Coins Books

I'd give the coin sorter itself a "1", because of the cheap construction and constant malfunctioning. But, it came with a nice 50 States Coin Folder, so that brings the rating up.

The coin folder has sparked a desire within my kids to learn more about the history of the 50 states.

This book is full of errors. That said, it does have a lot of information and I appreciate its narrow focus. Find a nice used copy for $5-$10 and you'll probably be satisfied -- pay $38 and you'll go ballistic!

I paid way too much Tom Terry Sells the WHOLE set of 10 for less than I paid for this one volume MY BAD

This is a strange, but interesting book. I was annoyed that there are no footnotes nor endnotes to help research the author's facts... The book seems to have a lot of information, and the main thrust appears to be a desire to prove that Augustus, in order to align himself as a deity with previous religious predictions and prophecies, adjusted official chronologies and erased 70 years or so from the historical record.
There is a lot of material here but without scholarly notes, as I mentioned, it is difficult to confirm much of what he says.
Anyway, a rather interesting book.
There seems to be much evidence that Augustus played a large role in the development of Christianity. Another, much more recent book has thoughts on this: See 'Jesus was Caesar' by Francesco Carotta.

this book was designed to sell! The knowledge contained in this book was general and unpractical. No thought or knowledge went inot writing this book. You can insert any business into the title......"How to Start & Manage a ______ Business" ....simply put...not helpful.

This is a must have if you are thinking about going into the laundry business. This was very helpful in learning what all is involved in going into the laundry business including all aspects I hadn't even thought of. It also gives an overview of some of the problems getting a coin-laundry going and once it is going wich gave me a lot of insight.

same as befor except I forgot to rate it by stars I give it a on

This poorly bound, poorly written book is practically stealing from people who buy it. It is a pre-fab mess. There is very little information that pertains to the business. Avoid it.

This book is more full of fluff than a lint screen. It is a basic business book with the word laundramat typed in occasionally.One can also tell that the authors spent a lot of time filling pages with goblygook and it insults the intelligents of anyone remotely capable of starting a business !!!!THUMBS DOWN !!!!

This book is basically useless. It really does not give you what you need to know in order to grade coins. The population counts are from 2004 and have dramatically changed since then.

If you want to learn how to grade coins I suggest the following:
Beginners: Photograde: Official Photographic Grading Guide for United States Coins, 19th Edition
Intermediate: The Official American Numismatic Association Grading Standards of United States Coins (Official American Numismatic Association Grading Standards for United States Coins)
Experts only(Mint State Grading):
How to Grade U.S. Coins

The thing that troubles me most about this book is that it's description leads the prospective reader to believe that it is about grading coins. It is not. The book description implies that it provides a grade-dependent population census of modern coins. It does not (imho). The description implies that the book provides tendencies in the appearances of various coins. This it does do to a degree (These paragraphs in the book are the source of the two lonely stars characterizing my review) .
There is but one page in this entire book on grading - even then just definitions. (I don't count the advertisements that tout the care with which the Numismatic Guaranty Corporation (NGC) "objectively" grades and certifies coins (conveniently, NGC is one of the publishers of the book). There are neither examples nor guidelines to DIY grading of coins.
Then there is the census. The population numbers provided in the book consist only of those coins certified by the NGC, and the NGC alone. The census does not include coins certified by other third party grading agencies such as PCGS, ICG or ANACS. Furthermore, the book also does not acknowledge that most purchases of modern commemorative coins, mint sets and proof sets do not get certified. So what, you say? The point, I believe, of providing a grade-dependent census is to establish the relative rarity of a given coin at a given grade. As rarity and grade together are the dominant determiners of value, an NGC-only census is of no value.
The truly sad thing is that the topic of the bulk of material in the book would be warmly welcomed by the numismatic community - both beginners and advanced collectors -- if done well. This book deserves a second edition, maybe not the same authors or same publisher (no conflict of interest there!) to create a reference book on modern coins that actually has utility to coin collectors. The genius in marketing at NGC who thought it would be a good idea to push out a less than mediocre book allegedly on grading modern coins just leads me to recommend the VASTLY superior book on grading coins put out by PCGS - their biggest competitor! Doh!

