In my experience NGC undervalue 3rd Reich, British India and African colonial issues, especially the various incarnations of Rhodesia. I'm sure there are many other examples but these are three areas with which I'm intimately familiar. There is a great demand for Rhodesian coins in the US from collectors with a sentimental attachment to such a remarkable country. Yet this isn't generally reflected in the catalog value. I would be interested to hear Mark's views on this as he has been building a first class collection from just such countries.
World Coin Gallery is even wider of the mark and in my opinion it shouldn't be used to value ANY coin. I don't think their values are any worse or better than NGC but for some reason which escapes me they offer a value by KM# rather than year/mintmark/variety. Think about that for a moment, it's like trying to get a price from bluebook for your car if they listed a single price for "Ford" whether a humble Escort or a limited edition, rednecked out F150. It means that a common 1936 penny has the same valuation as a literally priceless 1933.
Numismedia is more consistent because it's basically an auction results aggregator but it's limited in scope and has several flaws. Look at the relative prices of Mercury and Barber dimes, it's completely contrary to reality.
The most reliable site I've ever found is that operated by Tony Clayton. I can usually convert the price in Sterling to US dollars and it usually about perfect.
Here's a final couple of thoughts. I've been picking up a few vintage coin and stamp catalogs for a project I'm working on and I've now got quite a few and they are fascinating reading. 1940's prices will bring tears to your eyes. What is clear is that vintage world coins have a long history of being undervalued, also UK silver pre QV is wildly undervalued in lower grades. I think it may be some kind of coin elitism.
The best coin price guide is the one in your head built on patient research and experience.
Non illegitimis carborundum est. Excellent advice for all coins.
Make Numismatics Great Again!
I feel that way about the Pacific coins. Many of them are really low mintage and hard to track down, but have a catalogue value of next to nothing. I guess it's supply and demand. The more people that are trying to hunt down the coin, the higher value.
A recent example for me, I bought a Portuguese 10 escudos for 45€ in AU grade. I looked through the WC on my phone when I bought it, and was thinking at a bargain as WC says 80$... But at home, I opened my 2011 Portuguese book, and the value for the same grade was the price I paid.
They are a decent basis for how much a coin is worth but you really have to use your brain. Probably the best example I can give are the Indian princely state of bikanir which has the portrait of QV on.. The values they had for the rupee was something like 16 dollars in VF if I could get em for that price I could make a bloody living out of it.
You really should only use it As a single point of reference and to be fair your best bet is to search your coin on eBay using sold and finished items to see what the CMV is. Along with a little google search should really help you along the way. You have to remember coin collecting always comes full circle. Don't just get carried away and pay silly amounts for a coin which is scarce.. Some of my better coins were at the 5th+ times of trying as I set myself a target and refused to pay more. Obviously, this cannot be done for some coins and counties likes of Sierra Leone.. Finding any coin From the days it was company run is great but don't pay over the odds ! I bought an XF example for about £35-40 area can't remember exactly now and sold my old F at best example for £30 profit ! It's all about picking your moment and trying to identify what's "not hot" at the moment and what may have slipped beneath the radar of a lot ! I thought I had a what is described as actually rare 1/2 penny until yesterday on eBay.. Auctori plebis// hispanniola evasion.. At £7 max bid.. It went up to £22 yesterday and then £100 this morning. When it ended it was £371 !!!! Now I know that there will be a few more of these come up in the future and the chances of getting someone ignorant of it are quite high since its gibberish to most so I will wait !
In my experience a coin is more expensive in its country than abroad because the demand for a local national coin is always higher than a foreign coin. So if you travel abroad a lot, buy your national coins from abroad and keep away from local coinage of the place you are in:):):)
Examples:
British & colonial coins are cheaper in France, Austria, Germany.
Modern Greek coins go for peanuts in Turkey as there is almost no demand for them, I got my VF 1831 10 lepta for around 10 euros from Istanbul. https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces18559.html Yet try to get a 1930s Turkish silver lira from Istanbul:):) But Turkish coins are cheapest in Bulgaria and Greece as there is no demand for them there.
