Coins Books

A lot of fluff, but the date by date evaluation of Morgans can't be beat. Also enjoyed articles by Wayne Miller and Harlan White...2 legends in the dollar field.

Bought this massive work this summer. Yes, very comprehensive. No Doubt Mr. Highfull is a very nice man and has a great family. Over 100 pages and photo's of him and his wife traveling all over the world is very nice, but what has it got to do with American Silver Dollars? Family Album or Encyclopedia?

Talk about EVERYTHING you want to know about silver dollars! Wow! This book is great, especially the sections that I wrote (he said modestly). Seriously, you'll learn a lot about silver dollars and the coin business. A++

This book is a monumental work, discussing not only the Silver Dollar issues but giving a history of that branch of numismatics. Various chapters have been contributed by well known numismatists, including an article by Walter Breen on the 1851-O Proof Silver Dollar, Q. David Bowers' story of the market and hobby, and several articles by Wayne Miller, including discussions on branch mint proofs and his own incomparable Morgan Dollar collection. This book contains many, many hours of enjoyable reading.

Just getting started collecting Morgan Dollars and I can't begin to tell you what a treasure this book has been. Every year and every variation is given it's own separate page with all the info you need to know...things to look for, variances, etc. A GREAT book if you're just getting started.

If you think your a Morgan Silver Dollar collector and you don't have this book then your NOT a Morgan Silver Dollar collector. Much more than just a book on Morgans, this is a true reference piece that you will refer to again and again. A bible of Morgan Silver Dollars if you will. I find myself refering back to this book not only for new information but also to verify details I have found elsewhere.

Very well written, very comprehensive, very well organized. A natural flow through to the book from the history of dollars to a detailed analysis of each date and mint. Highly recommended.

This book offers year-by-year information of the mintage, auction, ms population information. Some useful information, but not that useful. You can find most of these info online. Just a collection of basic info.

An excellent publication in terms of breadth of coverage from both a historical and a collector's standpoint. With the help of this book, one could almost become an instant expert in the field. As for myself, however, I'm content to have learned enough to establish reasonable goals (in terms of condition, availability and cost) for date & mint selections when acquiring companion pieces for my 1884-CC Morgon Silver Dollar.

Roger S.

Made the mistake from "One World" to "World Coins" and really don't regret it. The old family drawers have some foreign coins. Now I have a reference,

A very good reference for the collector of world coins who knows where the coins are from, bu t a poor reference for coins in which the country is unknown to you. Also very limited in the number of countries that it covers.

A VERY COMPREHENSIVE,AND EASY TO UNDERSTAND,COIN BOOK FOR THE NOVICE,LIKE ME,TO THE SEASONED COIN COLLECTOR,WITH A LOT MORE THEN JUST PRICES.INFACT I CAN GRADE SOME OF MY COINS NOW,A VERY GOOD BOOK.

This book is just way too broad to be of much help to a serious collector. However, if you need a cheap, VERY quick overview of world coins, this book is OK.

Unfortunately, there are a good number of countries that do not have coins listed. I don't have a huge amount of world coins, but I was able to find only a little over half of my coins in this book.

With so many different countries' coins listed, this book can't contain very many grades of each coin.

If there is a particular foreign country that you are interested in collecting its coins, you'll want to go elsewhere for a more specific reference. This is not the book for specifics.

However, there are a few handy essays at the beginning of the book on how to buy coins, spot a bad deal, and so on. There's also some references to on-line help.

This book isn't terrible; it will give you a nice intro into a particular country's coins (if it covers that country), but for me, it's not very valuable.

Though it is impossible to contain all the Roman coins in a single volume, this is the best single book on coins and their approximate values (given in British pounds).

David Sear is probably the best known living authority on ancient coins, especially Roman coins. If a collector only owned one book on Roman coins, this would be the one. However, the values reported in his book for coins (supposedly those that grade approximately "Very Fine") only roughly correlate with market prices. Coin dealers often like to quote prices from Sear's book, especially if the book price exceeds the normal market value.

For how much the name "Sear" comes up in connection to ancient coins, I had very high expectations for this book. Unfortunately, they weren't quite met.

In the edition that I own (2nd), there are not very many illustrations, except at the end of the book. The rest of the pictures are just drawings of the coins. I do not know if this was remedied in later editions, though I don't think that it was.

