Did I get a good deal on this?

[Marc]

Just bought on ebay. 1902 penny, high tide. Was this a good price? See here.

[Mat]

Just bought on ebay. 1902 penny, high tide. Was this a good price? See here.

Absolutely, whether your a dealer or collector its worth it, anything 100 years old for a fiver in that condition its a thumbs up!

[RobJ]

I think that you have made a good purchase there Marc. For around £5 and in EF condition you certainly haven't been burnt.

Good Find.

[Red Riley]

I think that you have made a good purchase there Marc. For around £5 and in EF condition you certainly haven't been burnt.

Good Find.

It's probably about the going rate. Common date and the commoner of two varieties, EF but no lustre. Looks quite a tidy coin, so no, you weren't ripped off.

[Peckris]

Just bought on ebay. 1902 penny, high tide. Was this a good price? See here.

Yes, that was a fair price, and certainly not a bad buy.

I like the toning of it - there may be no lustre but it's attractive and almost looks like it was darkened at the Mint. Nice.

Edited December 9, 2010 by Peckris

[Kronos]

Just bought on ebay. 1902 penny, high tide. Was this a good price? See here.

Spink 2010 price is EF £10, I wish I could purchase all my coins at half the value (I'd settle for that), but then again it's not the value, it's what you want to pay for a coin, unless you want to sell it. CCGB 2010 is valued is EF £5.

I don't fully understand how the values are defined, between both books there can be a big difference. Take a 1934 Unc Halfcrown, one is £70 and the other is £140. It’s beyond me!

[Marc]

Just bought on ebay. 1902 penny, high tide. Was this a good price? See here.

Yes, that was a fair price, and certainly not a bad buy.

I like the toning of it - there may be no lustre but it's attractive and almost looks like it was darkened at the Mint. Nice.

I think the toning is what attracted me to it as well Peck. I was watching several auctions but had to have this one.

Thanks for the input folks!

Marc

[Red Riley]

Spink 2010 price is EF £10, I wish I could purchase all my coins at half the value (I'd settle for that), but then again it's not the value, it's what you want to pay for a coin, unless you want to sell it. CCGB 2010 is valued is EF £5.

I don't fully understand how the values are defined, between both books there can be a big difference. Take a 1934 Unc Halfcrown, one is £70 and the other is £140. Its beyond me!

I frequently find Spink to be the most far out of the major guides, some of their prices are quite baffling and bear no relationship to what coins are going for in the real world. I also think their Unc. price in this case (£50) is pushing twice as much as its actual value even with 95% plus lustre.

Spink is fine as a wide ranging guide to what is available, and for all I know, may be reasonably accurate for those really top end coins which none of us can afford. But for the bread and butter stuff that us mere mortals dabble in, it can be quite hopeless.

You may say that as the CCGB price is only £5, then you have paid 50p over the top, but what has to be remembered is that between EF (£5) and BU (£35) is a great chasm into which real, rather than theoretical coins will fit. The vast bulk of coins aren't exactly EF or Unc. but somewhere between the two, so on that basis I would consider the £5.50 you paid for a pleasing EF, pretty good value.

Edited December 10, 2010 by Red Riley

[Peckris]

Spink 2010 price is EF £10, I wish I could purchase all my coins at half the value (I'd settle for that), but then again it's not the value, it's what you want to pay for a coin, unless you want to sell it. CCGB 2010 is valued is EF £5.

I don't fully understand how the values are defined, between both books there can be a big difference. Take a 1934 Unc Halfcrown, one is £70 and the other is £140. It’s beyond me!

I frequently find Spink to be the most far out of the major guides, some of their prices are quite baffling and bear no relationship to what coins are going for in the real world. I also think their Unc. price in this case (£50) is pushing twice as much as its actual value even with 95% plus lustre.

Spink is fine as a wide ranging guide to what is available, and for all I know, may be reasonably accurate for those really top end coins which none of us can afford. But for the bread and butter stuff that us mere mortals dabble in, it can be quite hopeless.

