Hi. I realized that some members trade based on KM value. Since my knoweledge is not so big, can anyone explain to me how coins get their value? Who are the people who decide what the value of a certain coin is? I am from Serbia, and in my opinion KM values for Serbian and Yugoslavian coins are funny. For example, Yugoslavian coins from 70s and 80s are very common and easy to get, while coins from 90s are way harder to find, but in the book, coins from 90s have no value while coins from 70s and 80s are more expensive. Can anyone explain to me how does this work?
I believe that the prices in the book are from the averages prices of coins in the US. I am not 100% certain of this but I believe this is where the values come from.
Suppy and demand my friend. They are easy for you to get hold of but not for an American collector necessarily. So, some coins are not easy to get a hold of and the one's that have a low mintage, harder to find in a good grade, are the one's that are more expensive.
Sorry Bam, but it is not true that Yugoslavian coins from 70s and 80s are hard to get in The States. I lived in Virginia for 3 years and I actually started collecting while I lived there. I collect coins by year and I found almost all Yugoslavian coins from 70s and 80s there. Yugoslavian coins from 90s are harder to get, no matter where you are... here in Czech Republic where I live now, in The States where I lived for 3 years, in Serbia which was part of Yugoslavia, and even here on Numista web-site. That's why I am asking who made that decision that coins from 70s and 80s should be more expensive?
This is not the only example... there are many more similar cases where I think the KM book is funny.
It seems to be based on demand for that it and then scarcity comes in, if Yugoslav coins are not very popular they will be cheap. I just got 2 shillings from Nigeria they are valued at next to nothing but are so hard to find I began to think it was an urban myth !
Like I said they only seem to cater to American coins and the rest is a rough idea. If I could have bought all of my coins for the prices set by NGC and/or Krause I would have completed the commonwealth by now !
The values are based on mintage figures and demand (disregarding conditions).
However, some of the prices are obsolete. For example, French Indochinese coins and the Japanese "Phoenix" 100 Yen from the 50's are typically sold no more than 3 times more than the value in the catalogue because they are very scarce and desirable.
Kenny
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