Coins Books

As a collector for over 40 years, this was the first book i bought my daughter on the subject. She loves the wonderful pictures of tthe thousands of coins she may not see elsewise. If it could be better these photos could be color on glossy paper, but then i guess it would cost $80 instead of $8!

Should be titled "Price Guide to Canadian Coins". Nearly a quarter of the book is devoted to detailed descriptions of Canadian mintages. ..The disclaimer in the book is that no one could possibly cover all mintages in the space given, and that only coins the average collector is apt to encounter were included. ... A number of countries are not included at all, and the ones that were get cursory treatment in comparison...

Problems with this inventory book are numerous.
1. The book only lists dates up to the current date, no place for future years of coins. So you inventory your collection up to 2007 and next year... buy another book??
2. The book seems to have forgotten about silver and golden eagles, well not too many of us are interested in that trash anyway.
3. It would be nice if there were a few blank pages between each catagory for additional notes ie., error coins not listed etc.
In my opinion one would be better off buying a three ring binder to inventory their collection.

As a novice collector, I found this product to be very useful. Previously, it was very frustrating for me to use a larger, spiral-bound notebook to keep track of coins I needed/already had, their conditions, where bought from, prices, etc. Also, my makeshift method of listing (simply writing down the series, year, mintmark, and condition of each coin in my collection) was not very helpful while shopping, because I had to scan through the whole list to see which coins I needed to acquire. This was just too cumbersome and ineffcient for going to coin shows and the like. This book is very compact and it already has information like mintages and mintmarks printed for most of the coin series published in Whitman's ubiquitous 'Redbook'. I suspect that some more advanced and/or technically-savvy collectors may find it too rudimentary, especially if they are proficient in using spreadsheets or commercial, coin inventory software. But for other collectors, partciularly those who like to use pencil and pad, this is a great tool. When I recently attended a coin show on the east coast, I was first introduced to this product by a dealer who used it to copiously make notes. So dealers, maybe you should check it out.

This book isn't nearly as detailed as Bowers book on Morgan dollars.

It has little detail compared to the Morgan dollars book

A Guide Book of Washington And State Quarters: Complete Source for History, Grading, and Prices provides a very specific, detailed resource for quarter collectors which pairs a history of quarter issues with tips on assessing coins, buying wisely, and valuing quarters from 1932 to date. Illustrations in full color throughout make identification easy - along with a grading guide and the latest values. Any coin collector specializing in quarters must have this.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

These tubes are the best that I have ever used. Most coin collectors like myself have a lot of extra coins and these tubes have the best long term storage of anything else that I have used.
Thank you,
Kenneth

Tubes too narrow to hold $1 coins. 20 coins will not fit if 1 gets stuck permanently sideways in the center of the tube. Not to mention the product is permanently out of stock. The other tubes manufactured do not hold the quantity stated (only 45 dimes fit into the 50 dime tube) Everything SUCKS. I returned 4 boxes with 16 or 20 defective products and no suitable replacements are available.

The premise of the book is of course imposters and pretenders to the throne, various thrones and it is written by two curators at the British Museum. This book does have some excellent reproductions of coinage of the pseudo-realms covered but hardly dwells on it. Really they are just put out there as examples of historical ephemera from the 'kingdoms' claimed. The book's structure is actually built around a few sub-headings that exemplify various manifestations of claims to crown or country using a number of techniqes: Rebellion, in which a rebel overthrows the established authority in an area and proclaims a new nation; pretenders to the throne in which there is a disputed or competing claims to the crown with a pretender attempting to fulfill his 'birthright'; imposters and slave kings, the chapter heading pretty much says it all; dreamers and hoaxers which you can imagine about and finally 'the nation as pretender.' While this topic could have been made quite fascinating, I think that the authors chose instead to condense much information in too few pages and also were unable to really spice up the tales. Thus, while this book is interesting, especially to coin collectors I think, it isn't a really good read.

This is a light-hearted, if still informative, book which I feel fortunate to have discovered in the bookstore at the British Museum in London. Written by two curators at the British Musuem in the department overseeing the coins collection, this book, well illustrated with coins and notes from different historical epochs, looks at the origins and dynamics of legitimacy, sovereignity, loyalty and rebellion in various episodes of political changes from ancient to modern times. Even though it reads more like a coin catalogue than a sociologically or historically penetrating analysis of these issues, it raises some important questions of how we come to give, withdraw, and subvert loyalty.

I consider myself a typical entrepreneur. I've started and sold several small internet businesses, invested in a restaurant or two, and like most people, I've considered starting a dry cleaning service in India. The problem is, there's almost TOO MUCH information on the topic. After trying to sift through what felt like mountains of research and opinions, I found Phillip Parker's "The 2007-2012 Outlook for Dry Cleaning and Laundry Services Excluding Coin-Operated Services in India."

At $495, I considered the book to be a bargain. I had been paying up to $1000 dollars for other books on the topic, and at this rate, my Indian Dry Cleaning service would be in a monsoon of red ink. I bought two copies, as is my usual precaution, in case one didn't arrive, or I felt like leaving one at the office, and had it shipped overnight.

While Parker does indeed provide a comprehensive outlook for the prospects of opening a Indian Dry Cleaning service for the next five years, I found it rather limiting that the book only provided "potential industry earnings (P.I.E.) estimates...across some 5,000 cities in India."

