Yea the whole X times face thing is a calculation used generally for junk silver to simplify the math (spot*0.715*face+premium). Dunno why people apply it to Cas coins. Should think of it simply as face plus premium, determined solely by rarity and demand.
Dazed, don't be a fool.
Valuation multipliers aren't reserved for some things people purchase and not for others. It's a mathematical way to compare the bid or offer price of two different things that cannot otherwise be easily compared. Here's an appropriate example for you: One cannot compare the sales price between a physical 1
BTC coin and 10
BTC coin because the stored value in one is ten times the other AND there's no generally accepted treatment of the premium that should be applied to each. The only way to equally, fairly compare the prices is by using a valuation multiplier.
The Casascius tenths have gone for 20x face, the 1
BTC has gone for 2-4x face depending on the type of coin (i.e., brass or silver), and denominations above have rarely if ever been sold publicly so there's no real information the potential price range.
If you think that valuations are reserved for select items or aren't relevant, you're wrong. Now, you can choose not to agree with a valuation multiplier or think about the formula for price differently - that's completely fine, should be encouraged! But until someone buys these coins and the price is public we have no real way to assess what the price should be, hence my multiplier valuation comment.
You can apply whatever mathematical formula you want to value a coin, doesn't mean it makes any sense. And directly comparing your arbitrary scale between two completely different coins is ridiculous. (e.g. 2x face for 1 1btc vs 10btc silver cas). Different mintages, different values, different histories...
Would you use a multiplier for a Morgan dollar? "I'd like to pay 300x face ($1) for that exemplary MS grade CC, but no more!" Nope.
Have you ever used a multiplier for gold coins? "I'll pay 60x face ($20) for that fine double eagle!" Doubt it.
Is 1.15x face value a good representation for the gold 25btc? Or how about THE VALUE within + 2-3btc premium? Hmm...
EDIT: the nubbins quote by QS is bang-on correct.
Dazed, you can use a multiplier on anything you're or I are trying to value in comparison to something else where those two items can easily be compared in terms of value or price. SO yes, I'd value a Morgan Dollar to another US silver dollar (different time period, not Morgan) in terms of a multiplier. Or to compare the price of gold coins from two different governments (e.g., Maple Leafs vs. Kuggerands.) People value companies in terms of multipliers too. There's a lot of uses for it.
The key thing here is that it's not
my mathematical formula, it's not arbitrary. It's not like i've determined what the multiplier is - it's literally the sale price divide by face value.
Here's a link to "Valuation Multiples" to help you understand its economic definition ->
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valuation_using_multiples"Usefulness: Valuation is about judgment, and multiples provide a framework for making value judgements. When used properly, multiples are robust tools that can provide useful information about relative value." (Quicksilver, you should read this wikipedia link, I think it would help you understand. You keep quoting Nubbins and his comments don't speak to multiples at all.)
You can decide to use this information or not, but its not my opinion it's a factual way to express market value. The best part is that it's really simple! In no way am I saying that 2.1x SHOULD be the valuation for the
BTC10 coin, i'm just trying to understand how the market values these coins. In my experience the lowest valuation is for standard
BTC1 coins. The tenths get valued higher as do the halves...which is kind of crazy to me.
The higher the face value of the Casascius coin the lower the relative premium that's assigned to it's sale price...that's very odd to me, especially when the highest face value coins are the most scarce.
