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Throw out the Price Guides - I believe that they are WRONG!

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  • tradedollarnuttradedollarnut Posts: 20,291 ✭✭✭✭✭

    What is a PR65 1838-O half worth? Can’t remember the last gem example to sell. Well, historically near what a gem 1884 trade dollar has realized. And one of those sold recently for around $1M. So I’d assign a value of $800,000

  • PeasantryPeasantry Posts: 220 ✭✭✭

    @tradedollarnut said:
    What is a PR65 1838-O half worth? Can’t remember the last gem example to sell. Well, historically near what a gem 1884 trade dollar has realized. And one of those sold recently for around $1M. So I’d assign a value of $800,000

    😂😂😂 THIS is the logic that underpins high end coin valuations?!? Yikes

    Imagine your reasoning being audited or you being deposed over this. It's such thin gruel.

  • tradedollarnuttradedollarnut Posts: 20,291 ✭✭✭✭✭
  • MasonGMasonG Posts: 6,348 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @Peasantry said:
    😂😂😂 THIS is the logic that underpins high end coin valuations?!? Yikes

    If you don't have past sales to look at and you want an estimate of value, what else would you propose?

    @Peasantry said:
    Imagine your reasoning being audited or you being deposed over this. It's such thin gruel.

    What's wrong with his reasoning? If past sales data is not there, it's not there. How does just throwing up your hands over it solve the problem?

  • EastonCollectionEastonCollection Posts: 1,590 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @MasonG said:
    The PCGS and CAC price guides appear to be free. How much do you suppose people would be willing to pay for a guide that's more accurate? Do you suppose there'd be enough people willing to pay that someone would consider investing the time and resources to create such a price guide?

    Hi - Interesting point. I guess you are saying that price guides for collectors are free so you can't complain if there are errors or bad assumptions. These publishers of 3rd party price guides may not be willing to invest more money into the price guides. Personally, I think that all of the services that publish price guides try their absolute best to get prices right and their interest is to give collectors and others the best available information to make the proper decisions. I would like publishers to provide collectors more transparency into how prices are developed and when prices are changed to understand why.

    Easton Collection
  • lermishlermish Posts: 4,061 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @EastonCollection said:

    @MasonG said:
    The PCGS and CAC price guides appear to be free. How much do you suppose people would be willing to pay for a guide that's more accurate? Do you suppose there'd be enough people willing to pay that someone would consider investing the time and resources to create such a price guide?

    Hi - Interesting point. I guess you are saying that price guides for collectors are free so you can't complain if there are errors or bad assumptions. These publishers of 3rd party price guides may not be willing to invest more money into the price guides. Personally, I think that all of the services that publish price guides try their absolute best to get prices right and their interest is to give collectors and others the best available information to make the proper decisions. I would like publishers to provide collectors more transparency into how prices are developed and when prices are changed to understand why.

    I think GS/ @JohnF tries his absolute best to get pricing right. I've spoken with him and worked with him on trying to get pricing right for a very thinly traded type that I collect and he and his team were fantastic.

    If you think PCGS is trying its absolute best to do ANYTHING right, particularly a free price guide, you haven't been paying attention.

    chopmarkedtradedollars.com

  • MasonGMasonG Posts: 6,348 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November 29, 2025 4:43PM

    @EastonCollection said:
    Hi - Interesting point. I guess you are saying that price guides for collectors are free so you can't complain if there are errors or bad assumptions.

    No, I'm not saying you can't complain.

    @lermish said:
    If you think PCGS is trying its absolute best to do ANYTHING right, particularly a free price guide, you haven't been paying attention.

    I didn't say that, either. I did ask a couple of questions, though- does anybody have any thoughts on them:

    How much do you suppose people would be willing to pay for a guide that's more accurate? Do you suppose there'd be enough people willing to pay that someone would consider investing the time and resources to create such a price guide?

  • winestevenwinesteven Posts: 5,115 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November 29, 2025 5:10PM

    @MasonG said:
    The PCGS and CAC price guides appear to be free. How much do you suppose people would be willing to pay for a guide that's more accurate? Do you suppose there'd be enough people willing to pay that someone would consider investing the time and resources to create such a price guide?

