Catalogue Values

[Pedro]

In browsing my Rennik's catalogue (sorry Greg, was given it as a gift!) the General Information blurb notes that "Collectors will be aware that the market factors of supply and demand directly influence the prices quoted in this Catalogue. ... Many factors are taken into account, the most important of which is supply and demand."

I can only imagine how much time and effort is required to collate and produce the McDonalds and Renniks catalogues so I mean no disrespect to their efforts or their work with the questions below. I see these publications as very useful and informative guides for collectors.

My interests centre mainly around RAM mint sets so the question comes from more familiarity there. As pre-decimals are not my thing (at least not so far) the situation may be entirely different in that arena. My perception is that if you require better quality or rarer pre-decimal coins then the safer course is to use reputable dealers where coins can be seen in hand etc.

How do forumites use the quoted catalogue values? I recall seeing in other threads that when calculating how much a person is willing to pay for an item they may say take 50% - 60% of the quoted catalogue value as their target price.

Does that mean that catalogue values are not in line with supply and demand (see initial quote above)? I accept that collectors may also be looking for bargains rather than just simply filling holes in their collections.  

I can only obviously see the prices being paid on Ebay for mint sets and what prices are on offer from my occasional visits to bricks and mortar dealers. I am not aware of the turnover of the bricks and mortar dealers and so I don't know what proportion of the coin market Ebay holds. In other words, B&M dealers may account for say, 80% of the market and be selling at prices far closer to catalogue values so my questions become null and void.

However, from what I have seen there are only limited numbers of sets (since 1966) that generally attract prices close to catalogue values. For many sets the average price paid on Ebay is 50% or less of the quoted catalogue value and this has been the case for the last 2 years at least. Are current catalogue values then overstated?

We have a cross-section of contributors on ACF (ie collectors, dealers etc) so I will be interested in hearing your views and particularly how Ebay fits into the setting of the considerations for catalogue prices.

Pedro

[trout]

I use Blue sheet for all my Coin values.
All the guides are great to see which coins are scarce but in reality the prices quoted in the guides are outdated upon publication.

I prefer "Real Time" pricings and Blue Sheet is the Best resource I can find for that :ok:

[Basil]

How do forumites use the quoted catalogue values? I recall seeing in other threads that when calculating how much a person is willing to pay for an item they may say take 50% - 60% of the quoted catalogue value as their target price.

However, from what I have seen there are only limited numbers of sets (since 1966) that generally attract prices close to catalogue values. For many sets the average price paid on Ebay is 50% or less of the quoted catalogue value and this has been the case for the last 2 years at least. Are current catalogue values then overstated?

Pedro

I think 50% of catalogue is a starting point,key dates are closer to book value than the high mintage years i find.Coin sets are always volatile,they can be had for a fraction of Book value if someone has the time to study Internet sites.My 2c.

[stevo1962]

I find that the more popular/sought after the item is then the closer
 to the realised price to maccas or rennicks it will achieve.For example a 1966 proof set in perfect condition will sell for more than book price but if you start at 50% of bookprice for your purchases that would be roughly
market value for many items however you would be better off doing the research on previous sales before spending too much

[markn]

There is absolutely no hard-and-fast rule because as you've touched on the way items are being sold sets the price.  But if I had to generalise on eBay I'd say early decimal (pre 1975) are at some decent fraction of catalogue (say 0.6).  And everything after that I'd generalise at 0.25-0.4 of CV.  In b&m shops you could add 10-20% to these numbers.  Bullion related issues have their own set of rules because they have a minimal value where as stuff like mint sets doesn't (other than face value I guess).

I think the really sad thing is that we can all think of exceptions to these rules.  And those exceptions are the very few items that have actually done ok.  

If it was me I'd research on eBay because that's the real "if I sell now I'll get X" rather than looking at retail prices or CV's.

[Fulvio]

Supply and demand is all well and good, but for almost all issues, supply far, far exceeds demand from "real" collectors. However there are hoarders, speculators, traders and the like who create the illusion of more interest than actually exists. But these people only buy to resell, and offer low enough prices to provide for healthy profit margins and inevitable discounts.

Personally, I take very little notice of CV's, other than to determine relative values compared to similar issues. If I see something I like, I look at the price, do some quick mental gymnastics to determine what I'm prepared to pay, and offer accordingly. If I get it, great. If they won't budge on price, well, there's plenty more fish in the sea. And if they come back with a counter-offer, then the game's afoot.

Anything is only worth what someone's prepared to pay. And each and every someone has a different method for determining what they're prepared to pay, based on their own circumstances (and all manner of voodoo magic). I don't think you can conclusively allocate a firm price to any collectible, but I definitely tip my hat to those who make the effort, be it paper catalogues, blue sheet or whatever. Hard, thankless work for the most part.