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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;medoraman, post: 1650523, member: 26302&quot;]Generically for US coins I would say Breen. But I would concentrate on coins specific to the series you are collecting, so Overton if you like CBH, WB if you like SL halves, Valentine for half dimes, etc etc. </p><p><br /></p><p>Trust me, a Redbook is fine for someone who knows nothing about US coin, but its not a true book of knowledge for most coins. Its a beginners books, nothing more or less.</p><p><br /></p><p>I had the same thoughts as you, when I was younger I read a lot and thought I had learned &quot;everything&quot; there is to know about US coins. You say you can grade &quot;easily&quot;. Heck, it took me all of these years to get as good at grading as I am today, and even then I am off a little. Are you saying you could take a bag of nickels, (5000), and grade every single one of them the same as a dealer? You wouldn&#039;t miss any damage, cleaned coins, etc? I know its hard, its easy to become self convinced of yoru own knowledge. Whenever I feel that way I collect something else for a while, and come back to it and know how little I really knew.</p><p><br /></p><p>Short of buying a book, I would suggest picking a coin series and REALLY reading about them. Know every date/mm, how they were struck, what are condition rarities in the series, etc. You mentioned &quot;semi-key&quot; mercury dimes. How scarce is that date in that grade? Did you know in mint state the 16s is actually rarer than the 16d? If you wish to be intelligent in mercury dimes, you better darn well know that, as well as a lot of other facts. Does this help you predict the future? No, but it helps more than it hurts. <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie2" alt=";)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>Just friendly advice, hope you take it that way.</p><p><br /></p><p>Chris[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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