    Actually, Mark Ferguson was literally “A Man Ahead of His Time”. He did just as you suggest! Around 2016, he created and published monthly via subscription at a very reasonable price, a print “CAC Market Values”. He provided a somewhat narrow range for each entry, based on auction sales. I believe if there were no current/recent sales, he would look at recent sales of “similarly” valued dates. Yes, we could each do research and come up with similar results, but I found this to be a big time saver, and I subscribed right away. I even volunteered and wrote a few articles about collecting CAC stickered coins that he included. Each issue had a couple of interesting articles.

    After a while, he also included a few values for plus grades, if he felt there was sufficient supporting data! Yes, he recognized that CAC says the CAC stickered plus coins are only solid at that whole grade, and they don’t say if it’s solid as a plus or not. But he also recognized “The Market” valued plus coins with stickers higher than whole grade coins with stickers.

    As best as I recall, he ceased publication after three or four years, just shortly before the demand for CAC stickered coins grew significantly, like it is today. It has not always been this way. Years ago, the premium for CAC stickered coins over their non-stickered counterparts was not as great as it is today due to increased demand).

    Steve

    A day without fine wine and working on your coin collection is like a day without sunshine!!!

    My collecting “Pride & Joy” is my PCGS Registry Dansco 7070 Set:
    https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/type-sets/design-type-sets/complete-dansco-7070-modified-type-set-1796-date/publishedset/213996
  • PeasantryPeasantry Posts: 220 ✭✭✭

    @MasonG said:

    @Peasantry said:
    😂😂😂 THIS is the logic that underpins high end coin valuations?!? Yikes

    If you don't have past sales to look at and you want an estimate of value, what else would you propose?

    @Peasantry said:
    Imagine your reasoning being audited or you being deposed over this. It's such thin gruel.

    What's wrong with his reasoning? If past sales data is not there, it's not there. How does just throwing up your hands over it solve the problem?

    Look to GAAP principles, auditing, appraising industry, prediction models, finance, big data, etc and develop a defensible standard for valuations with data and a thought process for determining value when there's little to no data. Software. A model. Something tangible.

    Do NOT apply the same terminology to things based off data and those based off conjecture.

    The main issue with his reasoning is that it's his. Is it written down anywhere? Replicatable? Generally accepted? What frequency does he update his number? Who approves changes to his logic? Are those changes transparent to the users and released at the speed of relevance? Is his logic consistently applied?

  • tradedollarnuttradedollarnut Posts: 20,291 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November 29, 2025 5:08PM

    Oh my god, dude -I’m simply giving you an example of how one might value a coin that hasn’t been sold in recent times. Gather those estimates and a reasonable price guide could be created.

  • lermishlermish Posts: 4,061 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @MasonG said:

    @EastonCollection said:
    Hi - Interesting point. I guess you are saying that price guides for collectors are free so you can't complain if there are errors or bad assumptions.
    @lermish said:
    If you think PCGS is trying its absolute best to do ANYTHING right, particularly a free price guide, you haven't been paying attention.

    I didn't say that, either. I did ask a couple of questions, though- does anybody have any thoughts on them:

    I was responding to @EastonCollection when he said: Personally, I think that all of the services that publish price guides try their absolute best to get prices right and their interest is to give collectors and others the best available information to make the proper decisions.

    chopmarkedtradedollars.com

  • MasonGMasonG Posts: 6,348 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @Peasantry said:
    The main issue with his reasoning is that it's his. Is it written down anywhere? Replicatable? Generally accepted? What frequency does he update his number? Who approves changes to his logic? Are those changes transparent to the users and released at the speed of relevance? Is his logic consistently applied?

    Ok, then- ignore his reasoning. Nobody says you have to agree with it, or a price guide.

  • MasonGMasonG Posts: 6,348 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @lermish said:
    I was responding to...

    Sorry about that. Nested quotes, and all that...

  • jmlanzafjmlanzaf Posts: 37,751 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @MasonG said:
    The PCGS and CAC price guides appear to be free. How much do you suppose people would be willing to pay for a guide that's more accurate? Do you suppose there'd be enough people willing to pay that someone would consider investing the time and resources to create such a price guide?

    You mean like Greysheet?

    All comments reflect the opinion of the author, even when irrefutably accurate.

