Coins Books

The album that I received was what was advertised. A very nice product. However, I ordered TWO albums and received only ONE album, but my credit card was charged the amount for two plus shipping. After two months, I am still trying to get this resolved. I hope you have better luck with your order for these than I am having.

The Whitman brand name has been a icon in coin collecting for years. When I started collecting in the early 90s, I used their folders, including this one. So what's the problem with this folder? The folder goes up to the year 2000. In 1999, a 10 year series of quarters was started to honor each state. That means as of 1998, there will be no eagle reverse Washington quarters until the year 2009, if at all. In other words, If you want to keep your Washington quarter current, you WILL NEED one of Whitman's statehood quarter folders. If you want to wait until 2009 for an eagle reverse Washington quarter, then stick with this folder.

Many colleges and universities in the United States have a few ancient Greek or Roman coins hidden away in the storage rooms of their art museums or libraries, unknown to all save the curator or librarian who has nominal charge of them. This is a shame, because in their details these tiny gems of ancient art exhibit just as much grace and artistic skill as any black-figure vase or marble statue. Students of Classical numismatics must therefore regard Wheaton College in Massachusetts as doubly fortunate, not only in having a substantial collection of 450 ancient coins, but also in having had its collection so appreciated that it has been attractively published and made available for vicarious study by those not able to view the specimens in person.

The Wheaton College collection was established in 1931. Thirty-nine specimens were received from the American Numismatic Society in the 1930s and 1940s, and twenty specimens were the gift of Professor Eunice Work in the 1950s, but the great majority were received in a 1967 bequest to the college from the estate of Adra Marshall Newell, wife of the noted American numismatist Edward T. Newell. Representation is quite broad, as befits an educational collection, and is about equally divided between Greek and Roman examples. A great many famous types from a range of city-states are included in the Greek series: Arethusa and her dolphins from Syracuse, the beautiful ear of grain from Metapontum, the winged Pegasus of Corinth, the dove of Sicyon, the eagle of Olympia, the Artemesian stag of Ephesus, and the rose of Rhodes, not to mention 21 old-style and four new-style Athenian owls, 51 Alexanders from a variety of mints, and seven turtles of Aegina, the world's first great trade coinage. The Roman specimens include a wide range of both Republican and Imperial strikings, including aurei of Nero, Hadrian, Sabina, Antoninus Pius, Faustina I, Commodus, Caracalla, Diocletian, Constantius I, and Maximinus II.

The format of the volume is that of the well-known "Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum" series, and it provides, for each specimen, a very brief description including weight and die orientation, some details of attribution or a citation to an authoritative reference, and a life-size photographic reproduction of the obverse and reverse. The photographs, by Michael Di Biase, are gathered in 32 plates and are of high quality, even though--as is standard for volumes like this--many of the individual images are very small and are best studied under magnification.

"Wheaton College Collection of Greek and Roman Coins" is a scholarly work that will appeal to serious collectors of Greek and Roman coins and to academic specialists in Classical numismatics. The volume is number three in the American Numismatic Society series "Ancient Coins in North American Collections" (ISSN 02714019 - ISBN 0897221907).

I have always liked coins. I have always regarded them as little pieces of art. However, I usually just put the ones I decided to collect in a bag or a drawer. I purchased The Whitman Guide to Coin Collecting because I wanted to start getting serious about coin collecting.

As someone looking for good basic information, I found this book a jewel. It contains the basic information any coin collector needs, particularly information about how to find and properly store coins, the history of coins, and how coins are graded or valued. In fact, although I was already starting to get serious about my coin collection (minor as it is), the book was so interesting, particularly when it discusses how coins themselves are truly history, that it really intensified my interest. I have spent a fair amount now on buying proper equipment and materials to store the coins I already had and have even begun visiting a local coin shop to purchase more coins.

I highly recommend this book to anyone with any interest at all in coins. Because of the historical significance of coins, it would also be interesting for anyone with an interest in history.

