Building your library on a budget

camlov2 · Jul 16, 2012

I have always been interested in learing about the coins I collect but have struggled with how much some of the books cost.
It is hard to pay $80 for a book when I could use that same money to purchase a coin or two the book tells me about.
And some of these books can cost much more than that.

My father collects old books and has shared one of his favorite places to buy them online. I was shocked when I saw some of the prices and that I hadn't seen this website in my previous searches. So here goes what I found-

I started by picking a few books I/You might be interesting in adding to my/your collection.

1)100 greatest US coins

Amazon-$17.60
Ebay-$12.21
abebooks-$7.96

2)United States Copper cents

Amazon-$43.47
Ebay-$94.00
abebooks-$37.00

3)The Complete Guide to Buffalo Nickels

Amazon-$38.94
Ebay-$29.99
abebooks-$30.00

4)So-Called Dollars

Amazon-$49.50
Ebay-$38.35
abebooks-$17.47

abebooks.com seems to do really well with older/hard to find books. Prices vary with used/new so I tried to find the cheapest for each book on all three sites. One caution is that you need to be careful about version numbers on older titles as they might have all possible versions for sale. You also wouldn't want to use them for more basic purchases like a current redbook.

Their basic search feature doesn't seem to work that great so be sure to use the advanced search. (include author)

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medoraman · Jul 16, 2012

I have found two great ways to get inexpensive books, one is ebay and patience, and the second is numismatic books sellers. For someone with almost no books you would win one or two lots at numislit or lakebooks and have an instant miniature library. Other than that I have other sources that pop up from time to time. While I concentrate more on ancients, I have a couple of hundred titles on world and US coinage so I know where to find those as well.

Anyone can always feel free to PM me if they have questions. I am pretty cheap, so I have spent many years scouring the globe for the cheapest way to find numismatic books.

Chris

coleguy · Jul 16, 2012

Like Chris, I use Ebay and patience...a lot of patience. Most of my favorite books were purchased directly from the author, which seems to be a pretty common practice in the numismatic community. It always nice to have a signed book and a letter from the author. I keep in touch with a few of them. Thats two resources in one.
Guy

icerain · Jul 16, 2012

I usually go with ebay and lots of patience. Sometimes you can find cheap numismatic books on half.com as well.

medoraman · Jul 16, 2012

icerain said: ↑

I usually go with ebay and lots of patience. Sometimes you can find cheap numismatic books on half.com as well.
Click to expand...

And being old helps as well. I remember Quarterman liquidation, the ANS liquidation, the KY seller of Whitman cheap on Ebay, and other events like that. Those things really saved me tons of money. I remember the 5 cases of ANS books I got at an average price of about $15.

jhinton · Jul 16, 2012

Another cheap resource are local library sales and thrift stores, just don't go to any around Auburn AL... That's my territory...

icerain · Jul 16, 2012

medoraman said: ↑

And being old helps as well. I remember Quarterman liquidation, the ANS liquidation, the KY seller of Whitman cheap on Ebay, and other events like that. Those things really saved me tons of money. I remember the 5 cases of ANS books I got at an average price of about $15.
Click to expand...

Sorry to say I don't know about those sellers or even terms: Quarterman, ANS and KY seller. But always good to hear you got a bargain on books.

Another cheap resource are local library sales and thrift stores,
Click to expand...

I have never seen coin books at thrift stores, wish I did because I would have bought them.

GDJMSP · Jul 17, 2012

camlov2 said: ↑

I have always been interested in learing about the coins I collect but have struggled with how much some of the books cost.
It is hard to pay $80 for a book when I could use that same money to purchase a coin or two the book tells me about.
And some of these books can cost much more than that.
Click to expand...

OK, say you are collecting a series of coins. You don't own any books on that specific series so you use the general info you can find in the Red Book and the like. Now to complete the series it's going to cost you X amount of dollars. That amount will vary greatly depending on the grade range you are striving for. But just for the sake of argument let's say X equals $2,000-$3,000 or so.

Over the period of time you spend acquiring all the coins in this series you end up over-paying for some, maybe many of them. You even end up buying a few fakes or altered coins. You also end up not buying specific date/mint mark varieties because you simply did not know they existed. Of course you are not aware of any of this because you don't own any books on the series.

However, had you spent the $80 that 1 book would have cost you, read it and studied it, you would have have been able to put together that series with examples that in the end were worth 2-3 times what you paid for them. You also would have avoided buying the fakes and altered coins. Overall, you would have saved yourself at least what the entire collection cost you. But you missed out on that because you thought it better to be able to spend that $80 on a coin instead of the book.

That is a hypothetical scenario. But I cannot tell you how many times I have heard the exact same story, the exact same excuse for not buying the books - in real life. And I cannot tell you how many times that hypothetical scenario has come true, but it is way, way too many times.