This book actually rates three stars because it is quite expensive for what you get, but it is still a really excellent resource for those who do one of three things: 1) collect Modern Commemoratives; 2) collect US Mint Bullion Coins; 3) collect Ultra Moderns (I say ultra moderns because until this book's new definition of moderns, traditional coin collectors deem all 20th century coins 'moderns'. This one begins the count from the year 1965; although interestingly it includes the Proofs, which for this particular time sequence is very important. This book is good in the sense that the Forward really makes one excited about collecting these ultras where it discusses the genre and explains that this is a legitimate area of collecting interest where one can build a substantial collection rapidly and for a relatively small cost. In this day and age of inflated coin prices for some of the rarer and more desirable coins amongst even the traditional moderns, there has to be a niche for new comers, kids, etc. and this niche is it. It is also good in the sense that it give census numbers of these coins as graded by NGC and explains how one should extrapolate certain of these numbers (for instance, that there is a great number of MS 68 Silver Eagles that go unslabbed because of the high minimum grade reqt. of submitters). The reviewer below protested that this count is too narrow, but the point is that this is a book as published by NGC and doesn't purport to have the entire census universe numbers contained in it. This is still nice because most coin collectors, such as myself, will subscribe to just one or two services and so will have access to those companies' census counts but not others. So, while I have PCGS' pop. reports and ltd. access to ICG's, this NGC count is a handy reference for me. I was especially pleased about two aspects of this book's layout. The biggest one was the 'Rarities and Notable Varieties' notes section in which the 'key' coins are highlighted. For instance, I collect Jeffersons but was not aware of the special, so-called 'specimen' coins minted in 1994 and 1997, both of which I will now look out for. The other nice thing is the 'NGC Quick Tip' which warns the reader of certain quirks that one should look out for, for instance scraping on the Eisenhower Dollar on Eagle Feathers and Obverse, just as a coincidence, I had set aside a large number of these recently wondering what was up with this. In future, I will focus in on those areas before making a purchase. Finally, this book is the only handy reference I know that devotes an entire section complete with pictures of all of the Modern Commemoratives to date. This latter sub-section of coins is one that may yet emerge as an important branch of American Numismatics. For those of you who wish to get a head start, this is a good resource to turn to for now. Oh, and finally, finally, for the very first time in a coin book an entire section is devoted to the Bullion coins that have been issued by the Mint and this area too is becoming ever more popular, and is one that I believe will get ever stronger in years to come (even stronger, in my opinion, than the Modern Commmemorative genre). Anyway, even though this book is spendy when new, I can recommend getting it, possibly discounted, if you have an interest in any of the areas above that I have mentioned.

This is not a book for Preschoolers or babies. There is irony in many of David McKee's books, and only a six or seven year old could understand irony. The book plays with the cliché expectations of happy endings and good fairies, in a way contemporary kids are ready for.

I got this book to read at my daughter's 2nd birthday party. Instead of gifts, we had all her friends bring some coins to help her start saving. It seemed like a good idea. The book ends with the pig saying "life is hard" and taking the little girl's (Charlotte) money. Really bad message to send.

The picture quality is horrendous throughout, apparently just scanned from old magazines. The pics are superimposed on bland white backrounds which, as there's little text, makes for an unbelievably amateurish looking endevour.
I just have to return this one.

This is a really nice book for collectors and enthusiasts, it's mostly in full color and the quality of the paper is pretty good. It's light on text but is packed with photos of arcade cabinets and artwork. The graphic layout could have used a little bit of work and the reproduction quality of the photos isn't quite top notch ... also I ideally would have liked to have seen more games included of Japanese origin. But these are small complaints given how nice the book is as it stands. Really a great coffee table type book for enthusiasts and a 100% must have for anyone who loves classic arcade games. Very glad I made the purchase and really happy with it.

Excellent reference book. Purchased to aid in listing an old collection on Ebay. Extremely helpful and accurate.

Did I get some sort of misprint of this book as a joke? In any case, I started by looking up the values of a few US stamps: the 1869 pictorials and the 1892 Columbians. And these were riddled with typos! The 1869 90-cent Lincoln was listed as a few hundred dollars used, but someone left off the "2" that would have made it over 2000 dollars. The $5 Columbian was also listed as a few hundred dollars used, leaving off the "1" that would have made it a thousand dollars more. That was enough for me; I returned the book.

Be very careful to check for such typos before you buy such a book. Better yet, get the Postal Service Guide to U.S. Stamps at your local post office.

As a lover of the large dolls of the 1950's, 60's and 70's this book is a welcome addition to the world of doll collecting. The drawback is that any collector who wanders through Ebay and tracked sales over time in a spreadsheet could have done the same. Many of the photos in the book I had already seen and even bid upon! (Thus three stars) Nonetheless some of the dolls are truly pretty and beautiful.

For the newcomer, this is a great primer to get you started. I am still waiting for the really definitive book on large "Walker" dolls. Until that comes out Ms. Cross will have to do.

But not nearly as much as I was hoping to learn. The book is attractive with its many color photographs, but there just isn't much 'meat' to it, I'm afraid. Very disappointing.