Having an issue finding a book, and need help choosing.

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Here is an update.

I found the "revised" edition, done in 1970 for $25.

I also found the 4th edition, the one "most collectors do not prefer", for $80.

Which one should I get?

 

Anyone?

 

Here is a far out idea, Tim... you decide. Also, and please correct me if wrong, but didn't I give you a link to the 4th priced at $60 just days ago? Regardless, the point is that you've been given lots of help and advice, so why not go out on a limb and make the decision on your own. Which is the better buy? Which has better resale potential if you decide that you do not want it or manage to locate the 3rd edition? With the amount of money that you've supposedly spent on coins lately, I honestly cannot understand why you stress over spending on a reference that, if you actually continue in this area, will likely pay for itself many times over. If you can ignore the advice of others and make your own decisions when it comes to buying coins, you can also make your own decision when buying books.

 

Tim, I would borrow each of them from your library and decide which one you like yourself. Its not a rare book, it should be easily available through interlibrary loan.

 

I found a new copy of "The Ultimate Guide to Attributing Bust Half Dollars" by Glenn Peterson. I read on another forum that a user prefers this to the overton book. Another user here at CT said the same thing.$95 shipped for a new book on bust halves ain't bad. I will be ordering it after the end of this year.

Thanks for everyone's assistance.

 

Sometimes you've just gotta go with your gut, Detecto...

We can't make every decision for you.

 

Everyone is telling you to go with your gut, but I'll be more blunt and tell you that you would be foolish, in my opinion, to buy a reference book that is 42-years old when you can buy the updated reference of the same book that is 4-years old (or however many years ago it was published). Buy the fourth edition and be happy with it.

As for the other comments about publishing books, I will add some experienced opinion to the thread. I worked with Dick Graham on the Reeded Edge half dollar die variety book that was just published. It is titled A Registry of Die Varieties of Reeded Edge Half Dollars 1836-1839. Dick did all the work for the die varieties while I did all the work for the Introduction as well as editing the manuscript. We had it published ourselves as a spiral-bound book with heavy paper and card stock cover. The cost was far more than $10 per copy for us to have it published. This money came out of our pockets and was in addition to the years of research and writing we had put into the book without compensation. Only 325-copies were printed because we did not know how much demand there would be and, shockingly, the book essentially sold out in only a few months. Those who hemmed and hawed to find out if others liked the book or those who couldn't find it in their budget to spend $65 for the definitive text on the series are now out of luck and have to buy one on the secondary market.