I haven't bout a new coin in over a year...

I've been trying to build up a numismatic reference library as well was as read and learn as much as I can. Here is a list of books I have so far (not including price guides):

1) Warman's Coin Collecting by Alan Herbert

2) The Whitman Guide to Coin, 2nd edition Collecting by Kenneth Bressett

3) Collecting Rare Coins for Pleasure and Profit by Q. David Bowers

4 The Expert's Guide to Collecting and Investing in Rare Coins by Q. David Bowers

5) The Official A.N.A. Grading Standards of United States Coins, 6th edition by Kenneth Bressett and Q. David Bowers

6) Making The Grade, 3rd edition by Beth Deisher

7) Grading Coins by Photographs, 2nd edition by Q. David Bowers

8) Photograde, 18th edition by James F. Ruddy

9) Coins: Questions & Answers, 5th edition by Clifford Mishler

10) Coin Clinic: 1,001 Frequently Asked Questions by Alan Herbert

11) Coin Clinic 2: 1,001 More Frequently Asked Questions by Alan Herbert

12) Cherrypickers' Guide to Rare Die Varieties of United States Coins, Volume I, 5th edition by Bill Fivaz and J.T. Stanton

13) Cherrypickers' Guide to Rare Die Varieties of United States Coins, Volume II, 5th edition by Bill Fivaz, J.T. Stanton and Ken Potter

14) U.S. Coins Close Up by Robert R. Van Ryzin

15) Fascinating Facts, Mysteries and Myths about U.S. Coins by Robert R. Van Ryzin

16) Coins & Collectors: Golden Anniversary Edition by Q. David Bowers

17) Coin Chemistry, 3rd edition by Weimar W. White

18) The Instant Coin Collector by Arlyn Sieber

19) Coin Collecting For Dummies, 2nd edition by Neil S. Berman and Ron Guth

20) History of the U.S. Mint and its Coinage by David W. Lange

21) One Minute Coin Expert, 6th edition by Scott A. Travers

22) The Coin Collector's Survival Manual, 7th edition by Scott A. Travers

23) The Everything Coin Collecting Book by Richard Giedroyc

24) One Coin Is Never Enough: Why and How We Collect by Michael S. Shutty, Jr. Ph.D

25) The Secret History of the First U.S. Mint: How Frank H. Steward Destroyed, and Then Saved A National Treasure by Joel J. Orosz and Leonard D. Augsburger

26) America's Money, America's Story, 2nd edition by Richard Doty

27) Numismatic Forgery by Charles M. Larson

28) Numismatic Photography, 2nd edition by Mark Goodman

29) Handbook of Ancient Greek and Roman Coins by Zander H. Klawans

30) Ancient Coin Collecting, Volume I, 2nd edition by Wayne G. Sayles

31) Ancient Coin Collecting, Volume II: Numismatic Art of the Greek World, 2nd edition by Wayne G. Sayles

32) Ancient Coin Collecting, Volume III: The Roman World - Politics and Propaganda, 2nd edition by Wayne G. Sayles

33) Ancient Coin Collecting, Volume IV: Roman Provincial coins, 1st edition by Wayne G. Sayles



In edition, I also have subscriptions to Coins magazine, Coinage magazine and the numismatist, all to be renewed for a third year sometime early 2015. I also, for a year had subscription to Coin World monthly magazine. So that's what I've been up to lately. I've purchased no new coins. I've instead been spending my money and time on books and magazines to hopefully increase my knowledge. They say to by and read the book before you buy and/or sell the coin. I just decided to take that advice a little further. What do you think? Is my approach overkill?

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

I like it, my library got ruined a few years ago and I haven't gotten around to replace it yet. But still, no coins in a year!

 

I can also think of at least a hundred other books I'd like to add to that list.

 

No, no new coins. I'm trying to decide if I should save up for a while to get a really nice coin (i.e. a key date or early federal gold or silver issue. [Pre - John Reich era] or get something that's less expensive but that I'd be able to afford it sooner. I really like Draped Bust half eagles ($5 gold pieces), but at $5,000 to $7,000 + on average, for a VF to XF example, I'd be shooting for the moon financially speaking.

 

Encyclopedia of US silver dollars is also a must and one of my favorite reads greatest 100 US coins.

 

Is that Silver Dollar encyclopedia the 2 volume set released in '93 by Q. David Bowers?

 

Correction: Bought, not Bout, In thread title.

 

no coins for a year ??? I would die. If I can not buying a coin... I sure am looking at my Krause catalogs very closely. I am a coin junky and I need my coin fixes. no cure. lol

 

I still save old or interesting coins I find in change. I just haven't bought a coin in a year.

 

So, how is the rehab going?

 

I've only bought one in the last 2 months. And not much for the last 4. My finances are up and down due to self employment and other projects. So I can only buy coins at certain times. Your doing good with the books interesting that many you have are not the same as me. I have a lot of books on early stuff seated liberty and before as that's my main interest. I do the same if I can't afford coins I look at em in books. The auction catalogs are great references too. As to the early gold I'd love some too but can't afford it yet either

 

Agreed great book highly recommended

 

Nice selection of books you have! I just have the first volume of the Bowers encyclopedia (since I'm not interested in Morgans and Peace dollars to any great extent); Breen's Encyclopedia is good to have; any of Roger Burdette's books are excellent (available at Wizard coin supply)

 

It is only an overkill if you haven't had time to read/reference them. I'd buy more books for my collection but I just don't have the time to read them. When I retire, I'll come back and check this list to see what I'm missing.

 

tha

t is very smart i think we should all have a look at our change ..

 

ive got walter breens encyclopedia its awesome ref. tool but lacks a bit in the pictorial department..

 

It's been over a year for me. Before that it was one or two per year. I hope to find something special at the Fun Show in January.

 

Your list looks like a good "general" set - there are a lot of basic books there, with a lot of good introductory information. Many of those books cover a lot of the same ground (some better than others). I don't think that I would call that a "reference" library - there are very few actual references there. So, good start on a numismatic library.

Hopefully, you are reading all those books that you are buying

And now that you've read them, you should have a really good foundation. You should also have a pretty good idea where you want to go as a collector. Now you can start building a reference library in your chosen series. Let us know which direction you want to go as a collector, and we can suggest some actual references for you.

 

While I applaud a library, having a decent one myself, it depends on what you want to collect. For instance, the Sayles books are fun little reads but are not the books you want if you are going to collect ancients. So, just like coins, I would suggest a little more specialization and focus. Ask opinions here, there are some coin book junkies like myself on this board.

 

Yeah, ancients are a little trickier than american coins, aren't they. What do you think of David R. Sears' books? Would they be worth reading after I finish reading Sayles' books?