How to Find Current Price Data for Coins

Introduction

Pricing coins is a subjective exercise. If you show a coin to a buyer and a seller you will likely get different opinions. The best way to get accurate price estimates is to use current data from more than one source and to derive your estimate from this information added to your experience with coin pricing.

If price data is in print it is not current. Printed pricing data is useful to get an estimate but prices change frequently, not only due to the coin marketplace but with the prices of precious metals and with the economy as a whole. The best source for current price data is the internet.

There are many sources of price data available on the internet and this article will present some of the better ones. The data can vary over the various sources because it can reflect various types:

Certified vs Uncertified

Wholesale vs Retail

Buyers vs Sellers

It is important to be aware of the “flavor” of the price data you are using.

Online Price Data

Here are some web sites that update their data frequently to keep it accurate as reflected in the marketplace.

◦www.ngccoin.com/price-guide for coins in NGC holders

◦www.pcgs.com/prices for coins in PCGS holders

◦www.coinworld.com/coinvalues.html for fair market value

◦www.coinprices.org for fair market value

◦www.greysheet.com/coin-prices for fair market value

There are many other sources for current data available online.

Other Sources for Current Price Data

Thousands of US Coins are sold online every day. One of the most popular places to buy them is ebay. Ebay keeps a record of each sale and it is accessible to ebay users. You can search on ebay for current prices of coins that sold on their site.

There is a search box at the top of the ebay.com home page and on many other pages. Here is an example of an ebay search box.

If you enter a search string, e.g. “1932-d Washington quarter” and press the blue Search button the listings containing that string will be listed. Here’s an example of what ebay will show for this search:

There are a couple of adjustments you should make to make to the search to get more accurate, consistent data.

◦Check the box for showing only Sold Listings to get accurate data. This will filter out listings that are posted with unrealistic prices and may not sell at all.

◦Check the box for Buy It Now Only to get more consistent data. This will filter out auction style listing results which tend to be inaccurate.

The following example shows how to make these adjustments:

After you press the “Buy It Now” button and check the “Sold Items” box press the Search button. Here is an example result (truncated – there are many more listings shown in the actual search result):

This provides a pretty good idea of the market price of the coin in three different grades. Compare your coin to the results shown and when you find one that is similar check the price data. Each listing shows the date that the item was sold so be sure to check that it is current.

This is useful, relevant data that is available for free. Once you get used to going through the machinations it is a breeze to get this valuable information for pricing your coin.

Conclusion

The best source for current price data is the internet. The more sources you use the more accurate your price estimate is likely to be. Keep in mind that there are different kinds of data as described above and merge the results with your experience to get a quality result.