TheBigH

That's a great post.

coleguy

Want free numismatic (or any) books? Visit Google Books. I've collected thousands of pages of valuable reference material there. They have entire books scanned into their database for free. A lot of the coin books I read have been out of print for years, so I don't feel bad when I print them off for my own library.
Guy~

tonedcoins

I have a pretty bad habit when it comes to buying books. This been because I collect just about everything out there. I don't buy books for every single book for every series but I have bought books for error coins including the cherry pickers, How to grade (2), U.S paper money, U.S paper money errors, World paper money, coin photographing books, catalogs older than me and much more.

Although there is the internet which is also very useful, and forums like this one, collectors universe etc.... A book in my opinion is the best way to go. You'll never lose that information.

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-Rigo
My toned coins www.rigosplace.com

panamagold

I agree, it's a great resource.

Which book is the "gold" standard in coin grading? Could you point me to a good book on the subject on Google books?

PG

GoldCoinLover

When I was a little kid colllecting coins (7 or so), I went into a coin shop. This was about the time I bought my first gold coin (a 1/4 quarter eagle) with all my birthday money saved up. I've always been paranoid obessing over certain things my whole life. I used to collect beanie babies and had to have every one of them, had I know it was a fad and they would be worthless I would not have done it. When I began buying them I bought "The idiots guide to beanie babies", and found out there were 'counterfeit' beanie babies from china. I was worried that every beanie baby I bought was fake., fake tags, etc.

regarding the coin shop, I went into the coin shop. My dad told me there's no such thing as fake coins, as I was reading about it when I was around 8. I asked the dealer there about it, and he said "Oh, you bet there's fake coins. I have a whole bunch of fake ones in the back of my shop."

From that point on I began to obess and worry about every coin I bought. So I decided to at least get better knowledgeable in the subject. I took a class at the phoenix show for just the class, I got several books on the subject. I got print outs from other people here (Thanks to Hobo for the gold angel print out). Despite my growing knowledge, I still worried about fakes. I knew that buying gold, especially raw gold I had to be very careful about fakes. The post-1840 gold is paticularly bad, about every date and mintmark has been faked. You could even build a whole album full of counterfeit early 20th century gold. Despite knowing a bit on counterfeits, I still am not comfortable with the subject. I simply have not seen enough genuine coins to know exactly what they look like -- in other words, I know what to look for, but I can't tell if a coin is genuine at a glance.. that only comes with experience.

I'm hoping to expand my knowledge in other ares, paticularly errors buying and selling on ebay from a mentor of mine.

PS: I still only buy slabbed gold, especially US gold. Even though I can probably spot some of them, there are very, very deceptive ones out there.

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1834 Breen-6138. No Motto, Small Head style. (Small head variety)
NGC AU53/CAC $2.50 classic head
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...4labelcomp.jpg

Billy Kingsley

Thanks BigH

As I am a member of the ANA, I should borrow books from their library. I have not borrowed one. I am afraid I will loose it for one, and I tend to read books somewhat slowly when they are this type of book. Not because of not caring or glacing over or being a slow reader, but because I will usually read it cover to cover first, then go back and study each page. The first reading is usually very quick, but then the study can take weeks...

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Billy Kingsley Member ANA, SPMC
I don't care about a coin or note's "value" or material composition. I care about what it is, and it's place in history!
Collector of all coins and currency!

TheBigH

You can borrow the books for six weeks, and then you have the option to renew for another six weeks. Three months is a good amount of time to read a book, unless it's a big one.

Breakdown

The internet provides a lot of information. I have four books on Buffalo nickels but only one on Walkers. I also have about twenty additional books on coins and a lot of past Heritage catalogs. I should add that I like reading books but it is my sense that there are plenty of coin collectors that would rather just search rolls or surf the internet than read a book. And that's fine -- there's plenty to learn from either of those activities as well.
By the way, I really enjoy David Lange's books -- his book on Buffalos is great. I bought his book on Mercury dimes and his book on Lincolns. Even though I don't collect those series, I thought it would be interesting.

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"Take back Pasadena, take back El Salvador
Take back that country club they're trying to build outside my door!"
--Tom Petty and Bob Dylan

randygeki

Its kinda like riding a bike with out a helmet, feel fine til you crash

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My old coins (really old)

Conder101

The lending library is about the only reason I consider being a member. I have a book on loan from them right now on the Tiffin tokens of Canada. And now that I've read it I'm wanting my own copy.

There are always photocopiers and/or scanners, borrow it, scan it and you've always got it even after you send the borrowed one back.

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Slab collector and researcher
reported as of 12/29/06
132 companies 332 production varieties