Society
The best "book" to sell by now is the Littleton value guide, which makes the Red Book look like Goldilocks.
Forget all these books...and maybe every price list. But the only ones that seem worth a plug nickel are the CDN (some or the majority of the time for commonly traded coins), and even the new Coin World "CoinValues" magazine. The market is active in enough areas that your retail guide is almost functioning as a wholesale guide for the moment on hot coins.
roadrunner
The Blue Book stinks, and it deserves every criticism that I heaped upon it.
In contrast, the "Red Book" was viewed for many years as a primary guide to RETAIL U.S. coin values. If you had a relative who bought coins, but who kept no records, the IRS has been known to accept the amounts listed in old Red Books as a reliable guide as to what that person paid.
Older editions of the Red Book, especially the first 10 years have become collectors' items. The book is still a decent reference for major varieties, the coin market has become so dynamic that the prices listed in it are outdated before the book hits the shelves. Still the book is of use because of the variety and mintage data that it contains, which makes it worthwhile for many collectors. Generally any serious collector will have at least one edition of a fairly recent Red Book.
Probably the best use of the Blue Book is to see what your collection is really going to be worth if you have a forced sale.
The price guide portion really sucks.
redbook is where every newbie should START, but sooner or later, everyone outgrows it. you still should get 1 every once in a while, it makes an excellent coin checklist.
K S