“How Coins are Made & Mismade" by Walter Breen

[t-arc]

Today I received in the mail a copy of Walter Breen’s book  “How Coins are Made and Mismade” published in 1970.  This is a very rare book, well over 150 pages

Seems very interesting.  Has any one else ever seen or read a copy of this book?  A copy of this books sold for over $150 in 2015 and was offered by an antique bookseller in Pennsylvania for $165 last year.

He suddenly lowered his asking price to $30 so I bought it at that point, knowing how rare it was. 

[BillJones]

That's a new one to me. The only similar item that I have is a booklet, "Dies and Coinage," published in 1965 by Hewitt's Numismatic Information Series. It is only 35 pages.

[physics-fan3.14]

I'm not familiar with this book, but if it is rare and you got it for a good price, then congrats. 

I would be very interested to see how accurate it is, in light of modern research. Compare it to any fully-documented, well researched book published in the last ten years (Lange, Burdette, Augsberger, etc). 

 

[DWLange]

This is a very rare book, and it was the first of what was supposed to be a 24-volume course on numismatics. The whole program was advertised at $10 upon its debut in 1970. Test questions were provided at the end of the book, and a diploma was sent to those answering satisfactorily. The whole program collapsed very quickly under its own weight, which accounts for the rarity of this book and the likely absence of any follow-up volumes.

In the 1970s, Walter Breen was recruited for many such promotional programs. Most notable were his many efforts while employed by Stanley Apfelbaum of First Coinvesters, Inc. These included a series of audio books on LP vinyl records. These, too, are quite rare and bring strong prices. I knew him a few years later, and his reedy voice was quite distinctive. One of his records was titled The Care and Preservation of Rare Coins, and it would be nice if some of this material was preserved by the Newman Numismatic Portal. Aside from his inexcusable behavior in some areas, Walter was nevertheless a memorable figures in numismatics.

[coinman_23885]

On 7/11/2017 at 5:31 PM, physics-fan3.14 said:

I'm not familiar with this book, but if it is rare and you got it for a good price, then congrats. 

I would be very interested to see how accurate it is, in light of modern research. Compare it to any fully-documented, well researched book published in the last ten years (Lange, Burdette, Augsberger, etc). 

 

+1

[coinman_23885]

10 hours ago, DWLange said:

This is a very rare book, and it was the first of what was supposed to be a 24-volume course on numismatics. The whole program was advertised at $10 upon its debut in 1970. Test questions were provided at the end of the book, and a diploma was sent to those answering satisfactorily. The whole program collapsed very quickly under its own weight, which accounts for the rarity of this book and the likely absence of any follow-up volumes.

In the 1970s, Walter Breen was recruited for many such promotional programs. Most notable were his many efforts while employed by Stanley Apfelbaum of First Coinvesters, Inc. These included a series of audio books on LP vinyl records. These, too, are quite rare and bring strong prices. I knew him a few years later, and his reedy voice was quite distinctive. One of his records was titled The Care and Preservation of Rare Coins, and it would be nice if some of this material was preserved by the Newman Numismatic Portal. Aside from his inexcusable behavior in some areas, Walter was nevertheless a memorable figures in numismatics.

What were the other volumes in the series?

[Buffalo_Pete]

Judging by the activity that Mr. Breen has continued to enjoy here and other places, calling him "memorable" is an understatement..................