A question for CoinFacts Users

[AnkurJ]

How often has it happened that when doing research either at home or at a show, have you come across the exact same coin recently purchased at auction? If you do come across the same coin, how does it change your preception on the price if at all?

 

Its happened to me many times. What I found funny is a few times the dealer was selling the coin for a loss compared to what it sold for at auction!

 

I think Coinfacts is an amazing tool that has really made the sheet obsolete for coins that aren't regularly traded. Well worth the $12.95 per month to me.

[yonico]

Happened to me a couple times, not only wit coinfacts but also when verifying a coin cert number through the regular, free service (shows recent auction appearances of the coin).

That is, to me, better than checking any price guide, accurate as it may be.

It was also very cool to see that a coin I was bidding on was the example used as the pic for this date in the coinfacts page. Says something about the coin's eye appeal..

[jom]

Quick comments:

 

1) I'd have to guess I find the coin about 30%-40% of the time. I'd also say mostly sometime in the past 5 years or so at auction roughly.

 

2) Usually the seller is asking more compared to the earlier auction.

 

3) Perception of the price: I don't know. I have a real difficult time tying to "value" a coin. I think it does make me more comfortable knowing someone paid a price close what the seller might be asking.

 

jom

 

 

[AnkurJ]

Very true on checking the cert. A dealer I know was selling a barber dime at a show, and I checked the cert. The coin sold for $200 more than he was asking 6 months before! I pointed it out to him, and he admited that he was the one who bought it. It was for a client who passed, so he just wanted to get rid of it at this point. Always interesting what you can discover!

[mkman123]

I use the ngc version, its free!

[AnkurJ]

I use the ngc version, its free!

 

Im sorry buddy, but it doesnt compare. I think most here will agree.

[yonico]

Very true on checking the cert. A dealer I know was selling a barber dime at a show, and I checked the cert. The coin sold for $200 more than he was asking 6 months before! I pointed it out to him, and he admited that he was the one who bought it. It was for a client who passed, so he just wanted to get rid of it at this point. Always interesting what you can discover!

 

It IS very helpful.

I don't know if you remember, but maybe a month and a half ago I sold a toned 1890-CC Morgan dollar PCGS graded to a dealer sitting next to you in parsippany (he showed the coin to you and asked for your opinion..). I bought this coin close to bid (a $1,500 coin) because while checking the cert on PCGS I found out it was sold for $500 OVER bid in 2005! So I knew I would be able to make a quick $100 on it. This dealer got a good deal off of it, but I needed the cash for another purchase so didn't mind making just a $75 profit.

 

Also important to remember though, if a coin sold for a BIN price of say $2000, that the seller was willing to get about $1700 for it (that's what he's left with, after fees). That is, of course, if you'll be selling it online and not at a show.

 

 

 

[yonico]

I use the ngc version, its free!

 

I usually use both. When checking the pop report, for example, it only makes sense to check both PCGS AND NGC. If your coin has population of 15/0 on NGC, but 1500/125 on PCGS - would you still consider it a "rare, none-finer top pop"? Some people may, I won't.

[coinman_23885]

I use the ngc version, its free!

 

Im sorry buddy, but it doesnt compare. I think most here will agree.

 

I like NGC's analog (and it is appreciated), but I do like PCGS's Coinfacts better.

[FishyOne]

General CoinFacts comment: I use it almost daily to research coins and check auction results. I have not purchased a Greysheet since early last year and rarely reference my old ones.

 

It is a great tool even when you're not in an active buying mode (me right now).

 

 

[coinsbygary]

Personally, I've subscribed to to PCGS Coinfacts for almost two years and I love it. I find the survivability reports to be especially helpful. I noticed that NGC only lists auction results for NGC coins. PCGS Coinfacts lists all coins. One time I purchased a coin on E-Bay for a price that I thought was reasonable. Later I found out through PCGS Coinfacts that the closing hammer was much lower at auction two months previous. It tainted my purchase somewhat, but still felt I made out OK. I have never begrudged a dealer who buys coins cheap and sells them at a profit a living. However that said, If you are looking to buy a particular coin on E-Bay, Coinfacts is a great tool in which to determine if a price for a coin is fair BEFORE you bid on the coin and especially if it is a "buy it now."

Gary

[BillJones]

What is more fun is to find coins you own plated in CoinFacts!

 

As for finding pieces for less than they sold at auction some time before, that does not grab me one way or the other. The important thing is decide what the piece is worth to you now. I have used recent auction results to dicker with a dealer at a show when they were going for a big mark-up. It's saved me some money a number of times.

 

I must admit that CoinFacts is better than the NGC service. As a piece of advice I would suggest that NGC should use pictures of coins when they are available regardless of the grading service. For example NGC uses pictures from my registry set when they are NGC graded coins, but they won't use my PCGS graded coins, even if NGC has no picture at all. To me it's better to have a picture than no picture. It would improve the usefullness of the NGC research site.