New to world coins

[Davids5104]

how are grades and prices determined between the 5 grades listed in Krause or above 63? I am having a tough time... is there a second reference for higher than 63?

[DaveG]

I'm only barely experienced with world coins, but from what I understand, Krause is really only indicative - you have to know where it's high and where it's low.

 

I think the only real price "guides" for world coins are auction and eBay results.

[Mohawk]

Hello and welcome to the amazing field of world coins!

 

I'm a big collector of World coins and what Dave G said is exactly correct. The Krause should be viewed as an indicative source. I can give you an idea of what is rare, what is not and a ballpark for pricing. Its two biggest weaknesses are that it typically only prices classic World up to XF and its pricing info becomes out of date quickly as it's only published yearly. Dave is also right that auction results and Ebay can be good sources. NGC also has World price guides on their site, and those seem to be updated fairly regularly. So NGC is a great source as well.

 

You've gotten into a great area of numismatics! You're in for a ton of fun!

Best Regards

~Tom

[Critter8880]

Hi there, and welcome to holding a global collection. It's a pretty cool thing to have a box of coins that can potentially let you hold a little bit of all the world in your hands. What DaveG and Mohawk said is spot on. A good thing about EBay is you can comparison shop. Between current and finalized listings you can come up with a fair median price point of what you think you should pay, and declare as valve.

Best of luck to you in your coin hunting this year!

~Candice

[greysoldier]

Welcome and enjoy the view....

 

 

 

[mumu]

Hello and welcome to the amazing field of world coins!

 

I'm a big collector of World coins and what Dave G said is exactly correct. The Krause should be viewed as an indicative source. I can give you an idea of what is rare, what is not and a ballpark for pricing. Its two biggest weaknesses are that it typically only prices classic World up to XF and its pricing info becomes out of date quickly as it's only published yearly. Dave is also right that auction results and Ebay can be good sources. NGC also has World price guides on their site, and those seem to be updated fairly regularly. So NGC is a great source as well.

 

You've gotten into a great area of numismatics! You're in for a ton of fun!

Best Regards

~Tom

 

Doesn't the NGC price guide mirror Krause? Krause is nearly useless. Printed once a year, updated even less frequently than that. What a lazy price guide that is. If they are going to make the only world price guide they should do it right and track some auctions instead of just randomly assigning prices like they do.

[Star City Homer]

Agree with Mumu. I do believe that the NGC prices are via a license from Krause which leaves a. lot to be desired.

 

The modern Chinese price section is (or at least recently, was--I don't track them that often) powered by a person who does quarterly guides and uses pricing that includes eBay, US auctions and Asian auctions and sales.

 

I'm a bit slow but I JUST noticed the link on the price guide here that gives Heritage sales history too. Useful vs jumping back and forth to the Heritage site...and if the coin has a sales history there.

 

The dollar is generally strong now, so buying prices are favorable for a few series I'm hunting. Not so good for selling perhaps, but as a net buyer of non-US coins I'm okay with that.

[KMAG100]

In general, I have found the NGC price guide to be what I wished I could sell my US coins for, and what I wished I could buy the World coins I collect for. My best guide for market price and selection for Modern World coins has been EBAY......I have found Ebay along with Heritage useful for the classic World coins.

[KMAG100]

What a lazy price guide that is. If they are going to make the only world price guide they should do it right and track some auctions instead of just randomly assigning prices like they do.

 

Completely agree 100%

[KMAG100]

https://www.ngccoin.com/price-guide/world/mexico-onza-troy-ounce-of-silver-km-613-1996-1-cuid-2012-duid-32972

 

I'll take 20 1998 PF for $205, 20 of the 1999 PF for $95 please, no second thought 30, and what the heck I'll take 20 of the 1997 PF for $70 too. Wait a second the 1996 is $20 more than the 1997 and $5 less than the 1999.

[World Colonial]

Doesn't the NGC price guide mirror Krause? Krause is nearly useless. Printed once a year, updated even less frequently than that. What a lazy price guide that is. If they are going to make the only world price guide they should do it right and track some auctions instead of just randomly assigning prices like they do.

 

The information available to me indicates that Krause prices for (very) low valued coins are "accurate" in the sense that I presume many dealers use the list price in a B&M setting. But I haven't been to a coin shop in years and don't collect these coins anyway, so its a pure guess.

 

Otherwise, I have found no evidence that any of the prices are accurate, except by accident. They just literally make them up. And by accident, I mean that buyers who don't know any better use it as a reference point at auction. This is what I did when I resumed collecting in 1998 at first.

 

Aside from the obvious discrepancies between auction prices and Krause, it should be equally obvious that some coins do not sell in a year either in a specific grade or maybe at all. An example of this are numerous coins from the South Africa Union series such as the 1931 circulation silver. Last I checked, the 1931 florin (2 shillings) was valued at $1250 in "UNC", has been since 1998, I have never seen such a coin come up for sale in 18 years and its likely worth at least $50K even in this weak market. Other coins such as the pillar 4R from both Peru and Mexico are priced almost identically yet the Rudman sale made it obvious this isn't remotely true.

 

Finally, I also believe there are coins listed in it which do not exist and possibly never did. Examples of these include the South Africa 1933, 1934 and 1936 circulation strike farthings and the 1882, 1887 and 1889 Bolivia 50 centavos.

 

I believe the guide would be better if most of the listings didn't have any prices at all. Collectors could use it for reference purposes to determine what is available and for attribution. That is all I use it for.

[jgenn]

Other coins such as the pillar 4R from both Peru and Mexico are priced almost identically yet the Rudman sale made it obvious this isn't remotely true.

 

How did the 4Rs sell at the Rudman sale? I was only watching and bidding on a few 8Rs.

[World Colonial]

Other coins such as the pillar 4R from both Peru and Mexico are priced almost identically yet the Rudman sale made it obvious this isn't remotely true.

 

How did the 4Rs sell at the Rudman sale? I was only watching and bidding on a few 8Rs.

 

They were above the estimates but I consider it meaningless.

 

I can't really tell you whether the prices were strong or weak, because these coins almost never come up for sale. My impression of the sale in the aggregate is that the prices were strong.

 

The coin I wanted to buy most was either the 1748 NGC AU-58 4R or 1757 NGC AU-53 4R. I recall they sold for about $4800 and $2800 and I am not in the market for coins in that price range because I have better uses for my money. The MS-62 (don't remember the date) I believe sold for about $19K.

 

The other coin I wanted to buy was the 1766 NGC AU-58 8R. This coin is actually much better than most MS and it sold for $1880, a strong price but a better deal in my opinion than the typical washed out MS-61 or MS-62 selling for $1500 to $2500.

 

I mentioned Peru in my last post but Rudman's was all Mexico, at least in this installment. I am not sure it is even possible to put together a complete set of Peru 4R. I have seen all of five in XF or slightly better since 2002. The Patterson collection had a few but mostly low quality specimens going by the descriptions. This is out of several thousand pillars from all mints.

[messydesk]

Just picked up a Mexican Pillar 4R myself. Fits in my prime number date set.

 

[World Colonial]

Just picked up a Mexican Pillar 4R myself. Fits in my prime number date set.

 

 

That is a nice coin you have there. I don't see any problems with it, color looks decent and I would grade it VF.