Varieties and values

[jallengomez]

Simon-
Is Elvis a Biblical Saint now?

[simonm]

Simon-
Is Elvis a Biblical Saint now?

Some people think so.

[seal006]

Steve-I've literally had auctions end with no bids at .99 cents only to then toss them back up for one more day and have them hit $5-$10 bucks the next day with multiple bids.

Jody, I think your response has given me an epiphany. I do not think that valuating coins is my problem. The problem lies in that the only real sales info we can get on these things we collect is from auction prices. As the economy has been so crazy over the past few years, so have the prices of realized auctions. Look at Teletrade for any given variety. You could have the same variety with the same grade sell for 6 different prices over the past 6 months. My desire with this thread was to hopefully understand a little more of what affects these price fluctuations. The answer is crystal clear. No one knows. There are those that act as if they do, but as volatile as the market is, there is no way for any one to tell for sure. Thanks to all that shared some real meat and potatoes on this subject.

[ray_parkhurst]

Jody, I think your response has given me an epiphany. I do not think that valuating coins is my problem. The problem lies in that the only real sales info we can get on these things we collect is from auction prices. As the economy has been so crazy over the past few years, so have the prices of realized auctions. Look at Teletrade for any given variety. You could have the same variety with the same grade sell for 6 different prices over the past 6 months. My desire with this thread was to hopefully understand a little more of what affects these price fluctuations. The answer is crystal clear. No one knows. There are those that act as if they do, but as volatile as the market is, there is no way for any one to tell for sure. Thanks to all that shared some real meat and potatoes on this subject.

My point exactly. Prices realized are not particularly useful in determining value, as odd as that sounds. Value is a fairly fixed quantity that changes at a relatively slow rate, though it can change rapidly when the factors change, for instance if a coin is listed or delisted in a major reference. Prices realized are a wildly unstable phenomenon, certainly not something to base price guidelines on.

Edited to add that value could be defined as the average price a sampling of knowledgeable specialists would buy the coin for given time for full examination and research.

It might be useful to actually have that discussion in order to document the factors and considerations that go into variety valuation. But as Chris and Chuck have both stated in this thread, valuation algorithms are a proprietary thing. Chris wants to keep his to himself because it is a valuable part of his business, and Chuck wants to keep his to himself because it will form the basis of his valuation engine on CC one day. Perhaps though it might be good to discuss anyway, and maybe another thread specifically on this subject would be useful.

[liveandievarieties]

The answer is crystal clear. No one knows.

It really is that simple. I am blown away constantly by prices of our coins realized on eBay, Teletrade and Great Collections. I know what I won't let a coin sell for less than.... but nobody can predict what prices will be realized in a competetive market.

[jallengomez]

Yep. I've seen coins that had someone offered it to me beforehand, I would have purchased for a couple hundred thinking I could easily flip them for a profit(because of past auction history) go for less than 50 bucks. And I'm talking about slabbed coins on Teletrade; not blurry pictured raw coins on Ebay.

[coop]

Hasn't this dead horse been beat enough yet? I'm starting to see red.

From boredom.

[seal006]

Hasn't this dead horse been beat enough yet? I'm starting to see red.

From boredom.

No one forces you to read every thread Coop.

[coop]

I guess I can give it the five second click.