Also, the prices (in British Pounds) are given in just one grade of each coin.

Still, one can judge from the prices the relative rarity of the coin. Add that to the fact that this is the book that EVERYONE refers to, that that in itself makes it quite valuable.

A very brief history is given on each emperor or wife. There also are additional histories on certain periods of Roman history (The Tetrarchy of Diocletian, for example), which are both helful and interesting. Equally important is the quick overview of Roman coins found in the beginning of the book.

Sear will cost you a chunk of money, and while quite helpful, it won't answer your every question. Still, if you are collecting Roman coins, you need this book, if for no other reason than that everyone else has it and will quote it.

This is a standard reference work. Its value does not lie in its estimations of values, but in the well-chosen range of coins shown and identified, and in its long-time use by scholars and numismatists as a comparative tool (giving the Sear # for coins to identify them is standard practice in the field).

This book along with occasional use of the WEB has enabled me to identify currency from countries that not only do not use english style letters but the number systems as well. The text has both some color and a lot of black and white photos of currency along with a brief description of what the note is called. The pictures enable positive ID of a piece of Cucurrency. The book is a must have for the serious collector.

this book is great in term for those who very very interested in world currency and pro in this field... it may be good to own a copy of this book cause it include a lot of world money that you and me were not born yet... especially note that impress me is the CHINA's CENTURY ... it is like amazing to see those kind of note that never thought of it would be called as "money"...

anywhere this book is great... and if this book improving its' note with color than it is highly recommended...

thank you...

regards,
Jason Yap

The value of this book is going to depend on what you collect - if you collect China, Mexico, Russia, Latin America, and certain British Commonwealth - then yes, this book is very good and very valuable - WHERE IS ISRAEL? Are you trying to tell me there are no specialized issues for Israel/Palestine - Theres lots of people who can help the editor - myself included. The standard Pick Book doesn' list any of the military issues, all standard issues, and none of the specialized issues, I've even emailed scans of notes to the editors - otherpeople have too. Richard Gatto, Bill Rosenblum, the Israel coin and currency c/ollectors group, the AINA, the INS all people who can help the editors, who don't read Hebrew - well sorry we know the notes trust us. We know what they look like - that is only one of many areas totally uncovered and what about Russia - you have 25000 uncataloged notes to go - why did you quit? work getting a little hard - want to do nothing and get an easy buck? that's what this is about - did yall even try to find the market values on these notes? maybe for some markets, I see htat - not every market. The price a note goes for at auction and what a dealer says a note is worth and gives it to Krause can be different. There are too many price differences, i saw notes listed for $125 from Costa Rica in this NEW BOOK sell for $1600 at auction, so explain to me the $125? is that because someone was hoping to buy one at that price? isn't there a problem here, yall think I'm crazy - I've heard this more than dozens of times. Why not be UNBIASED, report the true values, be accurate? Isn't that what a price book is supposed to be? Overall I like the book - but I'm pretty angry about how the editors dealt with me and other collectors about the Israel section they already had all the information and chose not to include it. They had some of it in the book before but took it out, why? The 3rd edition of Pick 2 has many notes currently not included, why's that? I know they work hard. It's either a great book or a lousy book depending on what you collect. Some things have no coverage at all. Maybe you need a Middle East specialist, these notes are non-existant in this book Did yall even ask Armen what he thought? I think you have too narrow of a group of people who give input into these books. Nobody asked me anything, and I know more about Isreal Paper money than a lot of people, but there are people who know more than me. Even the pre-established books weren't consulted. Seems like the editors think they are above everyone else or just plain working too hard, ok admit you can't do the job. Don't say this is everything when it isn't

This book is invaluable source of information for both collectors as well as dealers of modern banknotes. The major flaw, however, is the unrealistic UNC catalog values for most banknotes. The majority are exaggerated and no one can sell at even 50% of such CVs. However, the book stands as a unique source and a vault of invaluable information about all modern banknotes.

Very good book of german notgeld, other countries are listed, very fews pictures of other countries

An excellent reference to all kinds of Notgeld from many countries.
Table of Contents
* Introduction
* Issuing Cities: Alphabetical by Countries
* Periodical Abbreviations
* Bibliography
* Country Abbreviations
* Issuing Cities Alphabetical

The introduction gives a fairly thorough explanation of Notgeld in English and German. The book is designed as a checklist with a box to mark off as you find what you want. It makes no pretence to pricing. The Bibliography is extensive enough to be worth the book alone.

