Information Question

So i know a lot of you guys are avid coin collectors with way more experience than me. Therefore, i'll branch the question to you guys. Where do you get the information about the coins you collect from? What website or book?

 

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A lot of people use various websites and books. Mainly, the "Redbook" (A Guidebook of United States Coins) is very useful, BUT NOT FOR PRICES! For prices, the grey sheets (Coin Dealer Newsletter) is used much more. That's for US Coins though, I have found numista.com and the NGC World Coin Price Guide to be very useful for world coins. (The NGC Price Guide is only for coins in NGC holder and tends to be more towards th retail side of the market) I have actually written a book called Let's Start A Coin Collections Perfect Pocket Sized Book Of Coins, which you may find to be useful.

edited: self promotion only allowed in footer of post, not the body.
A physical version is available to, Welcome to Coin Talk!

 

Not sure what direction you want this to go. Are you looking for suggestions on websites and books to help you, or are you trying to create a general list of all coins sites and books? If the first, then we need some help on what you are interested in. If the second, you have to understand that books have been written that just compile source material. It's impossible to generate a list on everything, but if you specify what your interests are people can help.

 

not to give your question short shrift, but many websites and many books

 

Lots of places, but e-bay is a good start.

 

Your question is far too broad for me to answer.

Chris

 

i'll make the question a little more simpler to answer.

what websites do you frequent most?
what websites or books do you favorite the most?

 

Presuming you collect French coins, I'll recommend Le Franc. It is a very detailed catalog of French coinage with color photos and tons of detail. The Gadoury catalogs are probably still *the* reference for France, but I don't get as much out of them.

Favorite web site, probably CoinTalk

 

Still not simple enough to answer. What is it that you collect?

For some things there is a single canonical source. For example if you collect the 1859 Queen Victoria $0.01 we will point you to rhe Haxby catalog at vickycents.com.

But if you collect American silver eagles or South African krugerrands or one from every country that's not going to help much...

 

I'll be blunt, this feels like trolling. What are you trying to accomplish, do you want suggestions on where to find material for yourself? If not, what are you trying to do, because a thread with a random mixture of links to coin material doesn't do much good. Without organization it will be less than useless.

 

I don't think it's a troll as much as someone who hasn't really posed his question in a way such that someone can answer it.

 

I don't understand how you think i could be trolling on a coin forum, but i'll throw my information in the mix. I collect pennies, nickels, dimes, and Euro coins. I use websites like Numista for my world coins, and i use the Whiteman's Red book of this year for my american coins. I do not have a site that i rely on to find information about pennies, dimes, or nickels which i am looking for. Sorry for the confusion, i didn't mean to create a "spam thread" if i did.

 

we're only trying to answer your question, but you're not giving us a lot of info to work with.

This site, right here, is what most of us use. Book recommendations are generally better when they focus on specific subjects, even a general reference like the Red Book.

Once you've told us what you're into, we can better suggest resources.

 

If you mean the big pennies, my go to are

largecent.net - Tom has a great collection and a ton of valuable links/resources
early-copper.com - Gary's late date collection is superb
The there is EAC, which if you collect large cents is by far the best resource - http://eacs.org/

Your other interests I know nothing about. I have since moved on into ancients.

 

The guys are just trying to help, and believe it or not, your question really isn't as simple as I'm sure it seems, especially to someone not yet familiar with how vast and complex this hobby can be. Just as a quick example: consider Morgans. Basic info can be found in most general US coin books or what's usually referred to simply as the "red book", but then there is more specific and specialized books intended more for the intermediate (think the Morgan Dollar "red book"). Then there are other references intended for those with a serious interest (Comprehensive Encyclopedia....). It's similar with websites; there are many sites with general info, and then others such as VAMworld (varieties), which may not be of interest to everyone, and is why the more you can tell the board about your specific interests, the more they can tailor their responses to you. I assume the same is generally true for non-US coins as well.

Oh, and as for trolling on a coin forum, stick around.... I think you'll be very surprised by how many seem to think the ability to do so the greatest thing since sliced bread.

Welcome to the forum.

 

I get most of my information about things I don't know at places like this forum, where the people who do know hang out.

 

OK I will try. Breen's Encyclopedia of US and Colonial coins, Whitman's Encyclopedia of Colonial and Early American coins, The Colonial Newsletter, The C4 newsletter, but I try to get as much as I can from studying the coins themselves.

 

I collect Civil War tokens above all, so I refer to the Fuld Storecard Guide (3rd Edition, 2nd Edition), the Fuld Patriotic Guide (5th Edition). There are also works by Schenkman and Kanzinger that have a ton of information, and Rulau has info about contemporary pieces. I also refer to old auction catalogues. There is a wealth of information out there.

 

You didn't do anything to feel ashamed of. We get all types coming and going around here, and sometimes, some of us--and even I'm guilty of this, I'll take the heat for that--are a little jumpy for it.

Your question is just hard to answer, that's all, because it's so general. Make some use of the search bar to narrow-in on specific things you might want to learn about, or just ask us. For your question, there are quite a lot of general books on coins, and trust me when I tell you, most of us haven't read most of them, anyway. You have a good start in your Red Book. I wouldn't put too much confidence in those prices, but it's a good, inexpensive primer on U.S. coins. I don't know what else to tell you but I guess show us some of your coins and we'll bring you along from there.

Oh, and where are my manners? Welcome aboard.