A list of recommended published and online coin value guides and catalogs. Below is a list of the most popular coin price catalogs in the numismatic world.
How much is the price of a coin? Consulting a coin price guide is essential to know the value of numismatic coins; whether you want to sell, buy or appraise collector coins.
The price indicated in one coin price book may slightly differ from another. By comparing the different prices, you will have a more accurate idea how much a particular coin is worth. Value and price can vary whether you’re looking at fluctuations in the coin and currency market..
Some numismatic price guide also provide the coin value fluctuations over the years.
The Red Book , US coin price guide
The Red Book, or officially called A Guide Book of United States Coins, has been widely used as a coin retail price guide. Authored by R.S Yeoman, the Red Book has been around for more than 60 years with several editions printed by the Whitman Publishing, LLC.
Aside from the current retail values of American coins and US bullion coins, each entry in the Red Book is featured with full color pictures and their technical information for easier coin identification.
The Blue Book, American coin price guide
Another coin price book written by Yeoman is entitled A Handbook of United States Coins which earned its nickname the Blue Book. It is almost similar to the Red Book in content but the Blue Book specializes in the wholesale prices of US coins.
If you want to sell your American coin collection, you can refer to the Bluebook for the prices. Coin dealers also refer to this coin price book when buying coins.
The Greysheet, or CDN
The Coin Dealer Newsletter or colloquially called the Greysheet (the newsletter uses grey paper) has been in the numismatic industry since 1963. Being published weekly, it promises coin dealers the most accurate, unbiased, and up-to-date pricings focusing on the wholesale market.
The coin Greysheet covers (both third party certified and uncertified) graded silver and gold commemorative coins, Morgan dollars, proof coins and mint sets, bullion coins among others.
Subscribers of CDN also receive a monthly supplementary issue featuring coins that have lower level of price volatility or with relatively stable coin values. Because prices of these coins do not change quickly, they are not included on the weekly Greysheet.
The Bluesheet coin price guide or CCDN
The Certified Coin Dealer Newsletter or commonly referred to as the Bluesheet was first published in 1986, the time when third party certified and graded collectable coins became available and popular in the market.
While most coin grading companies use the same standard or scale in assessing coins, individual companies used different terminologies and descriptions that correspond to the numerical grade they give to a coin. This caused misunderstandings and conflicts in coin pricing.
To help numismatists avoid the confusion, the CCDN or Bluesheet was born. Today, it features coins graded by Professional Coin Grading Services (PCGS) and the Numismatic Guaranty Corp. (NGC) weekly.
Coins graded by ANACS, ICG and other third party coin graders are featured in the supplementary issue released monthly to Bluesheet subscribers.
US Coin Digest
This coin collecting price guide is from Krause Publications, a company producing other numismatic periodicals. The U.S. Coin Digest is laid out like the Red Book but is coin price list covers 11 numismatic grades. This comes handy when you want to know the value of a lesser grade coin that is not listed in the red book.
Coin World’s Coin Values
This numismatic price book was once known as Trends. Now, Coin World’s Coin Values also has an online coin price guide aside from its magazine. Coin Values lists the coin retail values. Aside from the latest coin values, this publication also features helpful article to keep numismatists updated of the latest happenings in the numismatic world.
Teletrade Coin Price Guide
Teletrade is a coin collector’s price guide online. They have two types of numismatic price lists: for American coins and for international coins. The Teletrade world coin price guide keeps tab on the coin values all over the globe.
COINage Magazine, Coin price guide
COINage is one of America’s famous coin magazines that feature articles and columns about collecting and making money from coins.
It is composed of different coin experts and numismatic authorities who willingly share their experiences in the coin collecting hobby and convey their views & opinion about the changing coin market.
PCGS Coin Price List
The Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS) is one of the leading companies that offer coin grading and authentication services. It provides an online coin collecting price guide which only applies to numismatic items graded by PCGS.
Being one of the top reputable coin graders, PCGS-graded coins are usually priced higher than coins graded by other authenticators.
Coin dealers often peg their coins for sale at PCGS values. When buying a coin, numismatists often subtract 25% from the listed value to get the coin’s actual market price.
NumisMedia Price Guides
NumisMedia is the official price guide of the Numismatic Guaranty Corporation (NGC) and the Collectors’ Society offering a collector coin pricing guide and a dealer coin price list separately. It is an online coin value catalog which is updated daily.
Numismedia also releases a monthly publication called fair market value price guide that contains 36 pages of coins with grades Very Fine (VF) to Mint State 68 (MS68). While an annual coin collecting catalog is issued every January for items with Good to MS70 coin grades.