This guide contains a list of emergency money issuing authorities, mainly cities. The reader will see many images, some of them in color, to have an idea of how interesting collecting emergency money may be and will have access to a bibliography which may help to search for a more comprehensive information.

This book says it all in the title, except I'm not sure what they mean by guide. There is a short introduction of the author blah, blah... The notgeld is listed and easy enough to find but no information, like engraver/artist, where it was pressed, how many were made or how many in circulation, in fact it tells you nothing (and most do not not photos) except there is a general/vague 1-7 scale of rarity with no pricing or suggest value. this was merely a checklist.

This is a must have book for anyone interested in coins in general and Celtic coins in particular. Amazon have provided an extremely interesting synopsis to this book that gives you all the basic informationyou will need to know on the contents of this book and it needs no addition from me.

With the influx of the metal detector, more and more old coins are coming on to the open market, you only need to look at e-bay to see that, but Celtic coins are not in abundance. There are probably far more Roman coins found than celtic.

What this book does very well is show the reader how much history can be learned from a single coin and the image that has been stamped upon it. Celtic coins for me seem to have that much more of an aura about them. in fact holding any old coin has a magic all of its own, not least, the thought of who was the last person to own and hold the coin before it was found once again.

Very informative little book, I learned a lot that I needed toknow but I wish that it could've had just a little more detail (butfor the price I can't complain). Now if a few Celtic coins would just show up on Amazon's auction site.

I am a beginner who was interested in British Celtic coin collection. This book is just the right length and the right depth for me. It has pictures of the main variations, some history of coin making, a little about the techniques, a regional breakdown of the various Celtic kingdoms and not too much more. I could read it in a couple of hours and feel informed enough to start looking for coins to buy. Highly recommended for beginners.

Arthur Friedberg starts by giving an overview of the history of the Jews in the form of main events. After this overview he goes over the various coins and the images that they bore and their meanings. The book provides pictures of both sides of each coin and on the cover are two coin replica's (one of them is a widows mite). The book covers the tribute penny and the widow's mite with a good explanation about what these coins were. The coins discussed include the Maccabean peoriod all the way through to the Christian era. The coins of Greece, Persia and Rome are all discussed as well. Friedburg could have given what was inscribed on each coin and not just an explanation of the picture on the front and on the back. This is a good resource and at a very low price here at Amazon. The price on the back of the book is 14.95.

This is a good survey book for someone who wants a "quick and dirty" view of the subject. I've had mine for a few years and consult it when I don't need to go into detail. It's a great reference if you're preparing a Sunday School lesson. The copy coins shouldn't be dangerous as they don't look like the real thing.

For Friedman the two oldest recognizable subjects are money and the Bible (his order). This book is the result of the interest that so many have in the two and remains "as strong as it has ever been."

Friedman starts out with a brief history of the Holy Land which runs from 3000 BC through AD 138 or so. After a couple of maps and a few landscape pictures comes a section on coinage in the Bible. It is generally accepted that coins were first minted in Lydia (in modern Turkey) in the 7th century BC. King Astyages made his coins of electrolyte (a combination of gold and silver) found in the Sardis River. Yet it took another two generations for King Croesus to guarantee the amount of gold vis-a-vis silver in the coin. References to money before this time in the Bible refer to ingots or something else; they were not coins.

Persia and Greece both made coins that had an influence upon the Holy Land before the coming of Jesus. Many of these tell us much about when and why they were minted. Ptolemy (314-310 BC) minted coins that had a striking resemblance to Alexander the Great. They were inscribed "an Alexander coin of Ptolemy." By these Ptolemy sought to sell his people on the idea of his legitimacy and authenticity.

Friedberg goes on for a few centuries. Christains will be most interested in his explanatins of the Widow's Mite and the Thirty Pieces of Silver.

This book is great for people who want to make connections between the Bible and money. For those with more academic thoughts in mind, it is not so great. Mosherer is cited when it suits Friedberg. But the likes of Diana Edelman's article on tracking observance of the aniconic tradition is never mentioned.

Yo, outdoors/history/crafts project lovers:

I got one of these for my artist sister, then read the surprisingly highly-rated tempest-in-teapot review below, and immediately perused the book, including especially the "Methods" chapter. Bottom line: this title definitely rates 5 stars, without reservation.