Get this through your head folks - every dollar you spend on books will be returned to you 10, 20, 100 times over. There is no book that is too expensive. There is no book that is not worth what it cost to buy it. You cannot buy enough books. And oh yeah, the last part. Those books that you think are too expensive, when you are all done collecting, every one of those books will be worth 2, 3, 5, maybe 10 times what you paid for it. Never, ever, have I seen a book on a coins go down in value. Over the years they increase in value, steadily, relentlessly. I have books that I paid $75 for brand new. Today they sell for as high as $1,500 each.

You want to save yourself money on your coin collection ? Buy books ! Then and only then, do you even consider buying the coins

largecent37 · Jul 17, 2012

I've seen coin books and folders for very low prices at Half Price Books.

medoraman · Jul 17, 2012

GDJMSP said: ↑

OK, say you are collecting a series of coins. You don't own any books on that specific series so you use the general info you can find in the Red Book and the like. Now to complete the series it's going to cost you X amount of dollars. That amount will vary greatly depending on the grade range you are striving for. But just for the sake of argument let's say X equals $2,000-$3,000 or so.

Over the period of time you spend acquiring all the coins in this series you end up over-paying for some, maybe many of them. You even end up buying a few fakes or altered coins. You also end up not buying specific date/mint mark varieties because you simply did not know they existed. Of course you are not aware of any of this because you don't own any books on the series.

However, had you spent the $80 that 1 book would have cost you, read it and studied it, you would have have been able to put together that series with examples that in the end were worth 2-3 times what you paid for them. You also would have avoided buying the fakes and altered coins. Overall, you would have saved yourself at least what the entire collection cost you. But you missed out on that because you thought it better to be able to spend that $80 on a coin instead of the book.

That is a hypothetical scenario. But I cannot tell you how many times I have heard the exact same story, the exact same excuse for not buying the books - in real life. And I cannot tell you how many times that hypothetical scenario has come true, but it is way, way too many times.

Get this through your head folks - every dollar you spend on books will be returned to you 10, 20, 100 times over. There is no book that is too expensive. There is no book that is not worth what it cost to buy it. You cannot buy enough books. And oh yeah, the last part. Those books that you think are too expensive, when you are all done collecting, every one of those books will be worth 2, 3, 5, maybe 10 times what you paid for it. Never, ever, have I seen a book on a coins go down in value. Over the years they increase in value, steadily, relentlessly. I have books that I paid $75 for brand new. Today they sell for as high as $1,500 each.

You want to save yourself money on your coin collection ? Buy books ! Then and only then, do you even consider buying the coins
Click to expand...

Doug and I are book guys, but I love this post.

Want specifics? I bought the WB book on SL halves when it came out. The next month I was at a coin show and found an example of the 1858 DDO coin listed in the book. Liberty has 8 fingers, but most people do not know about this variety. In ONE PURCHASE, within a month of owning the book, it paid for itself. I paid $75 for the book. Its value today? About $350.

medoraman · Jul 17, 2012

icerain said: ↑

Sorry to say I don't know about those sellers or even terms: Quarterman, ANS and KY seller. But always good to hear you got a bargain on books.
Click to expand...

Sorry, book guys would know them. Quarterman was a publisher, and when he died his son sold off old stock cheap. ANS is the American Numismatic Society, the "other" large US coin group, and all of their publications were sold cheap when they outsourced book sales. The KY seller was someone in KY who had huge amounts of Whitman books for some reason, and was selling them cheap 6 at a time for a year on Ebay. I actually have a lot of extras of books from them because I was buying them for like $2 each.

icerain · Jul 17, 2012

medoraman said: ↑

Sorry, book guys would know them. Quarterman was a publisher, and when he died his son sold off old stock cheap. ANS is the American Numismatic Society, the "other" large US coin group, and all of their publications were sold cheap when they outsourced book sales. The KY seller was someone in KY who had huge amounts of Whitman books for some reason, and was selling them cheap 6 at a time for a year on Ebay. I actually have a lot of extras of books from them because I was buying them for like $2 each.
Click to expand...

Ok, got it. The only one I've heard of was ANS. I'm getting into the habit of buying books too. I think I might be slowly turning into a coin book guy. I constantly check out book stores and thrift shops for coin related books.

medoraman · Jul 17, 2012

icerain said: ↑

Ok, got it. The only one I've heard of was ANS. I'm getting into the habit of buying books too. I think I might be slowly turning into a coin book guy. I constantly check out book stores and thrift shops for coin related books.
Click to expand...

Good luck with that. I think I have purchased one book over all of these years that way. Best sources really are Ebay, abebooks, amazon, (don't forget amazon.co.uk and amazon.ca are different entities), and numislit and other numismatic book sellers.

