I'm into type collecting. I like showing off my coins occasionally, and a display of many coins that look different is cooler to show off. Besides, I think a type collection is the best to illustrate the history of coinage. Are there any references that can be considered essential for a type collector, particularly for 20th century series? Or are we stuck with buying every book for every series?
"A Guidebook of United States Type Coins" by Q. David Bowers. Looks like Amazon has some for as little as $0.40 plus $3.99 in shipping.
You need this: It is like 20 pages and gives you all the information you need. If you don't know much about the coins that you are collecting, I would suggest collecting only PCGS or NGC certified coins rather than raw coins. While you can't put them in an album, you can create an online registry collection.
The Red Book is terrific, but my favorite coin book of all time is Numismatic Art in America-Aesthetics of the United States Coinage by Cornelius Vermeule. It gives an art critic's view on design. I have the first edition, which is superb, but it is long out of print and was issued in 1970 or so. The new edition, published by Whitman, may or may not have been changed.
There's plenty of information out there for 20th century coinage . I finished my 20th century set awhile back . Basically there's the Redbook "Guide to US Coins" and the many Redbooks or general books on each series . Since I bought the highest MS grade I could afford in a common date , there's really not that much to know . Grading each series is one , or at least comparing coins in the grade you can afford and want . By looking at a lot of coins you'll know which ones are well struck and high for the grade with the toning you like . Just take your time purchasing each coin , think of each one as the only coin you will own and you'll usually always pick a winner .
Look at the various listings of type sets. I'm not familiar with the Lange publication but being familiar with the author I think it would cover the topic very well. Then there's the Dansco 7070. And the NGC Registry Type Set (check their website). And I believe PCGS also has a Registry Type Set (check their website). Finally use the Red Book and define your own type set. That's what's nice about type sets; you can define your own.
