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The Library - recommended books for every coin specialty

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Post your favorite and most valued books for educating collectors on whatever your coin collecting specialty is.

 

Here's one:

 

The Complete Guide to Buffalo Nickels

Second Edition

By David W. Lange

 

This kind of shared knowledge will hopefully be very helpful to coin collectors.

 

Arch

(plug plug plug) wink.gif

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Same Author but "The Complete Guide to Mercury Dimes".

 

Every Merc Collector Should Have this Fine Reference Book. If they Would Just Buy this Book Maybe David would Author a Up-Dated Version which IMO probably would Show Many Differences in Perceived Rarity since His First Book was Published.

 

Also Breens Bible, although Expensive, should be Obtained.

 

Ken

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Capped Bust Half Dollars

-Early Half Dollar Die Varieties 1794-1836 by Al Overton (3rd-edition)

-The Ultimate Guide To Attributing Bust Half Dollars by Glenn R. Petterson, M.D.

When it comes to this series these two books are a must have for attributing die pairs and getting a feel for rarity factors.

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1) Adding another one by David Lange, Complete Guide to Lincoln Cents.

2) Cherrypicker's Guide vol 4 - great for the modern minting process.

3) The Official Guide to Coin Grading and Counterfeit Detection by John W. Dannreuther, Scott A. Travers

4) Breen's Bible has been mentioned, but I thought I'd simply provide the title: Complete Encyclopedia of U.S. and Colonial Coins

 

Hoot

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Capped Bust Half Dollars

A helpful suppliment to the two references Capped Bust mentioned is;

"Bust Half Quotes" by Pierre Fricke and Brad Karoleff, NLG. It has a breakdown of relative prices for the different varieties and can be purchased through the JRCS web page.

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I am going through my library and some books I recomend

 

For every collector

1) A Guide Book of United States Coins by R.S. Yeoman- A must but you dont have to get one every year. One every three years is good prices change to much for a book that comessss out once a year and they dont change info that often on backround of coins. But good rundown of every type of US coin.

 

2) any grading book. I am using the oficial ANA grading standards for united states coins But my dealer showed me a grading book That had color picturs and it was by a grading company and had a black cover. It was from NGC or PCGS. I will be picking that up next week.

 

For any collector

 

1) Coin clinic By Alan Herbert- Light reading goes over the main areas of the hobby tends to be more for the begginers.

 

2)The Nmismatist's Companion books by Q. David Bowers. I am working my way through this collection of books and am enjoying my self. He can find a way to make any thing intersting with his style of writimg I will end up getting all the books.

 

Specilty books

 

1) The official Guide th U.S. Commemoratve Coins By David Ganz- If you are collecting the State Quarters this is the book to get on how the program started.

 

 

2) Walter breens Encylopedia of United Staes and Colonial Proof coins 1722-1977- Because no one else haas mention about this book

 

3) Standard Catalog of United States Tokens 1700-1900 By Russell Rulau - The bible of token collecting

 

 

CHRIS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The latest addition to my library is:

The Shield Five Cent Series

A Comprehensive Listing of Known Varieties

by Edward L. Fletcher, Jr.

First Printing 1994 Dead End Publishing

 

black and white photos are great... just what I needed for this series grin.gif

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This one is a must buy for Flying Eagle and Indian Cent collectors who not only enjoy technical points, but also great stories.

 

A Buyer's and Enthusiast's Guide to Flying Eagle and Indian Cents, by David Q. Bowers.

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Ill throw my 10cents worth in.

 

Seated Dimes:

 

Kamal Ahwash - Enyclopedia of US Liberty Seated Dimes. Make sure you get the 2nd printing, 1981

 

Brian Greer - The Complete Guide to Liberty Seated Dimes. Published 1992.

 

Both are great books for anyone interested in Seated Dimes

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Is there a book for IH Cent Varieties? Something

along the lines of Cohen for half cents or Sheldon

and Newcomb for large cents. Fivel-Stanton

comes to mind, but I don't know if this is the

standard IH collectors go by.

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"United States Gold Coins, An Illustrated History": By: Q. David Bowers. You can buy this book at: www.bowersandmerena.com. I do not know if it has been released in Soft Cover yet. It is a pretty new release.

 

Of course the classic is: "20th Century United States Gold Coins (1907-1933), " by David W. Akers. This book is also available from Bowers and Merena.

