Rant and Rave ... New Price Guide

[Fletcher]

Ok, I have to admit that I LOVE having the price guide attached to the Registry. GREAT idea NGC! However, what is Numismedia thinking with their prices? They are so far off from reality that NGC's great idea has been rendered worthless in its execution.

 

I know, I know ... it is just a "guide." I disagree. I find their prices to be between 50% - 500% higher than true retail values. All that they serve to do is make you think "wow, I'm rich" when you look at your Registry listings. Other than that, they blow. NGC would be better served to take an average of Ebay auction hammer prices each month. At least then the information would have true value.

 

OK ... I feel better now :-)

[DaveG]

Well, the advantage for NGC is that Numismedia's guide is probably low-cost and in an electronic format that can easily fit into NGC's database. Scouring eBay for prices and putting them in manually would be very labor-intensive and expensive. (Plus, trying to average raw and slabbed coins would be a total mess!)

 

I've never looked at Numismedia, so I don't know how far off they are. I think that, except for ultra high grade moderns, the Grey Sheets will give you a decent idea of how much you can sell your coins for and Coin World's Coin Values will give you a decent idea of what current retail prices are.

 

Of course, in any dynamic (rising or falling) market, no printed price guide will be able to give you accurate prices.

[Mozin]

Stick with the greysheet and Heritage prices realized; forget about all the rest.

[supertooth]

OK----I am not here to defend Numismedia. Nor do I know why NGC is using them rather than somebody else. But what I can speak of are the prices on Ebay that are realized for XF to UNC 60 prices on the "early" Walkers[1916--1933]. These coins being sometimes slabbed but mostly "raw". These coins being "original" and uncleaned and not messed with coins. For this small segment of coins, the Numismedia prices are "right on". Within that range of XF-unc coins, I dare anyone to purchase the "early" Walkers at anything less than the prices for those grades. If indeed you can even find these coins to try and purchase them. For they are much "rarer" than most would think. In fact, I would even go so far as to say that the Numismedia prices are too low. Again, I am speaking for only a very small segment of the total coin experience. But I have viewed virtually every Walker that has come onto the scene on Ebay for the last 6 years. For those few coins of which I speak["early" and "uncleaned" Walkers], the Numismedia price guide is either "right on" or too "low". Bob [supertooth]