We've been informed that a new error coin pricing guide will be released shortly. This guide was not written by an impartial numismatic publisher, but rather by an active dealer in the error coin market.

Can an active dealer write an impartial price guide? Will other dealers participate or will this be a one-sided opinion? Previous attempts to do the same thing were made years ago by attempting to average prices realized from recorded sales by dealers, auctions, and other avenues of recorded sales. As we understand it, however, this will be one dealer's view on the market from a combination of ANACS pop reports, other known pieces, auction records, dealer lists, known collections etc etc. What about NGC and PCGS population reports? There are also a lot of raw (unslabbed) coins out there that will not be counted.

We have our doubts regarding the accuracy of such a guide. Too many factors remain, such as grade, eye appeal, toning, whether the coin was struck on both sides, whether it displays a full date, scarce dates, shape of the error, flip-over strikes, multiple strikes, or what percentage of the design shows - this list could go on and on.

Error coin prices, especially with the rare errors, have only one common ground...what the dealer had to pay to get the error, and what the buyer is willing to pay to add the coin to their collection.

Time will tell if this pricing guide is fair to the whole market and whether it will be popular. Just remember, biased opinions can skew the results of any guide.

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All content in this newsletter is the opinion of the author and should not be taken as sound investment advice.