Old Coin Books?

Yes I know they are supposed to be wholesale prices, but when Retail is $1500 and there are less than a dozen uncs known, wholesale is NOT $150.

 

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Frank, around what year does this Star Coin book date?

 

As far as Red Books read near the back and it will answer your question.

 

anybody ever heard of a coin book called Silver Dollar Fotune Telling by Les and Sue Fox ? just picked this up in hardcover the other day at a rumage sale for $.10,lol. says it is the 1984 edition. I havn't had much time to look at it but the pages are crispy and it looks like it was never read, although some kid must have thought the first few pages were a coloring book and attacked with a red felt tip, even if not rare there are some good insightful info in there although obviously outdated.

 

I have a 1964 Blue Book, 1966 and 1973 Red Books, Brown and Dunn's Grading 6th Edition, and NCI Grading Guide by Jim Halperin. If I see it and it's about coins I grab it.

 

I have seen it and flipped through it. It would be interesting to compare actual prices to their predictions.

 

It depends on who you are. While I am a strong advocate of laissez faire, I am no merchant, at least not in the ordinary sense. I sell my work. Rather than trading in old things, I create new ones. When I buy and sell, it is a customer of a merchant, so I always pay retail and sell wholesale.

Generally speaking, coins hold their values way more than books. No one wants books. How many coin dealers specialize in literature? Lake, Kolbe, a few others.

Collectors pay dealers exorbitant prices for rarities, but the reverse is seldom true. I spent a couple of years researching medieval France for a Celator article and for that, I bought the 3-volume set in medieval French coinage by Poey d'Avant. The dealer was happy to let me have it for $300. I placed the article. I don't need the books. Apparently, neither does the dealer: he would not even make me an offer on them.

 

I have a 47. How can you tell?

My degree is in criminology, so I put the 1965 in with my crime books because of the phony material that Ford foisted into it.

 

St Gauden:

That Start Book dates to around 1917.

Sorry to say, they produced so many of them, they have little value.
Average for Mehl books is from $5 to $9.

blsmohtermon:

Welcome to the forum.
And nice job, picking up coin books.

playin4funami:

Yes, heard of it, I have a copy somewhere around here or downstair. (more likely).
It was popular in the day.
Value? A couple of $'s.

 

Mike:
Sorry, but you are dealing in the wrong orbit.
There are many collectors who pay serious money for coin books.

I am always a buyer, at the right price.

And there are many bidders on the book auctions, otherwise I wouldn't have to overpay for needed items.

How can you tell?
Oh, which edition?

Easy, turn to page #.
the paragraph say either:
'of this date'
or
of 1903 O.
The first is the 1st printing, the second the 2nd printing.
There are other ways to tell, to be revealed in my next edition of the Guide Book on the Red Book.

Also, what about Ford?
am I missing something that happened in 1965?

Frank

 

I have a second printing, thanks! Nice to know the details. Thanks!

I was refering to John J. Ford's "western assay bars," pioneer gold coins and other fakes of the Old West that were assumed into the Red Book and the Smithsonian. It is one of the reasons that I am adamant on the subject of counterfeiting.

I deal well enough in other markets. I just closed out seven years writing "Internet Connections" for the ANA. I started as a computer programmer, but on one project, my skills as a writer served the team better and in a few years, that was all I did. After the Dot.Com Meltdown, I moved into security, completed a few degrees, and am now looking for the next gig. I know what my time is worth for the things I can do for the people who need it.

 

Depends what you mean by old. The Breen Encyclopedia came out 25 years ago. I have a reprint of Sylvester Crosby's 1876 book on American coins, again, itself 25 years old now. More to the point, perhaps, I have these:
Standard Catalogue of United States Coins & Currency by Waite Raymond, Scotts Stamp and Coin, 1937.
History of America's Coinage by David Watson, G. P. Putnam, 1899.
A History of American Currency by William Graham Sumner, Henry Holt, 1874.
Monograph on the Silver Dollar by J. L. Riddell (1845), reprint by Sociedad Numismatica de Mexico, 1969 (number 137 of 550).
United States Pattern, Experimental and Trial Pieces, sixth ed., J. Hewitt Judd
United States Pattern Trial and Experimental Pieces by Adams and Woodin (1913), reprinted 1959.

The Sumner book was the real find. Ever hear of the Panic of 1857? There was probably no such thing.

 

thanks for the help, did not really think it was worth much but it is worthy to me as a book full of information on one of my favorite subjects, as they say knowledge is power, it's almost embarassing the way I study all my coin books, but knowing what things should sell for when at a shop or coin show and their rarity right off the top of my head has scored me some good bargains and saved me from making some bad mistakes.

 

Thanks, Doug.


ya da man.

 

If anyone wants to see "old coin books" and if anyone collects them, try:

www.numislit.com
www.fredlake.com
www.fanningbooks.com

But if you outbid me on any of the auctions I will have to hurt you.

 

Right. That was one of five sites for reading old numismatic books online for free that I mentioned in the September issue of The Numismatist.