So how do YOU price AU?

coinpictures

I may have asked this question a few years back, but it doesn't hurt to get a fresh sample of opinions.

Given that Krause lists coins in F, VF, XF, and UNC (depending on country and issue, you may get VG though XF, or VF through BU), how do you value AU?

The way that I've always done it, and the way the local dealers I've dealt with have done it, is that AU is half way between XF and UNC. So if a coin lists for $30 in XF and $200 in UNC, I put AU at $115.

The problem then becomes, especially in the case of slabs, AU50 vs. AU53 vs. AU55 vs. AU58. Obviously any time you sell, the buyer is going to say "AU is AU. It don't matter if it's 50 or 58." For the most part, I agree, and do the same when buying. AU50 = AU53 = AU55 in my eyes. I will tend to give a bit of a bump to AU58, perhaps considering it 75% of the difference between XF and UNC. Most AU58s are soooooooooo close to UNC (and in many cases might make UNC if cracked and resubmitted), that I feel they are worth a bit of a premium over a normal AU.

I figure that an AU58 is an "UNC Lite", or slider. The beauty of an UNC at a cheaper price. Most AU58s are coins that people thought were UNCs when submitted.

What are your thoughts? Rant. Rave. Sound off. Tell me I'm full of crap. Discuss!

-Dan

newsman

I suspect for most people it depends on if they are buying or selling.

Seriously, I think your system is pretty fair, and I've seen a lot of AU coins priced that way. But I think there are some coins that will go all the way to the Unc. price if they are AU58 and others that trade for much closer to the XF price.

wybrit

AU is a toughie. Prices seem to increase exponentially with grade, so AU in theory should be about 1/3 or less of the way from EF to UNC.

In practice, most dealers use the method you describe.

Of course, EF in Britain is already AU (in some case maybe MS60 or 61).

lordmarcovan

I average the XF and UNC prices, rounding up or down depending on what looks right.

But not 100% of the time. I go with gut instinct and common sense (yeah, I do have a tiny bit of that).

When there is a really wide spread, I sometimes go far below the midpoint and just price a little above XF.

ajaan

<< <i>I go with gut instinct . . . (yeah, I do have a tiny bit of that). >>


A tiny bit of gut???? You been working out LM?

Aethelred

<< <i>

<< <i>I go with gut instinct . . . (yeah, I do have a tiny bit of that). >>


A tiny bit of gut???? You been working out LM? >>



What he means is that he slaps his gut and adds a dollar for each second it moves. He prices AU coins higher with each passing year!


Sad thing is I can also use that method now!

tbirde56

I too tend to average between XF and Unc when they are fairly close (ex. $10, $25 = $17.50).
But if XF and Unc are wide apart I usually use 50% of Unc (ex. $5, $30 = $15).

SYRACUSIAN

I find it a little bit more complicated. Unc is an entirely different planet and has its own spread between low end (MS60-62) and high end. Very often, an MS61 is priced below unc ,so to avoid further confusion ,I tend to consider an AU as a good EF and price it accordingly. The exception to this is AU58, where I have to see the actual coin to decide as indeed, most 58s were thought to be low end unc by the submitters.

spoon

What others have said

And similar to the British system, the Germans have "vz-st" (vz=xf, st=unc) which actually appears with its own price column in the leading monthly price guide.

gxseries

I personally hate catalogue values. I just judge by the market values and estimate the prices by then. Sometimes a catalogue is way too undervalued or maybe overvalued. I have seen both so I can't really say much either. But yes, my best guess would be that if it is AU, it is definately in between XF and UNC and depending which side it is nearer to, I would say it would be better to fix a ratio to it. Least, the worst you can expect is to pay the full price of UNC if it happened to be a coin that you wanted so badly for an aUNC.

MadMuffin

I agree with wybrit that an AU price should be closer to the XF price than the UNC price.

Just to give an example: a coin that costs $20 in XF and $100 in UNC I would price around $45-50 in AU no matter if I were buying or selling.

Are there any official guidelines how the pricing should be done? I haven't seen any. But if you look in many national coin catalogs such as the red book the coins have prices in all grades. One could do a bit of math on some selected coins to see if there is a pattern. On the other hand that would probably be difficult - some coins are quite common both in XF and UNC, while others are common in XF but not in UNC

Marcel