  • MasonGMasonG Posts: 6,348 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @jmlanzaf said:

    @MasonG said:
    The PCGS and CAC price guides appear to be free. How much do you suppose people would be willing to pay for a guide that's more accurate? Do you suppose there'd be enough people willing to pay that someone would consider investing the time and resources to create such a price guide?

    You mean like Greysheet?

    Yeah. Except there seems to be some dissatisfaction with their pricing opinions in some cases, too. So- it would have to be someone who does more in-depth research on pricing than Greysheet does. How much more would it cost for something like that? Are there enough people who would pay for it?

  • EastonCollectionEastonCollection Posts: 1,590 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Just to be clear - My goal in this thread is not to bash anyone or any publisher of price guides. They do an excellent job and have great team of talented people working there. My goal is to prevent as many errors in the price guide, price coins truly based on what a willing buyer and seller will want to complete a transaction and when prices are changed provide the readers with some commentary as to why. Obviously, a 1884 trade dollar is impossible to price especially not knowing who is interested at the time its being offered. Lastly, even though each price service develops pricing using different financial models, they shouldn't be so far apart. Currently, many dealers and experienced collectors are making comments so they can't all be wrong. Again, all I am asking is to address these dealers and collectors concerns.

    Easton Collection
  • MasonGMasonG Posts: 6,348 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @EastonCollection said:
    and when prices are changed provide the readers with some commentary as to why.

    Honestly, not trying to give you a hard time here, but I took a quick look at an old Greysheet and there must be over a thousand price changes, plus and minus. Are they expected to provide commentary on them all?

  • tradedollarnuttradedollarnut Posts: 20,291 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @MasonG said:

    @EastonCollection said:
    Hi - Interesting point. I guess you are saying that price guides for collectors are free so you can't complain if there are errors or bad assumptions.

    No, I'm not saying you can't complain.

    @lermish said:
    If you think PCGS is trying its absolute best to do ANYTHING right, particularly a free price guide, you haven't been paying attention.

    I didn't say that, either. I did ask a couple of questions, though- does anybody have any thoughts on them:

    How much do you suppose people would be willing to pay for a guide that's more accurate? Do you suppose there'd be enough people willing to pay that someone would consider investing the time and resources to create such a price guide?

    My guess is no. Plenty would stick to the free guides, a lot consider their own pricing superior to ANY guide and the rest complain about ANY guide

  • jmlanzafjmlanzaf Posts: 37,751 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November 29, 2025 7:46PM

    @MasonG said:

    @jmlanzaf said:

    @MasonG said:
    The PCGS and CAC price guides appear to be free. How much do you suppose people would be willing to pay for a guide that's more accurate? Do you suppose there'd be enough people willing to pay that someone would consider investing the time and resources to create such a price guide?

    You mean like Greysheet?

    Yeah. Except there seems to be some dissatisfaction with their pricing opinions in some cases, too. So- it would have to be someone who does more in-depth research on pricing than Greysheet does. How much more would it cost for something like that? Are there enough people who would pay for it?

    I just mention Greysheet because people are always complaining about the price. It is also probably the best guide out there, representing actual offers to buy on the exchange.

    It is IMPOSSIBLE for any guide to mvhdss@rit.edu what a coin will bring after 5 years out of the market. You can't analyze data that doesn't exist.

    All comments reflect the opinion of the author, even when irrefutably accurate.

  • jmlanzafjmlanzaf Posts: 37,751 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @MasonG said:

    @EastonCollection said:
    and when prices are changed provide the readers with some commentary as to why.

    Honestly, not trying to give you a hard time here, but I took a quick look at an old Greysheet and there must be over a thousand price changes, plus and minus. Are they expected to provide commentary on them all?

    Not only that, THEY DON'T CHANGE THEM BY HAND. The OP still acts like a room full of experts are pricing every coin by hand. An algorithm crunches the numbers and spits out a price. You could then analyze it and say "the price dropped due to recent auction results in the database", but what does that tell you? And to your earlier point, how much is the OP willing to pay for a price guide that gives him useless commentary?

    In the end, the coin hits the block and people then decide what they want to pay for it. If the guide is low, it sells for over. If the guide is high, it sells for under. The only price that ever matters is the sale price.

    All comments reflect the opinion of the author, even when irrefutably accurate.

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