If you are at all interested in toponomy (etymology of place names), you will be fascinated with this book. You will learn, for example, the difference between the seemingly identical endings to the city names "Magnitogorsk" and "Stalinogorsk". It tells you the common basis of the river names Don, Dnieper, Dniester, and throws in the Danube to boot. It distinguishes between Russian and non-Russian names. It gives you previous names: e.g. Ekaterinburg was Sverdlovsk. This last point alone probably makes it worth the price, so much having changed since the breakup of the USSR.

I feel as though I need to respond to all of the reviewers who have trashed "The Gold Coin." Yes, it may not be as historically accurate as other Regency romances and yes, the mystery dominated the second half of the book, but I found it a truly entertaining weekend read and a nice break from the typical story! Damen was the perfect male lead. He was intelligent, honest, witty, romantic - and he treated Stacie as a human rather than a pretty face. I wa relieved that he didn't have mistresses on the side and that he worked for a living rather than just living off his title. Their love was refreshing, real and entertaining. This novel isn't going to strain your mind, but it's a very enjoyable novel to lose yourself in for a few hours.

This was the first book I read my Andrea Kane and I couldn't wait to read the next one-- "The Silver Coin." Now I've read many of her books and enjoyed them all, but the "Coin" books are still my favorite. They're great stories with great characters and extremely hard to put down once you pick them up.

This is my first book of Andrea Kane. My brother bought me this book (and the Silver Coin) from my Amazon Wish List. I have this book in my list even after reading the reviews because I find the title & the book descripton interesting, also the picture cover is quite intriguing. I wanted to judge the book by myself that I wasn't one bit discourage by the low reviews here in Amazon. Ummm, now however, I wish I just picked this book up in the library than having it in my Amazon wish list (worst, among the 26 of my list, this is what my bro picked) - just my luck. I am in the process of reading the Silver Coin. I am crossing my fingers & hoping it's better than this one.

The plot & the mystery puzzle of this book is quite interesting. However, there is so many inaccuracies in this book to make me enjoy it to it's full content. The conversations of the character's doesn't sound like the 18th century, let alone their gestures & the actions. There is also so many contradictions in the character's descriptions. A.K described one thing yet the conversation & the actions says another.... For instance, Anastasia is supposedly a virgin yet she's the one who initiates most of the intimacie's ; she seems to know what to expect & what's going to happend next. If it's the 19th or the 20th century then it is understandable since sex is often talked about. But in 18th century? I would guessed she'd be a bit naive when it comes to this topic no matter how well informed she is in terms of investing & business ventures. OR perhaps I am just old fashion & prefers the heroine as naive/innocent when it comes to this area. The hero, Damen was initially described as a rake, or many woman tossed themselves to him yet there was no scene that showed so nor was there any particular name or woman linked to him, no mistress or even a woman he escorts, etc.... Of course, this are only few of many contradictions and my opinion.

The romance of Anastasia & Damen wasn't detailed nor fully developed. The hero/heroine accepted, acknowledge their feelings of love for each other rather too quickly for me to find it exciting. The declaration of their love was just too simple & ordinary. Their love/romance/relationship simply didn't convince me nor did it leave any impression... There was no fire nor challenged whatsoever. After their meeting & falling in love, the rest of the book then concentrated on solving a mystery. I felt that this book is more of a mystery novel than a love story. As for historical romance? umm, don't think it exactly qualifies as such - maybe a bit of historical but more of contemporary... confusing, isn't it?

I am a new historical romance novel reader but I have read more than 40 books in this gender for the past three months ( mostly written by Julie Garwood's, Judith McNaught's, Jude Deveraux's & Jill Barnett's). In this span of time, I found out my own preferences. I have learned to know exactly what I like and what to expect in a historical romance stories. This book simply didn't even come close to that expectation of mine. Compared to the books of the authors I mentioned, this book looked inferior. Sorry, nothing personal! .......HOWEVER, these comments are only my opinion. Everyone have different taste & preferences. I read some 5 stars rating here in Amazon about this book too, So...it is always best to find out for yourself. I suggest you barrow this book in the library to be on the safe side. Then buy your own copy afterwards - if u find it more than what I have said. Good luck!

