Hello, I am wondering what books should I recommend to a new collector that has a small budget for books (less than $20, maybe a couple dollars over but it would be a bit of a stretch), and has started collecting coins a couple of days ago (hypothetically)
That depends on what this person has hypothetically started collecting. $20 won't get you much, but it will get you a copy of the "Official Red Book Guide" to pretty much any coin series. These will give you good, but general information (and, as per usual, ignore the price guide section). Nobody will become an expert reading these books, but it's a start. Edit: On second thought, I don't think $20 is enough to even really get started, unless you can find a couple used books cheaply. One really needs at least a general reference (Red Book or one of the Official Red Book Guides I mentioned earlier), and a grading reference.
The first two I would recommend for the beginner would be the Guide Book of United States Coins by Yeoman/Bressett and the Official American Numismatic Association Grading Standards for United States Coins by Bressett. Both are under $20 and are available on the Whitman Publishing site. https://www.whitman.com/store/Inventory/Browse/Whitman-Books Chris
I would have to go for the Redbook. While its pricing may not be the most accurate, the shear volume of information in there is quite amazing. Plus it should be under $20. If you're recommending the Redbook to a new collector, make sure to use it's official name A Guide Book of United States Coins 2016 so that they can find it easily in a store.
If you don't mind reading online PCGS and David Lawrence have a number of books available for free that you can read on their sites. http://www.pcgs.com/books/ https://www.davidlawrence.com/books/ A lot of books will cost more than 20 dollars, but fortunately there are a lot of good websites that have information for free depending upon the series you are interested in.
You may find this one useful - http://www.coingrading.com - The entire book is posted on-line, and it's free of course. There are other books also posted on-line - http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/browse?type=atitle&key=A. M. Finding the one you want takes a bit of effort, but if you know the title beforehand it's not that hard. Of course there's no guarantee the one you specifically want will be there, but if it's an older book it might be. And as mentioned websites can be quite valuable, including CoinTalk. You can probably find more than you want to read in this section of the forum - https://www.cointalk.com/forums/numismatic-resources.33/
Chris nailed it. Redbook first then grading standards. Nothing has the breadth of general information - a little bit about EVERYTHING that the red book has. Since we all agree it's not a great pricing guide, how about a used one? Amazon has them as low as 7.81, Abe as low as $3, free ship (2010 edition)... http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?kn=yeoman+redbook&sts=t
It's my opinion that Doug and basebal21 are the ones who nailed it. Why buy entry-level treeware when it all already exists online for free? Nobody ever mentions what I think to be the most fundamental skill required of a numismatist in the Internet Age - the ability to successfully research online. That means not only the ability to find the information, but the ability to vet that information to understand what to believe or not. It's the exact same process which differentiates those of us who happily shop for coins online (and get what we were expecting) from those of us who complain about the crap they just bought online. You need to know it, and every new numismatist needs to learn it first.
Agree with you guys, but would add that a year-old copy of the Red Book or ANA grading standards can often be picked up on Amazon, used, and $20 could net both of them. Steve
To the OP: What kinds of coins is this person starting to collect? The "Red Book" is usually the standard answer for a book to start with, but it would be nice to know if it's appropriate. Your local public library will probably have copies of this book as well as a few others that you can look at. There is a "Coin Collecting for Dummies" book that Ron Guth, founder of PCGS CoinFacts, co-authored that would be worth a look. Ask questions here, too.
I've actually ordered books from the library that they didn't have but another library did. Some were 100 miles away, if you know the title and/or author, they can look 4 it n the computer, and then when it arrives you have something like 3 weeks to read and return the book. It's a good way to read the older books that are expensive and hard to locate
There are so many on line resources it's unreal these days. So much like Doug said for free....... as far as the red book I've seen them @$4.99 at discount stores. Yeah they may be a 2015 but WTH what's the difference as the newest edition doesn't have last year's mintage's. I find so many free Web sites on just about every coin ever minted. Franklin lovers site, a site that has every die marriage of bust half dimes, including images and step by step instructions on how to figure out what you have in hand. And your friend if they don't have access to a lap top there's always the library it's also free......
The problem is that a lot of the material online is of questionable quality. So you need to vet the site, beyond 'free'. Certainly there are some awesome sites out there, but we were asked about books...
Thank you all for all of this awesome advise! I greatly appreciate the information, what websites would you all recommend to this collector? (For them to look at when they are at home)
Again, it depends on what they're collecting. This is a pretty good one for general numismatics, as there are several forums for different specialties, and the membership is quite able to direct specific questions to other online resources as necessary.
Coin Talk http://PCGSCoinFacts.com http://Coingrading.com (best used for the diagrams illustrating the high points of each coin) http://www.pcgs.com/photograde/
