High-Low Beckett Prices

Buccaneer

Can someone remind me what the two columns in the Beckett price guide reflects in regards to condition? I know they are low and high retail prices but what about condition? Are the vintage prices (like T206, 1952) based on a lower condition than, say, 1983? Knowing it's only a guide, I see the low high for 52& common being $20-40. What does this mean?

perkdog

I believe its stated that the prices are for NM condition and the high/low are what you should expect a card to price at, IE; Dont expect the card to be worth less than the low amount and not more than the high amount. I may be wrong but I thought thats how I read it a few weeks back when I bought my first issue in about 5 years.

aro13

Steve - perkdog is correct about the low and high columns. The low column represents the lowest price a buyer should expect to find and the high column the highest price a buyer should expect to pay. The cards are priced at NM for 1948 to probably about 1974 when the card prices are listed as NMMT.

basestealer

It used to be nearmint for everything pre 1974, and nm/mt for everything 1974-1988, and MINT for everything after 1988 (I'm sure this has changed). LO and HI columns are just a retail price range one can find the cards for sale (NOT what a dealer would offer, which is much, much lower). And, to find the price of a card in a condition other than what the columns represent, for cards 1974-1988, one should (according to Beckett), multiply the price by 100% for NM/MT, 75% for NM, 50% for EXMINT, 30% for EX, 15% for VG, and 5% for POOR. A Mint card would be X 125-150%. In the real world (the slabbing/plastic holder collectible hobby), mint cards command premiums closer to 1000% or more over NM/MT examples. Beckett has long since been rendered useless as a price guide.

Buccaneer

basestealer, I am fully aware of that (i.e., price guide being worthless). As I am getting back into building raw vintage sets, I needed to know the relative values of cards, not only between sets but within sets as well.