I found this book disappointing regarding the romance aspect. I will give the author the benefit of the doubt seeing as how this is the first novel I've read from her, but overall, this one did not hold my interest. I found myself skipping pages throughout the whole thing. Almost too much intrigue that I couldn't keep up with, and really, didn't want too. The characters didn't grab me either.

I just discovered Andrea Kane recently, and I truly cannot wait to ready ALL her books. For those of you, like myself, who are TRUE romantics--you will LOVE Andrea Kane!! She combines romance and mystery in an exciting and heart-melting manner, in which I was not able to put her book down even for a minute. I am an AVID reader of romance genre, but lately have become rather bored with the average romantic tale. Andrea Kane's, The Gold Coin, was the first book in a long time that helped me remember why I love these books so much. Thank you Andrea! You are by far one of the best I've had the pleasure to read.

This was the most difficult thing to put coins in that I have ever experienced!!! Most of the few coins I could even get in the openings, ripped the page....so the book is useless!!

I LIKED EVERYTHING ABOUT IT. THE HOLES WERE SNUG ENOUGH TO HOLD THE QUARTERS FIRMLY. YOU DO HAVE TO BE CAREFUL BECAUSE THE PAGES WILL TEAR.

The presentation of these books is nice, but it is very difficult to put the quarters into their slots. Many pages have rips in them because of this. We have 12 of these albums; one each for our grandchildren, neices and nephews.

I ordered this album based on the ability to display quarters from both mints and to show both sides of the quarters. The first album was received with a cracked interior spine and evidence of rough handling at the origin - not in transit. Amazon courteously and quickly shipped a replacement but it also arrived with evidence of rough handling, including a sliced edge. I returned the second album for a refund and bought a replacement product at a local coin store where I could inspect the item before purchasing. I appreciate Amazon's service but am disappointed that damaged goods were shipped both times.

My wife bought this album for me a few years ago and got me hooked on collecting the State Quarters. This album is very sturdy and insertion of the coins is a simple matter of sliding the plastic cover out, inserting the coin and sliding the cover back. Another nice thing is that you can view the coins from both sides. I have had the other types of albums where the holes are too small and I've had to work hard to press the coins in or the holes are a bit too large and the coins keep falling out. This album beats them all hands down. The other nice thing is that it has 100 places labelled in order so that you can display each state quarter in its D and P mint marks. It's higher priced, but you definitely get a superior product that will last for years.

This publication has and is always the most up-to-date, universally-accepted and accurate representation of present grading standards for rare and common US coins. Very useful in anticipating future values.

There is nothing new in this book except the 19th on the edge of the cover. It doesn't even cover the state quarters or presidential dollars. I am very disappointed in the quality of the photographs. I would have expected quality Color photos in this day but these photos are of 1970 B&W quality and not the quality of todays digital photos. It's just a poor and lazy update of prior versions to give the author a boost in money. If the author wants a good book then completely redo it with high quality color photos and add the new coins for more accurate grading. Do not waste your money on this book. Buy an older used one for less money.

I am extremely disappointed in the photographs. They are not large enough and not clear enough to really see detail being discussed. With the state of art of photography and printing, the quality of the book is inexcusable, especially since having photos of the various grades is the `niche' the book is trying to fill. I realize that using glossy paper would make this book significantly more expensive, but they could have done a much better job with the existing paper stock. The photos make this book unusable. Instead consider `AMA Grading Standards' or `Guide to Coin Grading and Counterfeit Detection.'

Persoanlly, I really like this book and use it all the time. It is easy to understand and helps me feel more confident with my personal grading practice. The only thing I don't like is that the pictures are not the greatest but this hasn't really been a problem for me. In short, if you want to grade better then get the book. The sub-par pictures aren't enough to detract too much.

While the book is unique and helpful with the pictures depicting the grade of most coins, it is outdated! I was very disappointed to not find grading guides for the new state quarters (1999,ff). I read on the title page that it was last revised in 1995! Yet, the book was copyrighted in 2005. I thought I was buying a current book to aid me in grading my coins. Wrong!

