The websites Professional Coin Grading Service and NumisMedia Price
Guides, although clearly caters to all numismatists vary a bit on
how they price certain coin collections. These coin price guides
try as much as they could to simplify the grading and pricing
process, two processes that are so intertwined together in
determining the value of a coin, as it can be complicated to
someone who is new to numismatics. The simplest of the very
complicated coin price guides out there that I have encountered on
the internet would be Best Coin.com everything is laid out and a
click would lead to further details. Coin collecting is one part of
numismatics; it is defined as the study or collection of coins,
tokens, and paper money and sometimes related to objects such as
medals. The PCGS has Mr. John Dannreuther prominently mentioned as
price editor being a coin collector and an expert for 25 years and
all of the members of the Collectors Universe Numismatic Advisory
Board as contributing factors and experts on determining coin
pricing for their website. PCGS also considers the average prices
of coins in the market with their coin price guide so as not to be
different from the rest of the coin collecting world. NumisMedia
Price Guides on the other hand stands for Fair Market Value to
encourage a sensible environment for good business and good healthy
competition for coin collectors and dealers as well with regards to
their coin price guide. Since the coin market is very fickle the
consideration of a fair market value is very important as some coin
collectors have made this collection their livelihood. A coin's
price is determined by a certain grading process, specifically
called the Sheldon Scale used by both PCGS and NumisMedia, which
has to go through under a scrutiny of experts in numismatics.
The grading process is where it gets complicated as the grading
classification has a lot of terminologies, designations, and
descriptions to be considered to determine a how a coin gets
priced. A slight wear, dent, scratch, the state of its color, and
its mint state with regards to un-circulated coins could change the
price of a certain coin. The material or metal used whether it is
copper, silver, or gold also makes that difference in pricing. The
age or the antiquity of a certain coin also creates a part in
pricing as well as its rarity, especially the coins that were
minted but weren't circulated. To start a coin collection needs
more than investing in a bunch of coins but also investing in the
knowledge of how coins are traded and priced. Taking the time also
to familiarize with terms, codes, and symbols would be advisable as
this would be encountered in coin grading which will determine the
coin price guide. Most coin collector organizations have a website
so it would be best to check several to learn about this very
interesting hobby. NumisMedia offers a monthly newsletter called
the Collector Subscription which included the NumisMedia Monthly
FMV Price Guide which would update any numismatist with the current
coin price guide and subscribing to something like this would
somehow be indispensable to a coin collector.
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Date Published: Feb 10, 2009 - 10:31 pm