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Copyright 1995 by Michael E. Marotta, 13 Mar 1995
If you look in the Krause and Mischler Standard Catalog of World Coins, you will find that most coins have a price. (Some rarities do not.) At a recent show, I traded a half rupee of Nepal for a British penny from North Borneo. We were both happy, of course, but neither one of us will ever replace our exports. I have some sho and tangka pieces from Tibet. If I sell them for full catalog, I will be the loser in any transaction because I cannot replace them.
The SCWC has many listings like this. You could offer twice or three times catalog and never draw any offers. There are several reasons. First, are the "opportunity costs." You would have to advertise in some far away place via some unfamiliar medium. You would have to correspond to strike a price and then pay for shipping and handling. (The assertion that the seller would pay shipping is hallow.) By the time you actually come into possession of the coin, it will cost several times more than the catalog price. You could buy an item from America at one-tenth the opportunity costs of an item from Tibet.
Another reason is that price is a function of demand. Since not many people collect Tibetan coins by type (and certainly not by date and mint), the catalog price is lowered by lack of demand. Yet, if you do want a Tibetan coin, few people will have one to offer for sale. This fact is not reflected in the catalog price. In other words, a silver tangka from 1909 (Y14) is priced at about the same as a 1954-S Proof Washington Quarter. The latter will be much easier to the find than the former. If you offer twice the catalog price on both, you will be buried in Quarters but you will be lucky to locate any more of the Tangkas.
The prices in the K&M SCWC are indicators. The standard is all other coins in the catalog. In other words, a coin listed at $5 from Hyderabad is as widely collected and available as a $5 coin from Germany. The assumption works only in a bourse where the coins of Hyderabad and Germany are both for sale at the same time. That bourse could be a dealer's catalog or an ANA convention. In no way are the catalog prices absolute, even as indicators.
Michael E. Marotta
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