This animal is good for pointing out many coins that may be missed in the smaller magazines and at trade shows. However it is a catalog, about the size of a phone book and with so few advertisers that they are negligible.

There are no fancy color pictures just coins and lots of them divided into countries; so many coins that it can make your head spin if you are not searching for a particular theme. The shallow part of the book is the depth of time.

This version came out before the Euro however I am collecting Notgeld and trade dollars.

When I write reviews I look for a stumper or two. Well this book passed. I looked up the "Wailbligen 100". Sure as shoot'n there it was with an explanation and references to Porcelain coins.

Standard Catalog of World Coins 1901-2000 (Standard Catalog of World Coins)This is a generic catalog. The price was competitive and the shipping reasonable.

I got two books and shipment was very good. Books arrived in good condition. Thanks.
Cem Barlok

If there is a coin started from 1980 until 2006 (this book will not mention that this coin has minted from 1980, it will show this coin's mint from 2001) so from my point view this is confusing - at least should give a note for this.
so if I don't have books for previous years, 100% I will not know that a particular coin have previous mints.

regards

So here we go again... The second edition of a largely unnecessary book (if Krause could drop the "patterns, pieforts etc." sections in the 20th century volume, the two volumes would fit perfectly in one) which seems quite dated the very moment it is published - only in case of some countries you get issues up to 2005. The policy of dating the catalogue "for the coming year" makes the gap even more painfully visible.
At the same time the second edition does not fill blank spaces left in the first one. Let me give you just one example - Belarus, a country which issues only commemorative coins in moderate mintages but an impressive number. Let's look up the most popular denomination - copper-nickel 1 rouble. 2001 - 2 out of 4 are missing, 2002 - 4 out of 5, 2003 - listing complete, 2004 - 5 out of 10 missing, 2005 - 1 out of 10, and that is the end. Nothing from 2006 and 2007. You don't believe me? Don't take my word for it, check the website of the National Bank of Belarus. It is in English. The editors apparently did not.
That's the catch - most of the information this catalog is missing is readily available on the Internet. Updating the catalogue would take a week at most and that would include looking up current coin prices on eBay. Because the prices are just as dated as the rest, they don't take into consideration the rise of silver and gold and the fall of the dollar in relation to other currencies.
However, so far no one has done it better and that is the saddest part. So if you don't have the week to browse the Internet, and want information on recently issued coins in a reasonably handy volume, go ahead and buy it. Just remember that the editors did not have the week as well, and you, at some point, will have to do their research anyway.

There are several major problems with this work:
1. Starting at page 131 and continuing to page 178, the illustration numbers do not match the numbers mentioned in the text. Thus, for example you will read that "The Tianming coins (Nos. 644-5) were cast by Nurhaci in AD 1616" but illustration numbers 644 and 645 (and the catalogue numbers too) actually refer to Ming rebel coins. No more than annoying if you recognize the characters for "tian ming" and find the correct illustration, but this defect will be a serious impediment to those who don't read Chinese.
2. Pricing system is poorly explained. Jen tell us that his prices are "based on the current Chinese market conditions" but says that the reader cannot expect that a coin available in China for 10 yuan could still be purchased for that price in the US. He also notes that a coin valued at 1000 dollars in China should probably sell at around 3000 dollars in the US. With that Jen ends his price discussion, leaving the reader to wonder whether the values given in the book are the prices to be found in China, or China-based prices with the expected mark-up for US sale included.
3. no citation of sources - ANYWHERE.
4. no coin weights or weight ranges.
5. history articles are written with an outdated Han nationalist bias. Learn how peasants chafed under the yoke of alien rule. Anti Yuan rebels strike "a common chord with freedom-loving people everywhere" - we have to hope we're not talking about Ming Tai Zhu. The Taiping rebellion is presented as an ethnic freedom fight against Manchu oppressors, a false start on the road to the overdue revolution of 1911.

Still, updated types and realistic prices make this a useful work.

Dear Review reviewer - my previously submitted review was edited to omit a note the the effect that only part of the review was posted, and included my email so that readers could obtain the rest. I saw nothing in your review guidelines to forbid this, so why was it omitted? Please have the courtesy to contact me at SSemans@aol.com and explain how I may make it clear in this review that only part has been posted. Thank you.

