I really feel for the person(s) in charge of setting the PCGS price guide figures
10000lakes
Posts: 811 ✭✭✭✭
So I was reviewing my tracked lots in the current Fun auction and see these data point on a few DMPL dollars.
I blurred the cert# on the photos.
1884 DMPL price guide $4200 in MS65
First one sold for $2115, second one for $3995
1884-CC DMPL price guide is $1600 in 65, $2100 in 65+ and $3200 in 66
First sold for $1880, second one for $1703 and third for $1645
1885-CC DMPL price guide is $1550 in 64, $1750 in 64+ and $2600 in 65
First one sold for $2232 and second one for $1762
Not trying to make this a discussion about CAC coins, since the two 84's were both non CAC.
But more generally the price structure has become more split within the same grade. (dreck, average, and All there).
Or if you want A, B and C coins.
With the wide diversity in price points within the same grade do you find that the PCGS price guide is almost a
waste of time to look at in your area of collecting, and what could PCGS do to make improvements.
Or is it a futile effort to try and compile the various data points and they should just calculate an average of the last 12 months auction results and show that, or maybe a high and low range.
I personally use past auction info and similar coins in the series if recent auction data is not present, and also taking into the quality of the coin within the grade.
Maybe PCGS could come up with a series of "dreck" sets. You get more points for the lowest price you paid in a certain grade.
It would be, on the honor system for the price being entered. (purely for bragging rights that my set is crappier than yours) 
Comments
Why did you cloak the cert numbers? Seems odd.
Maintaining a price guide is a thankless task.
Keeper of the VAM Catalog • Professional Coin Imaging • Prime Number Set • World Coins in Early America • British Trade Dollars • Variety Attribution
Somebody bought these coins, and I didn't what people looking up the cert# and finding them listed in someone's registry set. It would take someone more effort if you wanted to find them in the archives.
That fact that two coins in the same grade, where one is basically half price and another where a 66 sells for less than a 65 means you might own a piece of dreck IMO.
The question I was trying to ask is, do you find any value in a price guide, whether it's at our hosts, or CDN, red book, etc..., and what standard should be used to set the published price.
The FUN Heritage auction has been very interesting to be sure. For the first time that I can ever recall, even some moderns began to exceed the price guide value.
Prooflike coins really need to be seen in hand, I wish Todd would have a sticker for PL and Cameo Morgans.
Technically, you can't look at the prices realized AFTER the guides were published to assess the correctness of the guides...you have to look at the prices leading up to being published.
Having said that....it probably wouldn't make things look much better.
"Price guides are kind of like broken clocks. They are right once it a while, but not often enough to count on them?"
If one accepts the proposition that graded coins meet the criteria within the grade, it stands to reason that two MS65 coins are not created equal as one can easily be better than the other. A price guide should reflect this and suggest a range in the value of a coin instead of an exact number. Guides are merely guides... Govern yourself accordingly if you choose to rely on them.
Experience the World through Numismatics...it's more than you can imagine.