German and Italian coins are very cheap in Austria. Austrian coins are very expensive in Wien:) etc. etc.
But this comparison disappears on the internet as everyone compares prices before they list something to sell online:):)
No I am afraid not:):) Rarity has got nothing to do with "value" we give to a particular item. A coin may be very common, but much seeked for. Take a look at how many people offer or look for 2 Euro commemaratives... some of those coins are pretty common (minted in vast numbers) and many do enter into circulation, so you can meet them among money you use in the EU and pretty easy to find as they are sold in every each one of coin stores or even souvenir shops in touristic places. But the coins have a certain appeal to all and we all seek them. I can not say the same for many other similar coinages - the bi-metal Thai coins for example; or the Russian bi-metal 10 roubles that they seem to mint by the hundreds of various types each year... So the price we tend to pay for various 2 euros goes up by popular demand; but other coins remain the same. Some of the really rare coins (by their mintage numbers or rarity by geographical and historical reasons) will never attain prices beyond what they are now.
NGC boost the prices on the coins they certify so that collectors pay for their coins to be certified and graded. It is an "Enron scheme". I say to you this is worth more because I say so.
So send me more of your coins and pay me to valuate them so that you can ask more for them.
They give a 99.9% certainty of your coins. But as selling rates they only hyper-inflate prices. Maybe you are willing to pay the extra to be sure you are getting what you wanted. But that certificate shouldn't be used as a tool to profiteer for themselves.
Numista referee for the "Viceroyalty of the New Spain" (most of it).
History through coins.
Eli V
Quote: redsmithstudiosSo thespis26, you are saying I need to travel the world to assemble my coin collection at a good price?
I think that's a good idea.
The internet has made a lot of "rare" things come down, perhaps things that are actually rare will go up?
Knowledge made it so.
And how easy and fast cargo and small packages can be moved nowadays.
Amateur collectors can now consult different documents to see what are they getting and if it really as rare as the other party says so. You can imagine how Asian coins would be eccentricities in America back in the 1900s but today we know which ones are worth less than a cent and which ones are really worth investing a bit more on.
Numista referee for the "Viceroyalty of the New Spain" (most of it).
History through coins.
Eli V
Apparently New Zealand stamps were hugely undervalued a few decades back because Stanley Gibbons, which is the main world stamp price catalogue, had no idea which were the rare ones. The dealers over here knew and were pissed off with the undervaluation because they weren't geting enough profit for their stamps so they contacted Stanley Gibbons and worked out a more realistic price structure.
I think this is probably the same with many of the undervalued countries for coins, The guys that put together the guide don't really know what some countries coins are worth to collectors.
I am hoping to look for coins on my world travels (if they ever happen!). If I was in Thailand I'd probably waste days searching through rolls of 10-baht coins for all those lovely commemoratives, instead of doing normal tourist things in the heat (I can't stand over 25C). My big dream is to visit Iran (because - this is a big draw - no American tourists!) and probably Turkey as well (my dad visited Turkey and Greece and he says that Greeks are less trustworthy... well...)... and Eastern/Central Europe (starting in Vienna and moving south/east). There's also Central Asia (Kyrgyzstan can't be all that crowded, and it has yurts!) but that's getting crazy.
Anyway... what do I pay for Canadian coins? In circulation, face value; with silver, usually below catalog (you can still find XF/AU coins from the 1930s at bullion value if you look hard). Krause has an idiotic Canadian coin section (it only gives prices in MS-63 for entire decades of circulation coins...) so I don't even know where to start, but this is why I like Numista.
I can use this website to match buy price to buy price: I can trade coins from circulation at face value for coins from circulation at face value, and both users have profited because those common coins become novel when they're away from home! Same with silver, what is sold at bullion price in Canada would probably be coveted a bit more in any other country (except America where they don't care about any foreign place!), and it's the same for anyone from anywhere else. I always try to match up my swaps evenly, so if someone says "I paid $whatever for these coins" I will go out and spend $whatever on similar kinds of coins until we have equilibrium.
