The websites Professional Collectible Coin Grading Service and NumisMedia Price Guides, although clearly caters to all numismatists vary a bit on how they price certain coin collections. These Collectible 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 Collectible 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 Collectible 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.