The previous reviews make good points for the most part and no need to repeat them here. So I will add a few additional comments. I have been a serious collector of Chinese coins for a dozen years or so with much of one full year and a dozen other trips spent scouring the local markets and back alleys of China searching for coins.

A lack of comprehensiveness is endemic with anything Chinese, so too much can be made of Ren's omissions--it is after all an identification and pricing GUIDE. In the 1990s coins relatively common in Beijing may have been relative rarities in Chengdu, Urumuqi, Xian, Lanzhou, Datong, Shanghai, etc. This regional character of markets in China is indeed not only disappearing, but is leaping from regional to international which should result in a sorting out of rarity and price relative to a more coherent market demand.

Ren's price guide is a very useful attempt to reconcile a coin's value to this rapidly approaching, more integrated international market. Rather than being "most useful only for the gullible", as an earlier reviewer unkindly suggested, I find it quite useful, thoughtful and honestly advanced with its assumptions and rationale clearly stated. Having followed the China, US and internet markets I think it is a very reasonable evaluation effort. I would differ in opinion here and there but that's what makes a market and Chinese price guides are by no means uniform either. I think Ren's valuations will be looked on as very conservative as the collector community expands and disposable income increases in Asia.

I do think a next edition should collapse sections 1 and 2 into a single section. I would also ask Mr. Ren to throw another 100 (you pick a number) pages into the book to cover some of the more common Schjoth type omissions and add a bit more informative text. A very good job will be an even better one.

David Jen, an American citizen who spent much of the 20th century living in China, is a volunteer assistant at the American Numsimatics Society, the world's leading insitute for the study and conservation of coins. As a paid employee of the ANS, I would like to stress that the ANS does not endorse this work directly, and the following are my own opinions.

Many collectors have primarily worked from one of four works in Western languages: the catalog of Terrien de Lacouperie, F. Schjoth, the George Fisher translation of the Ding Fubao collection, or the Arthur Coole series. Although there is much merit in all of these works, very few of them work with the economic history of China and are far more concerned with the aesthetics of the coins they collect. Primarily interest has centered on the spade and knife coinages during the Zhou period. Jen's work instead concentrates on coins that have a primary place within the economy, and key variants upon those coins. It is a much smaller catalog than the 6-volume Coole, which cannot be used easily, and I do not believe Mr Jen attempted to supplant the Ding Fubao or Schjoth catalogs.

However, I am distressed that none of the readers have noted that there are fine catalogs now in the Chinese and Japanese languages, which are truly most important. The 12-volume Daxi catalog, published by the Shanghai Museum, is the standard reference work for Asian numismatists, which far supplants the Ding Fubao or Schjoth. In addition, it appears that French is no longer a reference language for numismatists, because the fine work of Francois Thierry of the Bibliotheque National is completely omitted in reviews.

David Jen's book is a nice update to the Schjoth and "Fisher's Ding" catalogs for those who only read English, but anyone serious about Chinese coinage must read Chinese, and will instead use the Daxi. Thierry's many researches are important, and as his catalogs tend to represent hoards, are important for their economic significance. In sum, for the collector who only speaks English, this is a good supplement to the Schjoth and Fisher's Ding. In that sense it is an important addition to any numismatic library, but it does not supplant these earlier texts, nor do I think it was intended to do so. Serious scholars of Chinese numsimatic history may wish to use it for its variants of some Chinese coins, but their research is likely to be more profitable in working with the standard catalogs instead...

