Coins Books

Spink or Marsh are best but expensive.
This is a compact guide book to British coins and colonies, very easy to use. recommended.
See also:
Coins of England and the United Kingdom
The Sovereign - the World's Most Famous Coin: A History and Price Guide
The gold sovereign

I must say I was a bit frustrated once I received the book. I was expecting something beyond a simple facsimile of the original book. The book consists of copies of the original pages binded (very well I must say) together in a soft cover edition. Because of some sort of lack of precision during the copying process, some pages lost their headers and eventually 1 line of the text but nothing really critical. The plates are awfull, virtually usuless. Net: if you have a facsimile copy of the original book, or, if you are looking for a copy, this is a good buy for having a copy quality in a nice book format. If you are looking for something better than a facsimile, that's not the book. And, if you got the original 1914 edition, well, you should not even been reading this !

I wanted to love this series! The book is colorful, and the idea for it is great. The factoids are excellent and informative. However, the dialogue between the two siblings that are the main characters is annoying. The sister is a nasty, snotty brat. I was so disappointed. A much better choice is the "Good Times Travel Agency" series.

The book does contain a lot of information about both coins and stamps. It gets 3 stars.

However ...

The package that comes with this book includes a CD-ROM and a floppy disk. According to the Errata, the disk is supposed to be a version of the software that has not expired. For me, neither worked! I had to go to their web site to download a Windows 98 version that worked. That sure was a nuisance. This part gets only 1 star!

Also, note - the software that accompanies this book is SHAREWARE. It does cost $ to get the registered version.

The cover blurbs pretty much sum this book up: 'Railroad conductor reveals his simple system for pyramiding a several-dollar coin investment into one million dollars,' & 'Simple ten-year coin retirement programs.' Still, I recommend this book to those who are serious about making money by investing/dealing/speculating in coins. This is not because I believe the author has discovered a road to riches. Actually, some of his information, thus his money making systems based on it, has little relevance to the coin market of today, particularly as it relates to speculation in coin rolls and using a mail bid system to sell coins. This book was published in 1969, afterall. What the author does bring to the table is a way of looking at the coin market as an investment vehicle, a very cogent take on the ups and downs (booms and busts) of the coin market cycle and, most tellingly, contemporary pricing. Yes, that's correct, one of the most sobering elements of this book is the lists of 1969 coin prices (often compared to earlier year prices) as they compare to today's prices. I think that you will be quite shocked in some cases even if pleasantly so at times, and perhaps even frightened. I need not say more but that if you get this or a similar book you will immediately understand what I am saying. Also important is the author's discussion of certain manias concerning such things as the 1960 Lincoln small date in which some fortunate people made thousands of 1960's dollars in the beginning and others lost similar amounts when the bubble blew up. Fast forward 30 years and think about the brouhaha surrounding the very first Delaware Quarters. In other words, speculative coin bubbles are likely to happen at any time and the fast and adroit amongst us will end up making a lot of money. Appropos of this, consider the author's discussion of Mint Set investing. I'll say no more but if you are serious about speculating in coins, this book and others like it are an excellent means for getting cheap, quick market savvy that may help you to avoid losing significant amounts of money.

The whitman dime pages looks really good, but the holes are a little too large for the dimes. This is disappointing as I would have preferred having the dimes fit snugly in their positions. I suppose this is a good purchase if you are collecting coins and have trouble inserting or removing them. However I can't recommend this if you're like me and like your coins to be snug as well as safe and sound.

if youv,e ever been to an auction and need a quick reference before you bid or buy this little book is for you it fits in your pocket yet speaks volumes when you need a value or some information on about every u.s.coin.

A nice book for the beginners, gives limited but still worthy information about medals and Orders of the satellite states of Germany.

This book is basically a century per chapter of Greek coins with a nice, round selection of pictures from each. From a representative sample of the great variety of coins known, the book concentrates on the archeological evidence for dating coins and discusses the history of the factors that caused the cultures to produce them.

Some very nice coins are pictured within 112 pages and 8 chapters. It gives a basic outline of greek history according to coinage and is introductory in its nature.

I was anxiously awaiting delivery of this book, but was disappointed upon perusing it. Perhaps its me, but I find it an ominous sign of the times that this "Tribute" Edition (actually, a modern reprint of the 1947 edition) of perhaps the most famous price reference for collectors of United States coins is printed in China. Of course, the "new" Whitman outsources the printing of all their books to China, so I guess it is unsurprising. Nevertheless, the book is a faithful reproduction of the 1947 edition of "A Guide Book of United States Coins" with 32 additional pages of modern verbiage and advertisements at the end.