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How to buy coins at Bluebook prices?
stevepk
Posts: 238 ✭✭✭
How much time and effort should I expect to put forth in obtaining quality coins at Bluebook prices? What strategies do collectors use to obtain quality coins at Bluebook prices? I recently brought in a selection of qualtiy PCGS/NGC coins to a buyer who quickly offered me Bluebook prices. I would love to be able to buy coins at these prices. Can it be done? A few Bluebook values that stand out to me as real bargains are:
1800 Normal date large cent, F-12, $100
1823 large cent, VG normal date, $55
1857 large cent, MS60, $175
1806 quarter, F12, $210
1807 bust half dollar, F12, $100
seated liberty dollars, XF, $250
...and the list goes on
About me:
-collector, not a dealer
-willing to put forth extra effort to obtain great coins at great prices
-full time job outside of numismatics
-refuses problem-coins, eye for quality
-preference for high-end coins in PCGS or NGC holders
As of now, I see the Blue Book as a daydreamer's fantasy price guide without the slightest perception of how the real world works. I can only assume I am wrong. Otherwise, the book would not exist, right? Enlighten me!
1800 Normal date large cent, F-12, $100
1823 large cent, VG normal date, $55
1857 large cent, MS60, $175
1806 quarter, F12, $210
1807 bust half dollar, F12, $100
seated liberty dollars, XF, $250
...and the list goes on
About me:
-collector, not a dealer
-willing to put forth extra effort to obtain great coins at great prices
-full time job outside of numismatics
-refuses problem-coins, eye for quality
-preference for high-end coins in PCGS or NGC holders
As of now, I see the Blue Book as a daydreamer's fantasy price guide without the slightest perception of how the real world works. I can only assume I am wrong. Otherwise, the book would not exist, right? Enlighten me!
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Comments
EAC 6024
jim
Essentially, Whitman still publishes the Blue and Red Books because people buy them; they'll continue publishing them until people stop buying them
If you really want to buy coins at wholesale prices, your best bet is to get a Tax Resale Number and take a table at a coin show - you'll get a lot of coins offered to you (although perhaps not the coins you've identified).
Alternately, there are dealers who attend larger coin shows who work on narrower margins than other dealers, as well as true wholesale dealers (who only sell to those with resale numbers).
Check out the Southern Gold Society
<< <i>My feeling is that the price guides in the Blue and Red Books may have outlived their usefulness - collectors and dealers have a lot of access to current prices: auctions, eBay and the Coin Dealer Newsletter (Grey Sheet) all play a role in providing current prices. An annual price guide is, by definition, out of date as soon as it's published.
Essentially, Whitman still publishes the Blue and Red Books because people buy them; they'll continue publishing them until people stop buying them
If you really want to buy coins at wholesale prices, your best bet is to get a Tax Resale Number and take a table at a coin show - you'll get a lot of coins offered to you (although perhaps not the coins you've identified).
Alternately, there are dealers who attend larger coin shows who work on narrower margins than other dealers, as well as true wholesale dealers (who only sell to those with resale numbers). >>
Great answer for a sensable question.
type2,CCHunter.
As others have said, this is especially important with better date, better grade coins, which are generally held by
knowledgeable collectors and dealers.
My Complete PROOF Lincoln Cent with Major Varieties(1909-2015)Set Registry
<< <i>Where can I buy gasoline in 12-15 gallon increments at the same price that gas stations buy 8,000 gallon deliveries at?????
Could I buy you a drink, kind sir ?
<< <i>Coin transactions are between a buyer and a seller. EVERY coin has a value. If you want to BUY premium coins at low prices but would not be willing to SELL the same premium coin at the same low price, then you are just kidding yourself. Every coin really has TWO prices, a wholesale price and a retail price. Coin dealers would like to sell you coins at retail price and buy coins from you at wholesale price. THAT is how they are in business. They do have to make a profit. You say you are a collector and not a dealer. Your objective is to try to buy your coin at something LESS than full retail price but expect to pay MORE than wholesale price. Good luck. Steve
Well said!
<< <i>How much time and effort should I expect to put forth in obtaining quality coins at Bluebook prices? >>
Figure the hours required for a full time job and increase from there as needed. Add in thousands of dollars a year for advertising so that people will think to offer you coins and more thousands for a storefront where your customers can bring their coins to sell to you. There will be other expenses (both time and money), but that might get you started.
<< <i>The only way to buy coins for Bluebook prices is to buy them from someone who has no idea what they have or what it's really worth. >>
Agree. Open a coin shop and wait for the widow to bring in her deceased husband's coin collection.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
Voltaire: Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero.
When people offer me coins at my table at shows I use CDN or BV as a basis in determining my offer. My offer may be a percentage behind CDN or BV depending on market conditions, inventory needs. B&M shops (like one owned by some freinds) usually use blue sheet (its almost impossible to buy at these prices) on certified coins and offer 80% of CDN bid on other material like USM products if even that much.
Since I do both coins and currency (US and World) I have not bought a bluebook in somewhile as what I offer is going to be a percentage of market retail (CW TRends, Krause CV, melt, etc) or what I think I can sell the coin for, flip it quickly. So a Bluebook and for that matter Bluesheet or both useless and unnecessary. The CDN CMI can be a good guide as to an offer on slabbed coins. Whats important to me is what can I flip a coin for to realize an instant profit so what they are bringing at Teletrade or Ebay is an important factor.
I would suggest you use a price guide like CW Values or PCGS Price Guide to track Market Value of your holdings. I have people try to BS me at shows that CW Trends or PCGS is unrealistic, too high etc. This is nonsense.
<< <i>Coin transactions are between a buyer and a seller. EVERY coin has a value. If you want to BUY premium coins at low prices but would not be willing to SELL the same premium coin at the same low price, then you are just kidding yourself. Every coin really has TWO prices, a wholesale price and a retail price. Coin dealers would like to sell you coins at retail price and buy coins from you at wholesale price. THAT is how they are in business. They do have to make a profit. You say you are a collector and not a dealer. Your objective is to try to buy your coin at something LESS than full retail price but expect to pay MORE than wholesale price. Good luck. Steve
This.
<< <i>
<< <i>Where can I buy gasoline in 12-15 gallon increments at the same price that gas stations buy 8,000 gallon deliveries at?????
Could I buy you a drink, kind sir ? >>
I'll take an Arnold Palmer, please!
Same deal with Redbook on the retail end. There are things where RB is too high, about right, and too low. I think every collector should own one for the info in it- as long as they realize that these books are printed so far in advance that it is impossible for the values to be totally accurate.
Don't get hung up on either one, though; remember they're just guides. People who live and die by what a book says will never be happy imo.
RIP Mom- 1932-2012