You may say that as the CCGB price is only £5, then you have paid 50p over the top, but what has to be remembered is that between EF (£5) and BU (£35) is a great chasm into which real, rather than theoretical coins will fit. The vast bulk of coins aren't exactly EF or Unc. but somewhere between the two, so on that basis I would consider the £5.50 you paid for a pleasing EF, pretty good value.

I'd echo most of this. As a mere collector I used to regard Spink (& Seaby before them) as a "bible" whose prices were holy writ. After dealing for a few years I soon came to revise that opinion. I now tend to regard it more as a sort of insurance table, where you get 2/3 of the quoted price if you suffer a loss.

Having said that, I'd say there were collectors out there who would happily pay more than £70 for a genuinely BU 1934 halfcrown - it's quite a rare coin in that condition! Aslo remember that Spinks mean BU when they say UNC. CCGB lists the two separately, and £70 is Chris's UNC price not BU.

[Kronos]

Spink 2010 price is EF £10, I wish I could purchase all my coins at half the value (I'd settle for that), but then again it's not the value, it's what you want to pay for a coin, unless you want to sell it. CCGB 2010 is valued is EF £5.

I don't fully understand how the values are defined, between both books there can be a big difference. Take a 1934 Unc Halfcrown, one is £70 and the other is £140. It’s beyond me!

I frequently find Spink to be the most far out of the major guides, some of their prices are quite baffling and bear no relationship to what coins are going for in the real world. I also think their Unc. price in this case (£50) is pushing twice as much as its actual value even with 95% plus lustre.

Spink is fine as a wide ranging guide to what is available, and for all I know, may be reasonably accurate for those really top end coins which none of us can afford. But for the bread and butter stuff that us mere mortals dabble in, it can be quite hopeless.

You may say that as the CCGB price is only £5, then you have paid 50p over the top, but what has to be remembered is that between EF (£5) and BU (£35) is a great chasm into which real, rather than theoretical coins will fit. The vast bulk of coins aren't exactly EF or Unc. but somewhere between the two, so on that basis I would consider the £5.50 you paid for a pleasing EF, pretty good value.

I'd echo most of this. As a mere collector I used to regard Spink (& Seaby before them) as a "bible" whose prices were holy writ. After dealing for a few years I soon came to revise that opinion. I now tend to regard it more as a sort of insurance table, where you get 2/3 of the quoted price if you suffer a loss.

Having said that, I'd say there were collectors out there who would happily pay more than £70 for a genuinely BU 1934 halfcrown - it's quite a rare coin in that condition! Aslo remember that Spinks mean BU when they say UNC. CCGB lists the two separately, and £70 is Chris's UNC price not BU.

The first 'Coins of England' I purchased was Seabys (1981), I was 18 years old and I also thought of it as the bible, I have purchased it every year since. Why? I don’t know, possibly posterity.

So when purchasing a coin (or selling one) what do you use as a guide line?

[Red Riley]

The first 'Coins of England' I purchased was Seabys (1981), I was 18 years old and I also thought of it as the bible, I have purchased it every year since. Why? I don’t know, possibly posterity.

So when purchasing a coin (or selling one) what do you use as a guide line?

I have crossed the divide as it were, so sell rather than buy, but I always found it worthwhile to keep a number of dealers websites in my favourites list. Even if they don't have the exact same coin that you are interested in, what they do have should often be enough to point you in the right direction. Then check in Spink (or CCGB, which I find more accurate for 'our' type of coins) to see that the item you have in mind is roughly equal to one on a dealer's list, and make your assessment from there. Does that make sense?

Also bear in mind that coins are all individuals and a nicely toned EF say, may have a higher value than you might expect - it all comes down to demand and how easy it will be to re-sell the piece. And as someone on the forum, John I think, says, 'buy the coin and not the grade'.

[argentumandcoins]

Just bought on ebay. 1902 penny, high tide. Was this a good price? See here.

Spink 2010 price is EF £10, I wish I could purchase all my coins at half the value (I'd settle for that), but then again it's not the value, it's what you want to pay for a coin, unless you want to sell it. CCGB 2010 is valued is EF £5.

