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Does the "Blue Book" serve any legitmate purpose today?
SanctionII
Posts: 11,732 ✭✭✭✭✭
If so, what is it?
Over the weekend I was at a chain book store and saw 2011 editions of the Red Book and the Blue Book. The Red Book has much more information in it than the Blue Book and it is a great reference tool for people who want to learn basic information about US Coins and the history of same.
While looking at the 2011 Red Book, I also took a peek at the Blue Book and put it down quickly.
Do any dealers set their buy prices from the Blue Book? If not, what purpose does it serve?
Over the weekend I was at a chain book store and saw 2011 editions of the Red Book and the Blue Book. The Red Book has much more information in it than the Blue Book and it is a great reference tool for people who want to learn basic information about US Coins and the history of same.
While looking at the 2011 Red Book, I also took a peek at the Blue Book and put it down quickly.
Do any dealers set their buy prices from the Blue Book? If not, what purpose does it serve?
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to have on hand when buying from a less savvy seller?
and naturally the price guide with overly high prices is great to have on hand when
selling and showing the potential customer the value of their intended purchase...
i see it in other hobbies too. multiple price guides for different situations and people.
<< <i>If so, what is it?
Over the weekend I was at a chain book store and saw 2011 editions of the Red Book and the Blue Book. The Red Book has much more information in it than the Blue Book and it is a great reference tool for people who want to learn basic information about US Coins and the history of same.
While looking at the 2011 Red Book, I also took a peek at the Blue Book and put it down quickly.
Do any dealers set their buy prices from the Blue Book? If not, what purpose does it serve? >>
Most dealers I do business with use Greysheet for pricing.
Red Book for general reference, greysheet for pricing.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
The Red Book and the Blue Book are both a joke.........
The Red Book is an "OK" reference for newbies. Anyone seriously into this hobby can obtain much better reference guides for most mainstream coins.
The Blue Book is a total waste of money by any measure.
Successful BST xactions w/PCcoins, Drunner, Manofcoins, Rampage, docg, Poppee, RobKool, and MichealDixon.
<< <i>Can anyone name any reputable buyers that use it? >>
It's on the counter right by the cash register of the coin shop about four blocks from the rest home in a nearby city.
As close as I can come to saying where and not violate the rules at the top of the page.
The worthlessness of the Blue Book is demonstrated by the collector prices for old Blue Books. With the exception of the first edition, which does not sell for a fortune, the rest are not worth the value of the paper inside their covers.
The Blue Book is great if you are looking to rip somebody off. And it does have a cousin, the Green Book, published by some other firm that is even worse. It only has one column labeled “value.” Otherwise it’s sort of an embarrassment to the dealer community IMO.
--- Jack Handy
Positive BST transactions with members - Tander123, Twincam, UtahCoin, ianrussell
<< <i>Let’s face it when you have two grade columns, “Good” and “Fine” in an area like early large cents, >>
Two grade columns? Great Longacre's Ghost, Bill, PM me your mailing address and I'll send you a Blue Book from a recent decade!
Maybe one day the “White Book” will come out. It will have prices we wish we could buy for, and others we could sell for.
<< <i>
<< <i>Let’s face it when you have two grade columns, “Good” and “Fine” in an area like early large cents, >>
Two grade columns? Great Longacre's Ghost, Bill, PM me your mailing address and I'll send you a Blue Book from a recent decade! >>
Well maybe the last time I looked was in the 1990s, but I still thought it was in this decade.
At any rate I'd still wager that the prices in it are beyond low.
What a spectacular anouncement.....Oh, uh...sorry...he didn't really say that....just got carried away with super bowl spill-over hype.
General Price Guides:
Cents from 1880 to 1909: Common - Value from $.50 to $10 each.
Cents from 1909 to 1916 with a "D" or "S" under the date:
$.50 to hundreds of dollars.
Cents from 1916 to present date: Common - Value a few cents each.
Nickels must be before 1938 to have value from $.25 and up.
Nickels after 1938 with the exception of the 1950-D are very common.
The 1950-D is valued at $5.
Dimes, Quarters, and Halves before 1965 are valued at three times face minimum.
All after 1964 are common and just valued at the face value.
Dollars before 1936 are $6 each and up.
Two headed or two tailed coins are novelty coins that are produced outside of the mint. They are interesting and fun but have no collector value.
For a detailed, individual date valuation, we recommend the Bluebook.
Does anyone else remember this.
Today there is like hundreds of places to find coin prices. Most of them are wrong.
Like almost everyone else, I use greysheet for average to above average PCGS/NGC certified coins where much of the risk of buying raw coins is alleviated.
It wasnt until much later that it made my coins seem worth less money.
I asked if dealers really can buy coins for those prices. He said SURE!
So I pulled out my checkbook wrote out a $10,000 check to his astonished eyes and told him to buy me 2 of the same type of coin I was selling for the $8500 they both together listed for. The $1,500 left over I told him to keep.
Strangely he was not able to take my offer, and with that I walked out.
I remember going to a B&M years ago with coins I was considering selling. The shop owner pulled out the blue book and commented that his buy prices are usually 50% back of what is listed in his book, but that if the coin was really nice, he would consider upping his buy price to as much as 20% back of what was listed in his book.
Needless to say, I walked out.