How To Value Coins Using A Coin Value Guide
By Douglas Taylor
One of the most important pieces of information that a coin collector will want to know is how much a coin is worth. By knowing what a coin is worth will affect what they are willing to pay or sell it for. Plus it will help you to look and appreciate your coins much more. There are plenty of US coin value guides available both off and online. But some are certainly more accurate than others. However, what should be remembered is no one guide is foolproof. All the guides available will only provide you with an approximation of the market value and actual coin prices. So if you really want to know the market you should also see what coins are actually selling for.
A great place to look for such information is on auction sites such as eBay as well as various auction houses such as Heritage, Teletrade, Bowers and Merena and Stacks to name a few. Also you could take a look in your local and national coin shows as well as local coin shops to see what prices they have. But below are details of some of the more common US coin value guides that are in use today.
1. US Coin Digest
This is much like the Red Book but it includes coin pricing for more grades. Where in the Red Book has only pricing for six grades of the Morgan Dollars in the US Coin Digest it has pricing for 11 grades. It also contains a bit more background information in relation to coins in general.
2. Greysheet
This is officially called the Coin Dealer Newsletter and is an expensive subscription periodical ($98 per year). It is most commonly used price guide to be used by dealers when setting their own prices. However, it does contain wholesale prices also (so it is a wise choice for the more savvy collectors out there). The prices in this are based on coins graded according to industry standards. But they also include pricing for properly graded raw coins when compiling their figures. However, the biggest weakness of this publication is that it ignores the current state of grading services.
 | US $135.00 End Date: Monday Sep-05-2011 12:53:42 PDT Buy It Now for only: US $135.00 Buy it now | Add to watch list |
 | US $12.50 (2 Bids) End Date: Monday Sep-05-2011 12:53:42 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
 | US $6.99 End Date: Monday Sep-05-2011 12:53:43 PDT Buy It Now for only: US $6.99 Buy it now | Add to watch list |
 | US $1.60 (0 Bid) End Date: Monday Sep-05-2011 12:53:49 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
 | US $40.16 (3 Bids) End Date: Monday Sep-05-2011 12:53:50 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
 | US $52.00 (0 Bid) End Date: Monday Sep-05-2011 12:53:52 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
 | US $35.95 End Date: Monday Sep-05-2011 12:53:53 PDT Buy It Now for only: US $35.95 Buy it now | Add to watch list |
 | US $3.00 (13 Bids) End Date: Monday Sep-05-2011 12:53:53 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
 | US $15.00 (4 Bids) End Date: Monday Sep-05-2011 12:53:54 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
 | US $400.00 (10 Bids) End Date: Monday Sep-05-2011 12:54:00 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
 | US $53.00 End Date: Monday Sep-05-2011 12:54:04 PDT Buy It Now for only: US $53.00 Buy it now | Add to watch list |
 | US $160.00 End Date: Monday Sep-05-2011 12:54:14 PDT Buy It Now for only: US $160.00 Buy it now | Add to watch list |
 | US $1.99 (0 Bid) End Date: Monday Sep-05-2011 12:54:14 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
 | US $109.99 (0 Bid) End Date: Monday Sep-05-2011 12:54:17 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
 | US $49.99 End Date: Monday Sep-05-2011 12:54:17 PDT Buy It Now for only: US $49.99 Buy it now | Add to watch list |
 | US $161.00 (21 Bids) End Date: Monday Sep-05-2011 12:54:27 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
 | US $4.24 (2 Bids) End Date: Monday Sep-05-2011 12:54:28 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
 | US $1.60 (0 Bid) End Date: Monday Sep-05-2011 12:54:37 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
 | US $23.35 (5 Bids) End Date: Monday Sep-05-2011 12:54:42 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
 | US $15.07 (7 Bids) End Date: Monday Sep-05-2011 12:54:43 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
 | US $115.00 End Date: Monday Sep-05-2011 12:54:45 PDT Buy It Now for only: US $115.00 Buy it now | Add to watch list |
 | US $61.99 End Date: Monday Sep-05-2011 12:54:54 PDT Buy It Now for only: US $61.99 Buy it now | Add to watch list |
 | US $19.99 End Date: Monday Sep-05-2011 12:54:56 PDT Buy It Now for only: US $19.99 Buy it now | Add to watch list |
 | US $24.99 (0 Bid) End Date: Monday Sep-05-2011 12:55:07 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
 | US $189.95 End Date: Monday Sep-05-2011 12:55:08 PDT Buy It Now for only: US $189.95 Buy it now | Add to watch list |
 | US $1.60 (0 Bid) End Date: Monday Sep-05-2011 12:55:26 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
 | US $145.50 (11 Bids) End Date: Monday Sep-05-2011 12:55:30 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
3. Numismedia Price Guide
This is an online service and is similar to the PCGS Price Guide. But the prices on this site can be somewhat higher than those that appear in printed guides. However, this site has been a subscription service since 2003 and costs $96 per year for you to be able to see the pricing of grades above MS-60.
So as you can see from above there are plenty of different US coin value guides available not just in book format but also online also.
About the Author
Douglas Taylor - For more information on how to value coins using a coin value guide visit http://www.find-coins.com where will find useful tips, articles and resources to help you find old coins.