I had been hoping to compare P.I.E. estimates across at least 10,000 cities. I can name at least 8,000 Indian cities off the top of my head and find it laughable that someone would consider 5000 an adequate number. At $495, that comes out to roughly ten cents per city, which as any entrepreneur knows, is roughly double market price.

In short, I would recommend buying only one copy of the book, and only if you are seriously considering opening up a dry cleaning service (or laundry) in India.

This book was a good, well written book in it's time. It has a lot of precise, exacting descriptions of 100 historically important Greek coins. 100 coins are described in 170 pages of text and there are 13 pages of B&W plates in the back that illustrate them. The book does contain a fair number of references to older books that are long out of print and I'm sure collectible in their own right and the book does sort of presume the reader can read Greek alphabet characters. But it must be remembered that this book was written at the beginning of the 20th century and it had a limited and scholarly audience in mind.

All that said, this book is a nice inexpensive overview to a nice selection of 100 significant coins. The beginner may find the references to now unknown works and quotes in dead languages a bit cumbersome at the outset but may find it gratifying that there is a lot of technical info about size and weight of the coins in it. With the current concern about modern fakes, this is good information to have. This is the kind of book that proves to be more valuable in the rereading than in the initial reading as all the data sinks in and assimilates in the collector's head and begins to work like a subconscious database as time goes on.

I recommend this book to the advanced beginner or beyond who has at least a little working knowledge of the technical jargon of the hobby and who wants to go a little deeper now. What will also make this book rewarding is that Sir Hill was not afraid to think out loud in print and raises some interesting questions from time to time. Since Sir Hill did this and time has passed, it gives the reader the chance to try to play detective and answer some of Hill's questions. For example - did Gelon pay for the building of the temples of Demeter and Kore by melting down the loot from Carthage and turning it into coined money? Sir Hill could have worked for Scotland Yard!

This book is valuable too for while it is not a history of how the various standard weights evolved, it covers much of that ground. I know for many this alone may make the book interesting and recommend it for the reading and rereading.

This is the only reference book that I have seen focussed exclusively on the Roosevelt dime; a series that does not presently have a large and serious base of collectors. As such it can accurately tout itself as The Authoritative Reference on Roosevelt Dimes. The structure of the book is as follows: A brief overview of the dime and the history of its development from concept to execution; a discussion of die varieties and errors; a year by year break down of mintage numbers, strike quality and availability; a large section devoted to Re-punched Mint Marks and Over Mint Marks. While the format of the book is excellent, the content leaves a little bit to be desired for the simple reason that much of the commentary from year to year is an identical iteration of the previous year's information. This is perhaps of necessity as there are no presently known key date rarities or major errors in the series and each year and mint mark can be found in Gem condition at a low cost. Having said that, the authors do point out the major varieties that one might find for each year and mint mark, a super feature enlarged upon in the latter parts of the book. My advice to budding and indeed experienced Roosevelt collectors is to pay special attention to this second part of the book because I believe that ultimately this will prove to be the most satisfying and challenging aspect of collecting the Roosevelt series yielding the most rare and valuable coins. I am speaking from experience here as a bona fide Jefferson nickel hound; a series which abounds in minor varieties and errors. It is my contention that the Roosevelt series is still in its infancy regarding the discovery of RPM's, OMM's and other die varieties. As such it behooves the ambitious collector to seek out and collect undiscovered ones. At present many years are represented by a single RPM entry while many others have no entries at all. Who knows, some day one of you readers may have his name listed in the second edition as a major contributor? I have only one major criticism of this book: I believe that the authors missed an opportunity to lay down at least one hard and fast aesthetics grading rule declaring, for instance, that the most desirable strike will have 'Full Split Bands' on the torch in way that the most desirable Mercury Dimes have on the fasces. A tough grading criterion such as this will make collecting the Roosevelt series more of a challenge and will likely increase the value of a dimes exhibiting the desired trait in much the same way that a Brilliant Uncirculated Full Step Jefferson is vastly more valuable than an otherwise identical Brilliant Uncirculated coin without Full Steps. Anyway, as this book is a work in progress it is also a ground floor opportunity for collectors who would like to become expert in a coin series without going broke doing so. I recommend this book to any serious collector and especially encourage young (read as broke) collectors to consider using this book as a leaping off point to building their first important collection.

On page 168, the author writes, "People must learn that after the first million or so, there is no more use to gaining more money." What an idiotic and unBiblical thing for the author to say! Many mines that produce the things that the world needs, require capital investment of up to $2-7 billion! Mexican mines are often undercapitalized, and the owners have never saved, nor invested, to the extent that Americans will do. China suffers similarly, from the communist sentiment expressed above, and likewise has underdeveloped mines; from lack of capital, to lack of engineering expertise. Job, Abraham, and Jacob were all extremely wealthy. If Joseph in Egypt did not have the wealth of the entire kingdom of Egypt at his disposal, he would not have been able to spare the nation, and surrounding nations, from the 7 year famine!

This book gave a good background into the day to day operation of an "illegal" coin melting operation in upstate New York. There is a sense of the true volume of U.S. 90% coins that were melted into crude bars and flown to switzerland.