...The eighties and nineties have seen an explosion of numismatic research and publishing in China, but largely without benefit to western collectors. Very little has been translated, and most of the collector oriented catalogs are for the Chinese market, with no western-language text, and often without a numbering system. Although several concordances and attempts at a comprehensive catalog have been started in the past 50 years by westerners, some of them reaching published form, the standard has remained Schjoth's 1912 catalog of his collection. Recently George Fisher published a very usefully enhanced photocopy version of Ding Fubao's 1940 catalog, the long-time standard among Chinese collectors, and a better work than Schjoth in every way though lacking in background information and sidelights such as calligraphy and weight varieties, and mother coins. When I learned that a new work, drawing on Chinese sources and authored by New York dealer and tireless ANS volunteer David Jen was already in press from Krause, I hoped that Chinese Cash: Identification and Price Guide would replace these works. Having examined it, I believe that it is more of a gap-filler and will help bring the western collector up to speed with his Oriental counterpart. It is not the ultimate Chinese cash catalog for the western collector. It will not replace Fisher's Ding, though the two books complement each other nicely and together make an excellent basic reference, rendering Schjoth largely obsolete. Jen's work alone is a fair choice for someone who is not collecting the series and wants just one reference, but anyone acquiring coins should have Ding and/or Schjoth as well. In a nutshell, this is a non-comprehensive type catalog with fairly good rubbing illustrations, a number system, transliterated legends and attributions by emperor, cross-reference to S and FD numbers, market prices in two grades and, incorporated into the catalog portion, the sort of historical information contained in Schjoth, but of greater depth and recency. There is an extensive listing of pre-production and pattern coins, special sections on calligraphy varieties and counterfeits, and a dynastic list. Some Central Asian series are represented. Pinyin is used throughout. Uniquely, this work explains the importance many types have to the Oriental collector, a perspective richer than that gained from any western work. My biggest problem with Jen is its lack of comprehensiveness. The author has tried " . . . not to encumber this book with material that can be found in other catalogs prepared carefully by western writers . . ." but the result has been to omit many commonly-found types that appear in both Schjoth and the amazingly comprehensive Ding. The catalog numbers tell the story. Fisher's Ding covers the field in 2708 entries; Jen in 1491, including numerous charms, and some exotic types Ding missed. For knives and spades, Ding has 341 entries, Jen only 57, but including 5 missed by Ding. This means that many of the city-named late spades are simply missing, and the highly varied Ming knife is essentially served by a single entry. The complex coinage of Shun Zhih, enlivened by the transition from Ming to Manchu rule, has been deeply studied by Werner Burger. Leaving aside calligraphy differences, 76 types emerge from his plates, of which Ding lists 71 and Schjoth 57; Jen only 42. Certainly it is hard to fault any work in this complex and under-researched field for omissions, but here the omissions seem completely arbitrary. Missing are many types commonly available for under $50, while extreme rarities, priced in the thousands of dollars, are found on nearly every page. The generous margins and loose layout of the plates give the work a comfortable look, but I can't help feeling that 341 full-sized pages could have been used to cover the field more thoroughly. In an attempt "to avoid a cluttering of material" Jen has divided his main catalog into two parts, what he calls mainstream issues, and "variants." Apparently the idea was to provide one or more pieces of each reign title in Section I to ease the task of the page-through attributer. I have been unable to discern any criteria, however, for what was put in each section, nor indeed to what was left out of both. An atrtribution guide such as R.B. White's, requiring perhaps 10 pages, would eliminate the need for page-throughs and be helpful to the casual user as well. Aside from the inconvenience of flipping back and forth between two sections is the numbering problem. The number sequence runs historically from #1 through #868, with Taiping and other Rebel coins, Xinjiang (Turkestan) and other outlying series adding up to #928, which is sensible enough. Then Section II begins all over again with knife and spade "variants" from #929 to #1491, forcing the user to interpose the two number runs to keep his listing or collection in historical order. This alone will dissuade many collectors from using Jen's numbers as their organizing thread, and most dealers and auctioneers from referencing the work in their listings. There is a fascinating section on calligraphy varieties. Jen attempts a breakdown of the Wu Zhu (Han) and Kai Yuan (Tang) types, which, along with the earlier Ban Liang, are conservative series just now yielding their secrets to a few dedicated researchers using published hoard finds. Most western collectors, however, will find these pages more tantalizing than useful. In simplified form, Jen recounts the fascinating evolution of these types with rubbings and calligraphy descriptions as aids. Roger Doo is gradually publishing much more detailed studies, some i