Blue sheet vs Red sheet valuations

[kchan1111]

Hi everyone,

Another embarrassingly dumb question... what is the difference between the blue sheet and red sheet valuations?

I just upgraded to check it out. Can't help but the notice the prices are different between the two. Red sheet numbers are smaller for same coin and grade. Are the two different because one is retail and the other is wholesales? i.e. the difference is dealer's margin?

The sale history is very useful to see how often a coin and grade have come up.

Regards,

[wwwww]

Red Sheet is based exactly on past auction sales, Blue Sheet has a liquidity ratio applied to it.

E.g. a coin which appears on the market very frequently at very similar or slightly increasing prices will probably only have a ~20-30% markup in the Blue Sheet over the Red Sheet prices, a coin which rarely appears or has very volatile pricing may have a 80-90% markup. Most coins will have about a 60% markup.

The Blue Sheet is intended to be what you'd expect to pay for the coin from a dealer, the Red Sheet follows what the coin sells for at auction.

[kchan1111]

Thanks very much for Walter for taking the time to answer my question. Makes a lot of sense now.