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In addition to those already posted, here is a list that I would recommend. Of course, I've left off some I haven't found to be too exciting crazy.gif

 

 

General Reading - More Adventure with Rare Coins, QDBowers; Coin Collecting for Dummies, Guth; Coin Colletor's Survivor Manual, Travers; Cherrypickers Guide, 4th ed Vol I, Fivaz and Stanton;

 

US Commems - Commemorative Coins of the US, QDBowers

 

Lincolns - Authoritative Reference on Lincoln Cents, Wexler and Flynn

 

Morgans - Comprehensive Catalog and Encyclopedia of Morgan and Peace Dollars, Van Allen/Mallis; The Morgan and Peace Dollar Textbook, Miller; 1878 8TF Attribution Guide, Hartnett and Oxman; 1878 7/8TF Attribution Guide, Oxman and Hartnett; SSDC Official Guide to the Hot 50; Top 100:The VAM keys, Oxman and Fey; A Guide to the 1879-S Reverse of 1878, Wang;

 

Bust Halves - Ultimate Guide to Attributing Bust Halves, Peterson

 

 

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For large and half cents find a copy of the "Jack H. Robinson Collection of Large and Half Cents" catalog that was put out for the sale of said coins by Superior Galleries, in 1989. Great photos, with great diagnostic tips too. mdwoods

 

I have the address of J Robinson for any who might be interested.

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Chopmarks by Rose.

 

I highly recommend Adventures With Rare Coins by Q. David Bowers. It isn't a specialty book, but I think it helps increase interest in the hobby no matter what the individual decides to collect.

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Specialty - Lincoln cent die varieties

 

Books:

"The Classification and Value of Errors on the Lincoln Cent," Jean Cohen, 1967, 1969 : 592 pages

"The Standard Guide to the Lincoln Cent," Dr. Sol Taylor, 1982, 1988, 1992, 1999 : 293 pages.

"The Complete Guide to Lincoln Cents," David W. Lange, 1996, 1999 : 364 pages.

"The Authoritative Reference on Lincoln Cents," John Wexler and Kevin Flynn, 1996 : 384 pages.

"BIE Handbook," edited by Howard O. Hardy, 1972 : 154 pages.

"The Encyclopedia of Doubled Dies," John A. Wexler, multi-volume, 1980-1982.

"Lincoln Cent RPM Price Guide," Mike Ellis, 1999, 16 pages.

"The Complete Price Guide and Cross Reference to Lincoln Cent Mint Mark Varieties," Brian Allen and John Wexler, 1999 : 169 pages.

"The RPM Book," John A Wexler & Tom Miller, 1983 : 291 pages.

"A Quick Reference to the Top Lincoln Cent Die Varieties," Gary Wagnon, Karen Peterson, Kevin Flynn, 1997 : 144 pages.

"The Cherrypickers' Guide to Rare Die Varieties," Bill Fivas, J.T. Stanton, fourth edition, volume one, 2000 : 422 pages.

"The RPM Book, Second Edition : Lincoln Cents," James A. Wiles, 1997, 284 pages.

 

Magazines:

"Errorscope," published bi-monthly by CONECA.

"The Hub," published bi-monthly by NCADD.

"Error World," published bi-monthly by Error World.

"Numismatic News," published weekly by Krause Publications.

"Coin World," published weekly by Amos Press.

 

I will be writing a book on Lincoln cent die varieties that will encompass information covered in all the above books - what I see as being the "complete" guide to the series. It will be published in "packets" quarterly, and is intended to be put into a three-ring binder as each issue comes out. The pages will be loose-leaf so they can be self-organized by the collector. Publication should start next summer. The eventual page count of this book will be close to 2,500.

 

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I doubt if there's enough history behind the US Peace Dollar series to fill a book, but I'm sure that someone has filled a pamphlet. Any suggestions? Twowood smile.gif

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I doubt if there's enough history behind the US Peace Dollar series to fill a book, but I'm sure that someone has filled a pamphlet. Any suggestions? Twowood

 

Bowers has a listing for a Comprehensive Catalog and Encyclopedia of Morgan and Peace Dollars. Authored by Van Allen & Mallis.

 

Not sure on how much content is devoted to Peace Dollars, and it's pretty steep in price, but it's the only thing that I saw on a couple of sites. You can probably find a nice copy used on E-Bay or Amazon.Com that wouldn't be as pricey.

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