I love coins and have since i was a kid, but I never really put in the time or the effort to learn and I didn't go out of my way to collect coins. I'd dig through my and my parents change, dad would give me foreign and U.S. coins every so often, and i had a half filled state quarters map and that's it. What i want now is to learn. I bought some coin folders to fill in so i'll do that for a while, but while i'm doing that i want to learn about coins. Basics that you all already seem to know here - varieties, known errors, definitions for terminology and how to recognize it, how to identify a cleaned coin, etc. Does anyone know of any books i could order? Like from Amazon or Barnes and Nobles or whatever. I would also LOVE educational books or collection folders on foreign coins because that's how my love for coins began. Dad would travel for work when i was growing up and he'd always bring me back foreign coins. So I want to learn about coins from European countries too, but being from the United States i don't know how easy that would be to find. Surely i'm not the only one over here that likes foreign coins. I'm a student fixing to put myself through college if i can get into the school i want, so i can't really afford anything extravagant. Currently saving all my change so i can go through it and start filling in the collection books i ordered when they get here. Also, i'm gonna buy the red book i've heard about. Does it matter which version i get? Is it something that i will need to buy again every year, eventually? I noticed there's a version for every year. Or is just having one book enough, no matter the year?
Red Book is the best for new collectors. Don't worry so much about the pricing guide part. It's out of date before it's published. However, you can get an idea of the relative rarity of diff dates based on how the prices compare. A couple of good things about the Red book. Lots of good historical info on coins even if in small bites. Lots of good data such as weights, sizes, compositions and mintages. A rudimentary grading criteria. Although it's only words, it is a good place to start learning about grading circulated coins (you can supplement it with info on the web) If you will use it more for data and info rather than pricing, I think getting a copy that is a year old is ideal, but make sure you get a sizable discount You may want to look at the Krause calatogs for World coin. They are huge, but If your not worried about absolute pricing try to pick up a copy that's a few years old for less than $10 . They have individual volumes for the 17th - 20th century (I would avoid the 21st Century volume) Hope this helps
Also, don't get discouraged and frustrated with the learning process. There is a lot of stuff out there. I have been actively collecting coins for 48 years. I have over 200 reference books in my library, been an officer in coin clubs, written articles for club publications, and exhibited at coin shows. And I still end up learning something new on a regular basis.
You might want to check your local library to see if they have any numismatic materials in inventory. Another option is to go to a bookstore where you can page thru the books before purchasing. That way you don't buy a book only to discover it doesn't have the information you need.
There are many books that I could and do recommend. You can check out my books recommendation blog on the coinshowradio website to read them. http://www.coinshowradio.com/mikes-book-recommendations/ I hope that helps
@AlexSamuel No, you don't have to get the new Red Book each year unless you are collecting them like some other people. However, if you find yourself buying some of the coins offered by the US Mint from time to time, it might be a good idea to get an updated copy every 5 years or so. When I was still buying US Mint products, that is what I used to do. Chris
@AlexSamuel Also, if you want to learn about some of the early history of the US Mint, this book by @Roger W Burdette is a must have. https://www.wizardcoinsupply.com/from-mine-to-mint.html Chris
If you want to learn how to grade, and want to learn a lot of the terminology, I high recommend a book that I wrote called "The Art and Science of Grading Coins." You can find it on Amazon, or linked in my signature below.
I would recommend the official red books for the series you are interested in. There is in depth info on each date and mint, plus prices in each grade.
