Hello, Can anybody suggest a good book for me to use to research some coins that I just inherited? Thanks for any help you can offer.
Hello PMacNY, There is a world of material out there, and it would depend on what you have and what you want to know! First off, if you inherited primarily US coins, and wanted to get some information on value - I would recommend the Red Book of US coins, by Yoeman. Keep in mind, that these values run high for what you would actually get, if you were looking to sell them, for those sort of values - I would recomment the Blue Book, by the same gentleman. These prices are probably a little closer to what might expect if you were to sell to a local coin dealer, and the prices in this book is considered 'wholesale' (if such a thing exists in the coin market). If you inherited foreign coins, and wanted value information, I would recommend a copy of Krause and Mishlers 'Standard Catalogue of World Coins'. These reference books are split out by century, 1801-1900, 1901-current. There probably is not a more definitive book on valuations, but again, keep in mind that these are price guides, and again tend to run a little high. All these materials give basic information, on most coins, for composition, weight, size and mintage #, as well as values in various grades and many photos which you can compare to the coin you have. If you wanted to research grading, there is a number of materials you can look for. I would highly recommend you take a trip to your local or regional library, as most of these books, and hopefully more, may very well be avaliable for check out or on site research.