First of all for the *superb* color reproductions of a huge variety of exceptional rubbings (i.e., rubbings of exceptionally beautiful objects).

Then I read the Methods chapter sections -- comprising 5 or 6 diverse methods (including wet and dry paper techniques and even Gyotaku -- Japanese "Fish Printing", as in real fish!). Each is spelled out step-by-numbered-step (with up to 9 steps), including preservation -- of both the rubbing and the rubbed object.

"Sketchy"?? The first Methods chapter page sez it all: Here are the simple basics, now try them on a variety of objects around the house, and you'll quickly learn about the major problems and challenges (listed FYI), and the medium's opportunities.

'Nuff said -- now go out and try your hand at one or more of the "field trip" methods so fully spelled out. This ain't rocket science, it's quick ramp-up fun!

The book also discusses rubbing's history, kids' projects, papers, crayons etc., and lays out a dozen crafts projects -- all on shiny white paper, compleat with pre-printed bookplate on the front fly!

What's not to like, or more to ask for?!? DO get this bargain title (through Marketplace resellers) if you're the slightest bit interested in this fascinating and potentially hugely educational craft medium. Enjoy, enjoy!...

It's not easy to find a really good book about making rubbings. In fact, this is the only one I've seen.

This art form is accessible to almost everyone, yet few realize the resources around them.

"Making Paper & Fabric Rubbings..." covers a wealth of ideas and techniques. You'll enjoy this at home, but especially as you travel. If you keep a diary or journal, you'll find wonderful new ways to illustrate it with rubbings. If you're a fabric artist, rubbings can be great material for unusual quilts and wall hangings.

Even better, once you start making rubbings, you'll look at the world in a different way. You'll notice more than colors and shapes, but also textures.

I go through a lot of books. Some delight me at first, and then I don't refer to them again. This one is a keeper.

Rubbings of Gravestones have been an art form for centuries and Ms. Firestein has researched her medium thoroughly. I just wished she had gone into more detail on how to begin. She needs to include details for first-timers. Her instructions were very sketchy and hard to follow.

Commemorative coins have long been a popular and profitable collectable. With David L. Ganz's The Official Guide To U.S. Commemorative Coins, even the most novice collector has a reliable, comprehensive, and informative guide that provides key grading and pricing details for United States commemorative coins, including mintage statistics not often found elsewhere. Ganz also includes insider information on how the new 50 State Commemorative Program was developed. This is the program circulating one commemorative coin at face value for each state. The Official Guide To U.S. Commemorative Coins is definitive, exhaustive, thoroughly "user friendly", and highly recommended.

This is a fine reference book to have, and it gives you the nuts and bolts about each of the various US commemorative coins. A little more information on how the various patterns came about and any interesting points to note would have made this much better, but it's still a book worth having on your shelf if US commemoratives are your thing.

This is a useful book for both the advanced and beginning collector of U.S. commemorative coins. Particularly appealing is the historical information pertaining to the development of the series. The author, an attorney and former president of the American Numismatic Association, provides the reader with interesting first-hand accounts of the renaissance of U.S. Commemorative coins, drawing from not only his first-hand experience in providing testimony to Congress, but also his experience as a member and driving force on the Citizens Coin Advisory Committee. Ganz provides much detail, previously unpublished, of the events leading up to the Bicentennial coinage of 1975-76, the striking of the first noncirculating commemorative half dollar (Washington Birth 250th Anniversary) in 1982, as well as the current 50 state quarter program. The book also provides information relating to the designers and engravers, the mintages, mint marks,issue prices, and price history for each issue produced from the 1848 California Quarter Eagle (the author differs with others who credit the 1892 Columbian Half as the first commemorative U.S.coin)thru commemoratives produced in 1999. One weakness of this otherwise excellent book is that the photographs of many of the coins are of poor quality, some having been photographed through plastic, others having a spotty look commonly found on scanned photos. Errors, such as a photo of the 1925 Stone Mountain Half Dollar attributed as the 1926 Sesquicentennial Half Dollar, annoy the reader, as does the decision of the author to show the obverse of each coin separately, with photos of all the reverse designs shown in the appendix. While this book would never get this reader's vote as the best book ever published on U.S. commemorative coins, the modest list price still makes it a desirable addition to one's library.