once in a while at the coin machine ( or even in rolls ) I find odd and sometimes older coins. I would like to find a book that would tell suggested values (like the red book for American coins) and also tells what the composition of the coins are so I know if I have any silver content. ty
Yes, the KM catalogs are the standards. I would start with getting the 20th century one used on Ebay, maybe the 21st century one if you find a lot of world coins dated in the 2000's. But the key is buy it used on Ebay. Unless you are a world coin dealer, or specialize in world coins, no need to buy new. What you are looking for is information, not current market value really. The older ones will give you relative value, (i.e. if its $.50 in the old book, its unlikely its a valuable coin today).
The Krause World coin catalogs are what you want. Each catalog today covers one century. You probably want the 1901-2000 catalog. They are available used from World coin dealers and are available on Ebay (used).
When buying these online, be careful that you understand what you are getting. There are books, searchable DVD e-books and pirated copyright violating DVD's made by photographing a book (PDF files if you are lucky, JPG's if not). The full set from India costs the same as the postage for the DVD. Buy the paperback if you collect these.
You can also use the NGC world coin price guide for free: http://www.ngccoin.com/price-guide/world/ The values are mostly pulled from the Krause catalogs, as are the pictures of the coins.
