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Greysheet for regular people: what that book actually is
It is a dealer wholesale sheet, not a promise. Bid is not what you pay at a show. And not every coin on earth is in there.
Someone at a show says “Greysheet bid” like it is a court order.
Greysheet (CDN) is a wholesale reference for dealers. It is useful. It is not a law. It is not a retail tag. It is not complete.
Bid vs ask, in English
Bid is closer to what a dealer might pay another dealer for a nice, problem-free example. You walking in off the street with a cleaned coin are not that example. Details grades. Appraisal vs bid.
What is missing
A lot of world. Odd tokens. Things too new, too weird, or too thin to sheet. If a lookup comes up empty, you did not break the shop. The sheet has holes. We still have a brain and a scale. World coins.
Bluebook, Red Book, “price guides”
Different jobs. Red Book is not a dealer buy list. Phone apps are a different problem. Why worth searches lie.
If a shop shows you a sheet, ask which column they are using and whether your coin matches the assumptions — grade, problem-free, actual demand today.
Part of the coin shop counter wiki · visitors & collectors · NumisQ Learn