Another suggestion for everyone interested would be to join the Esylum, a numismatic book club. Its online and will send you weekly newsletters.

camlov2 · Jul 17, 2012

GDJMSP said: ↑

OK, say you are collecting a series of coins. You don't own any books on that specific series so you use the general info you can find in the Red Book and the like. Now to complete the series it's going to cost you X amount of dollars. That amount will vary greatly depending on the grade range you are striving for. But just for the sake of argument let's say X equals $2,000-$3,000 or so.

Over the period of time you spend acquiring all the coins in this series you end up over-paying for some, maybe many of them. You even end up buying a few fakes or altered coins. You also end up not buying specific date/mint mark varieties because you simply did not know they existed. Of course you are not aware of any of this because you don't own any books on the series.

However, had you spent the $80 that 1 book would have cost you, read it and studied it, you would have have been able to put together that series with examples that in the end were worth 2-3 times what you paid for them. You also would have avoided buying the fakes and altered coins. Overall, you would have saved yourself at least what the entire collection cost you. But you missed out on that because you thought it better to be able to spend that $80 on a coin instead of the book.

That is a hypothetical scenario. But I cannot tell you how many times I have heard the exact same story, the exact same excuse for not buying the books - in real life. And I cannot tell you how many times that hypothetical scenario has come true, but it is way, way too many times.

Get this through your head folks - every dollar you spend on books will be returned to you 10, 20, 100 times over. There is no book that is too expensive. There is no book that is not worth what it cost to buy it. You cannot buy enough books. And oh yeah, the last part. Those books that you think are too expensive, when you are all done collecting, every one of those books will be worth 2, 3, 5, maybe 10 times what you paid for it. Never, ever, have I seen a book on a coins go down in value. Over the years they increase in value, steadily, relentlessly. I have books that I paid $75 for brand new. Today they sell for as high as $1,500 each.

You want to save yourself money on your coin collection ? Buy books ! Then and only then, do you even consider buying the coins
Click to expand...

I agree. I always feel drawn towards the coins/currency first but have to over come that desire and pick up the books before hand.

onecenter · Jul 17, 2012

In my many years of collecting, I have never paid anywhere near $80 for a numismatic book. One of our hobby's most generously prolific writers, Q. David Bowers, used to sell his books directly when he was one of the partners of Bowers and Merena Galleries. Many times, Mr. Bowers had sales and package deals for a series of books he had written. I was able to purchase his hardcover tome, The History of U.S. Coinage for just $49, brand new.

valente151 · Jul 17, 2012

http://www.finenumismaticbooks.com/

My favorite source. Mailbid sales and its always worth a shot. You can get some good deals.

valente151 · Jul 17, 2012

Also, if you can make it down to the ANA for summer seminar, the book sale there is great!

GDJMSP · Jul 17, 2012

onecenter said: ↑

In my many years of collecting, I have never paid anywhere near $80 for a numismatic book. One of our hobby's most generously prolific writers, Q. David Bowers, used to sell his books directly when he was one of the partners of Bowers and Merena Galleries. Many times, Mr. Bowers had sales and package deals for a series of books he had written. I was able to purchase his hardcover tome, The History of U.S. Coinage for just $49, brand new.
Click to expand...

Yeah, not every book is expensive. But it also depends on what you want out of that book. General reference books are usually fairly cheap. Even some series specific books for US coins are not very expensive. But I have several books on specific US coins that paid $150-$200 for - each. But there are many books, out of print but the books you need if you want to collect certain coins, that will cost you $1,000. Some will cost more than that.

Like I said, it depends on what you want out of the book. Books contain knowledge, knowledge gives you power, knowledge is the single most valuable thing you can have, knowledge saves you money ! A ton of it ! The books will pay for themselves many times over, no matter how much they cost.

And don't forget, the books are like money in the bank. I've never seen one that I could not sell for more than I paid for it

medoraman · Jul 17, 2012

valente151 said: ↑

http://www.finenumismaticbooks.com/

My favorite source. Mailbid sales and its always worth a shot. You can get some good deals.
Click to expand...

Sklow is a nice guy, but Charles Davis and numislit are much, much larger dealers. There are around 5 serious dealers in the US for numismatic books, and it pays to know all of them.

TexasTwister · Jul 17, 2012

Another source is...Amazon! I have always wanted a copy of Krause's 2011 Standard Catalog of World Coins 1901-2000. I put it in my cart and then clicked on "save for later". If you then go visit your cart about once a week, Amazon will tell you about new pricing on the items in your cart. The book I wanted languished in my cart for about 3 months until, in one week, it went from $34.99 to $17.99. So I jumped on it at that price. Of course, it now sells for $12.99 from the same seller (prairiefurniture), but I feel I got a good deal. Amazon (itself) still sells the same exact book for $32.99.

P.S. Thanks to the OP for the post! Great subject for all of us to learn about...

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