How many of you have the book "The Experts Guide to Collecting & Investing in Rare Coins"? Did you enjoy the book and find it informative and to have currently relevant information? Is it a good book to get for somebody who's interested more in collecting and not as much in investing? Thanks for all of your comments.
This book is probably the single best read to give you an overview of the coin collecting game. It is like a longer and more in-depth version of Scott Travers' book, if you've read that. It should be in every collector's library, IMHO. Money well spent...Mike
This isn't directed at any book in particular, and I haven't read the book in question yet, although I'll be on the lookout for it. But I have to admit I've been disappointed with every book on coins I've ever read. It's difficult to explain exactly why. Many of them seem to rehash the same information about coin grading, history, mint process, etc. I also always come away with the feeling that they are mostly targeted toward either the beginner [what to look for in pocket change] or advanced collector [collect every date and mintmark in as high a grade as you can afford]. I think there is potential for someone someday to fill in the gap for the intermediate collector, and there is a ton of room for suggestions on how/what to collect other than the date and mintmark or type set. So maybe it's the lack of creativity in the writing and suggestions, which leave the impression that collecting "correctly" is a very rigid process. There isn't much "here's a collecting idea to think about that currently isn't pursued to the best of my knowledge but might result in a unique collection" type of suggestion. Most of the time I get the feeling that the authors are trying to win the approval of their fellow collector/authors for writing a technically correct manuscript rather than really help the reader or inspire anything new. Maybe I'm just too picky.
I'd agree with a lot of what you say Cloudsweeper99. I think that the majority of collectors that do a little bit more than toss coins in a jar from pocket change fall into the middle ground somewhere. A lot of people do try to put together full date runs and things like that, but a lot of us don't also. I don't think one way is better than the other, and yes, it seems like a lot of books seem to have left out advice for the casual collector.
