Price guides are just that - check this out

DeepCoin

How often do you see the PCGS price guide 33% higher than the bluesheet? I just won an auction on eBay for a 1937-D MS67 Mercury dime. The bluesheet on this coin is 155 and the PCGS price guide (always high retail) is 112. Now the bluesheet is an older one from the summer, but I cant believe the price dropped given the population is 5/0 for a no bands coin in MS67.

Thoughts, comments?

I had a typo on a price that I edited.

TomB

It appears the PCGS guide book is 33% lower and not 33% higher in this case.

DeepCoin

TomB,

You are gight as usual, in my haste I got it backwards. You don't often see this, but then the higher grades are always market driven I would guess.

TomB

I guess in this case there is scant market information since the population is 5/0 and, since that is the case, both services are pulling a number virtually out of thin air. More likely, PCGS is comparing this date to some other date that they consider similar and basing the value on that while the Bluesheet is reflecting what the market thinks of the most hideously slabbed PCGS coin of this date and grade could look like. In this case the values are on opposite ends of what one might usually find.

LincolnCentMan

Here's an interesting tid-bit of note. The pcgs/collector's universe price guide has a 1920-S MS65BN lincoln cent listed at $196. Last July, I purchased the only PCGS certified example for $280, a price that will always be a dirt cheep bargan to me. I e-mailed pcgs and gave them the price I paid, the e-mail of the guy I bought it from, and the coin's e-bay auction number. Since the coin I bought was a PCGS pop 1 none finer coin in bn, I figured they'd at least update the price guide to what I paid for the coin... since that would be a true representation of the current market for it. Nope. It could be that I contacted the wrong person, but I never got an e-mail back to say one way, or the other.

I wouldnt sell the coin for $1000. It's one of the nicest, difficult to find coins I own.