I don't fully understand how the values are defined, between both books there can be a big difference. Take a 1934 Unc Halfcrown, one is £70 and the other is £140. It’s beyond me!

My eldest lad likes Pirates of the Caribbean and there is a repeated saying in there, "it's not so much rules as guidelines" sounds like price books to me!

The only real guide to value is how much it will cost to replace in the given grade from a dealer. That is not how much the coin is worth however, because I won't pay you the price I would sell it at or I wouldn't be in business very long!

So now we have 2 values for the same coin, your resale price and your replacement or insurance price. There is also your cost price, taking us up to 3 prices for the coin. You can also have an auction price for resale but you should deduct an average 20% for the house fees etc etc etc.

I still get emails and phone calls from potential buyers who regularly hit me for discount with the line "it's only valued at £blah blah in Spinks" and being the ignorant arse that I am I reply "well go and try and buy it from Spinks at that price, if they even have one."

So, what is a price guide?

Derek is quite correct, buy the coin because you like it. If you have to ask if you got a got deal you really shouldn't have bought the coin. There isn't a single coin that I own (discounting stock) that I regret buying, there are however a heap of coins that I regret not buying!

[Peter]

Price guides are just that we all know harder dates and grades..don't we

[Kronos]

Being a collector and not a seller I always by the coin and not the grade and I am not that worried if I pay more than the coin is worth in a book.

My original question regarding valuing coins is that my collection is not listed specifically in my house insurance and I need to put a value on my collection so I can do this. I suppose I could use Spink but from what I have read above this would over value my collection, which in hindsight is not a bad thing I suppose for insurance purposes. This now leads me to another question, if the worst did happen (god forbid) and my collection was stolen what would the insurance companies use to value the coins.

[Peter]

I'm against insurance full stop...just don't keep your whole collection in one place...I think that there are dodgy deals if you apply for insurance if the local crime boys or the goverment get a sniff

[£400 for a Penny ?]

if the worst did happen (god forbid) and my collection was stolen what would the insurance companies use to value the coins.

I believe they use 60% of Spink ?

[argentumandcoins]

Being a collector and not a seller I always by the coin and not the grade and I am not that worried if I pay more than the coin is worth in a book.

My original question regarding valuing coins is that my collection is not listed specifically in my house insurance and I need to put a value on my collection so I can do this. I suppose I could use Spink but from what I have read above this would over value my collection, which in hindsight is not a bad thing I suppose for insurance purposes. This now leads me to another question, if the worst did happen (god forbid) and my collection was stolen what would the insurance companies use to value the coins.

You could use a reputable dealer to do you an insurance valuation.

You should also keep all invoices/receipts that you receive in relation to purchases. A good phtographic record of the better stuff also helps if the worst case happens. The basic rule of thumb is that the insurance company will pay out as little as they can get away with.

[1949threepence]

Being a collector and not a seller I always by the coin and not the grade and I am not that worried if I pay more than the coin is worth in a book.

My original question regarding valuing coins is that my collection is not listed specifically in my house insurance and I need to put a value on my collection so I can do this. I suppose I could use Spink but from what I have read above this would over value my collection, which in hindsight is not a bad thing I suppose for insurance purposes. This now leads me to another question, if the worst did happen (god forbid) and my collection was stolen what would the insurance companies use to value the coins.

Like others, I'm not convinced by insurance, especially when it comes to adequate documentation and valuation. But there is a specialist collector's insurance company, based in Exeter, here

[Peckris]

Being a collector and not a seller I always by the coin and not the grade and I am not that worried if I pay more than the coin is worth in a book.

My original question regarding valuing coins is that my collection is not listed specifically in my house insurance and I need to put a value on my collection so I can do this. I suppose I could use Spink but from what I have read above this would over value my collection, which in hindsight is not a bad thing I suppose for insurance purposes. This now leads me to another question, if the worst did happen (god forbid) and my collection was stolen what would the insurance companies use to value the coins.

Spink. As far as insurance companies Are concerned it IS the bible.