So, I have always loved Draped Bust coinage and the Dollar is among my all time favorite coins. Unfortunately, I am not at the stage in my life where I can afford to purchase such a piece (or if I did I'd blow my annual budget on one coin...which to me isn't worth it). Someday, that will change and I will buy one. In the mean time, I would like to learn as much as I can about this type of coin. I know they have been heavily counterfeited over the years and are among the more "risky" coins to purchase if you don't know them well. I'd like to know them well. To that end, does anybody have any suggestions for good books on this series? I got a pretty nice stack of amazon gift cards for Christmas and I wouldn't mind picking up a new coin reference book or two.
I just learned this over on Evans' thread...... http://www.earlydollars.org/wizardhome.htm Link to thread is here''' https://www.cointalk.com/threads/dangerously-deceptive.288474/#post-2602953
Bowers' book "Silver Dollars and Trade Dollars of the United States, Vol1"is an excellent reference. Not too hard to find used. Vol 2 is Morgan and Peace Dollars and is usually a lot more expensive. "A Buyer's Guide to Silver Dollars and Trade Dollars of the United States" is a more compact volume that is cheaper and easier to find. It has a lot of information in it considering it covers all of the US Silver Dollars, year by year.
That's all you need for attribution. Browse the rest of the site, too, when you're feeling like you don't know enough about Early Dollars.
The first standard reference for these (1950) was United States Early silver dollars 1794 - 1803 by M H Bolender Not easy to find but available but will cost a minimum of $100 and most likely more. The information was good but the descriptions not always the best and the plates left something to be desired. In 1998 Jules Reiver did a revised edition of the book, The pictures are much better and the descriptions are good but there are layout errors that result in having in some cases the wrong picture linked to the descriptions. Still if you know this and make sure you are looking at the right description and images the book can work well, and it is much cheaper than Bolender. Used copies are available for less than $15. The Bowers book, Silver Dollars and Trade Dollars of the United States, that Ksparrow mentioned is good but large and although it is more available than it used to be it still isn't that easy to come by and it is expensive. You usually have to buy both volumes and it will run from $250 - $400 (Which is a far cry from the $600 - $1000 it used to cost.) Then there is the Buyers guide that Ksparrow mentioned. I've never actually used that on so I can't really say how good it is, but it is readily available for a reasonable price. Finally for the real esoteric Martin Logies did two books on the early dollars, volume one was just on the 1794 dollar and it covered, with images every then known specimen with provenances. I believe there were 200 copies printed, half softbound and half leatherbound. I don't know if he sold all of them. The second book covered the rest of the early date dollars. That one you won't find. He only printed twenty leather bound copies. All the books except the Logies ones are available right now on Amazon.
