Search this website for information about collecting stocks and bonds.
"Please send more information"
Translation: "Tell me what certificates are worth".
I have written millions of words trying to help collectors understand collecting and how they can estimate prices for certificates.
Still, there are an amazing number of collectors who ask me to "send more information."
This website currently includes over 600 pages of static information plus over 7,500 database-driven pages about certificates from specific companies. Behind those pages lie 15,000 to 20,000 more pages of pictures, serial numbers and prices. With this huge amount of information readily available, it is hard to imagine I could possibly say anything I haven't already said.
In fact, most collectors do not really want MORE information. They want less. They want to know what their certificates are worth.
My experience tells me that when people ask for "more information," 90% of the time they actually want to learn how much money they can get by selling their certificates.
Unfortunately, no one can answer that question with any degree of accuracy. We can tell them what collectors have paid for certificates in the past. There is no way to estimate what their specific certificates will sell for – either today or at some unknown point in the future.
Don't have time to learn more? Click here for a guess of your certificate's sales potential.
Why can't I answer a simple question about value and worth?
Trying to predict a future perception of "value" is like tilting at windmills. It is impossible to estimate what a specific certificate will sell for. Every sale is different. Every collector is different. Every motivation is different. Every financial situation is different. A certificate worth thousands of dollars to one collector might be worth nothing to another. A dealer might think his certificate is worth $500 but collectors might be willing to pay only $50. Two hundred collectors might be interested in a specific certificate in one auction, but the same certificate might attract no interest whatsoever in the next.
Correspondents want absolutes. I understand. But it simply not possible to estimate values on a single-item basis. Value is in the eye of the beholder.
And that beholder might be asleep!
Values are time-dependent. Every collector and every dealer has experienced "buyer's remorse." That is when buyers purchase items and then suddenly decide they paid too much. The estimation of value is personal and fleeting. "Value" is established only at single moments in time. Those are moments when two people exchange money. Not one second before. Not one second after. Yesterday's sales prices often have little relevance for certificates sold today.
Who is asking for value estimates? Both prospective buyers and prospective sellers. Conceivably, insurance agents might want to know "value" in case they need to pay for lost, damaged, or stolen collectibles. When losses occur, insurers become after-the-fact buyers.
Owners also want to learn about values because a curious thing happens to owners. Once buyers become owners, they shift roles. The become prospective sellers who might want to sell at "some time" in the future. Sooner or later, all collectors (or their heirs) will need to sell.
Another curious thing happens with buyers. Even at the moment they are experiencing buyer's remorse, some collectors to imagine suddenly higher valuations. Fear and greed co-exist simultaneously.
Other possible consumers of price information include appraisors who sell information to prospective sellers.
What kind of estimate is more correct? An estimate for a single item? Or an estimate for a whole collection?
It is easier to predict the course of a monstrous hurricane than the path of a single tornado. Similarly, it is much, much easier to predict the value of a large collection than a single cerificate. Human desires and fears are in constant motion, continually affected by millions of outside forces. In general, we can see where a storm of prices is going, but we can't predict prices of a single certificates.
What affects desirability? Estimating values of collectible certificates involves trying to quantify how various features of certificates might affect desirability. Desirability represents the highly complex interplay of features that causes collectors to want certain items and ignore others.
I have spent years trying to understand how various features affect pricing. In my mind, the single most important variable is how much money a buyer has to spend.
There are, of course many other things that affect how much collectors might be willing to pay for certificates.
Exceptions to EVERY rule. There are no hard and fast rules for valuation. Certain features are usually more important than others, but not always. This unpredictability frequently causes very strange price behavior. It is extremely common to see nearly-identical certificates sell for $50 one month, $100 the next and $25 the month after. It is not uncommon to see even larger price ranges!
I strongly recommend buying the Cox Catalog from your favorite
SCRIPOPHILY DEALERS.
If they do not yet carry, or are out of stock, you may buy directly from the author.
$49.95+post
Help support this free site! Please visit my eBay store called Papermental by Terry Cox. My inventory includes railroad passes, railroad ephemera, newspapers, magazines, engravings, and all sorts of paper collectibles.
Please contact me if you have certificates not yet listed. (See How You Can Help.)
I suggest using WeTransfer or similar file transfer sites when sending large files or large numbers of files.
PLEASE contact the many fine dealers listed on my dealers page to buy certificates.