So how big is your coin library?

How many feet of shelf space?
I'll tell you mine after a while.

 

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If you mean written books/publications, I have the Redbook and....well that's about it.

 

I have about 50 books. I have to fight for every one too, because the wife thinks it's crazy to have so many books on coins. What does she know.
Guy~

 

Less than 5' holds everything I'm aware of in the English language concerning my specialty, plus a few foreign language items, and some more general material.

 

just the red book for now : )

 

Somewhere north of 60 books but about 8 or 9 are redbooks. Couldn't tell you on shelf space as they are spread all over . Even have some in my truck and GF car just in case. Not counting magazines and auction catalogs etc.

 

Well if you count auction catalogs, which often have better/more information than some of the books (the current Goldberg Holmes Large Cent catalog is probably one of the best references around for early large cents now), then I have well over 100.

 

Maybe 15 feet. I've never really measured or counted. I have quite a few Numismatists.

 

Well my auction cat's are in large rubber boxes, as well as hundreds of issues of CoinWorld, NN, and others. I also have boxes of books, old ANA Mag's, and other older, numismatic mag's that are no longer printed.
Then I have one shelf in my room that is around 3-4 foot long that holds all of the books I use the most.

Speedy

 

Does size matter? Is bigger better?

More in line with Speedy and GDJSMP, I have a large library, much of it in boxes because there cannot be enough shelf space. Without auction catalogs, say, 200+ titles.

For one thing, I do not collect coins, etc., but, rather, write for publication. So, the reference library is important. I also know a good book when I see one. In addition to the classics for US -- Breen, Taxay, Bowers' Garrett -- and standards -- Pollock, Coin World Almanac -- I have been adding the new Whitman books. I have those little black book on Alaska Bingles, Mexico, etc. My mother (bless her soul) found for me a book on coins of Thailand. Which comes to the other unasked part of the question. As important as US Numismatics may be, many of my references are for Ancients, and other "Dark Side" topics. I would have to include the three volumes on Wildcats: I have Indiana, Ohio and Wisconsin.

I have a box of articles (not my own) from magazines, etc., that I refer to occasionally, and several folders on my computer, probably a dozen or more, subdirectories under "Coins" and others such as "Alexander" and "Owls" and "Wildcats."

Books more than coins have always been "who I am." I accumulate things of interest, but I am not a collector. I lack the "uninherited gene" the thing that makes a collector. I don't need one of everything, a complete set, the best example. For a guy who advocates laissez faire capitalism, I am not much of a trader: I do not buy or sell and when I do, I take a loss, no matter which side of the transaction I have. I lack the "Ferengi lobes for commerce." I read and I write. And I do a lot of thinking. I like going for long walks and long drives.

What coins do you own? OK...
What books do you own? OK ...
What ideas have you had?

 

Not Very, I must admit. I have last year's Red Book (is there anyone who doesn't have a Red Book? :goofer and that is my basic stuff for US coins. I got the Krause 20th Century world coin guide for my birthday last year, and I got the 21st century version as well for myself. In addition to that, I have the Red Book publication that covers world coins from 1850-1964. I also have a guide to paper money of the USA but I can't recall the name of it right now. Those are the only true books I own, but, I have a year's worth of The Numismatist and scattered issues of :Coins, CoinAge, CoinValues, Paper Money Values, and the SPMC publication. All of which save the last title are from early 2008-current. I get them all at the retail stores and I don't go out that often. I did manage to get a complete set of WorldWide Coins from 2008-current, and I just got my first issue as a subscriber this month. The SPMC issues I have are from 2004-2006, and were given to me as samples. I just joined last month so I will be getting them from now on as well.

I would like to have more in my library. But, I don't have a lot of space (as it is I have box up the magazines I have and put them in a storage unit) and I don't have a lot of money to spend on them. I just simply don't have the spare money to spend on books, or even coins and notes themselves, right now.

So...I spend a lot of time on the message boards. That is where most of my info comes from.

Edit: I should add. Reading is one of my hobbies. I will read pretty much anything. When I first started collecting coins last year, the first thing I did was take a trip to Borders to see what kind of books or magazines I could!

 

I'm around 3 feet I think..
Doug... I want pics!!!
How much does it cost to rent from your library?:goofer:

 

I have two bookcases each with 5 shelves 4 feet wide and one more lawyers bookcase with 5 shelves 3 feet wide, total 55 feet. I was able to do this when my daughter got married and we turned her old bedroom into my coin room.

 

About 2 feets of bookshelf space for books. Plus 2 or 3 huge boxes full of coin publications and auction catalogues.

 

About 1 foot of book shelf space for Red Books mostly. I've spent most of my money on the coins instead of the books. I find a bunch of my info digging around the internet and places like here. Before the internet I just talked to my favorite dealers for info. And my coin world subscription is digital because I only read the articles each week and never buy from the ads in the magazine so no need to keep them around. I do have a bunch of old CoinAge magazines in storage.

 

about .5 feet, but that is after about 5 months of collecting, if I keep at that pace I should be at 6 feet in 5 years.

 

I must have just off the top of my head about 60 books on coins ,errors ,All the cherry pickers guides ,guides to nickels collectin, The standard catalog of world gold coins which is a high $$$ book! red books from the mid 60 to date,blue books on coins,coin grading,books on treasure coins,best of the Jefferson nickel DD Varieties,price guide to mint errors, just a few that are not cased but laying around the house depending what room I am working in. The Charlton standard Catalogue Canadian coins. coin world as well as other monthly releases. As for the books out of print or date they are packed away down the basement gee I bet if I found all the boxes packed away there would be well over another 60 out of print and out of date red and blue books as well as magazines.....a small fortune in $$$...but worth every penny. My first red book was given to me by my late uncle Bill I believe it was a 1964!

 

Forgot about them. Add another 6 feet to my total.