Forgotten Coins of the North American Colonies - 25th Anniversary Edition

[John P. Lorenzo]

Amazon Books Ordering Link.

Use the LOOK INSIDE tab to see if this book works for your library.

Kindle E-Book is only $3. Counterfeits of 1500-Present are described particularly Modern Chinese Forgeries and their XRF assays.

John Lorenzo

Numismatist

United States

[Just Bob]

This quote is from the page to which your link is pointed:

"Today if I do meet a collector with no contemporary counterfeits in their collection I do question how advanced this collector is or putting it more plainly his “breadth” of knowledge in his field of collecting. Contemporary Counterfeits sort of rounds out the collector in his collecting pursuits and distinguishes him from just being as Bill always indicated a simple minded accumulator. " (Bold type mine)

Is that your opinion, or was it written by a reviewer?

[John P. Lorenzo]

That was Bill Anton's opinion. David Bowers from an old Rare Coin Review did a survey once and determined - the average collector spends about 20 minutes a WEEK (ONLY) studying coins ... 

JPL

[Just Bob]

2 hours ago, John P. Lorenzo said:

That was Bill Anton's opinion.

I understand that it was his opinion from reading the text, but he was obviously not the person who wrote that review. Someone, the writer of the review,  was evidently agreeing with his opinion. My question is: was that someone you, or was it another person?

[Just Bob]

I understand that it is notoriously difficult to determine someone's intent, or sometimes even their meaning from just the written word, so it may be that I have misunderstood. In the above quote, I took the words "Contemporary Counterfeits" to mean the coins themselves, since that same term, with caps, was used later in the text to refer to the coins. (This would have meant that a singular predicate was paired with a plural subject, but given the lack of proper punctuation in the rest of the paragraph, it seemed plausible). It may be, however, that the term was being used as a sort of "nickname" for the book itself. So, to clear things up, please answer this question:  In the above quote, does the phrase "Contemporary Counterfeits" refer to the book, the coins, or to something else?

 

[Conder101]

It refers to the coins, counterfeits made at the time (contemporary) with the intent that they would pass in circulation. 

[Just Bob]

On 1/24/2018 at 11:20 AM, Conder101 said:

It refers to the coins, counterfeits made at the time (contemporary) with the intent that they would pass in circulation. 

Thanks, Mike, but I was really wanting Mr L. to explain which would make a person a "simple minded accumulator" - not owning the book, or not owning a counterfeit. It really isn't worth pursuing any further, though, in my opinion.

Not that it matters, but I actually did own a counterfeit 2 1/2 dollar gold piece, which I traded to James Garcia years ago. Maybe that makes me only half simple minded.

[jgenn]

My introduction to the term "simple minded accumulator" is from this post on CCF

[Just Bob]

16 hours ago, jgenn said:

My introduction to the term "simple minded accumulator" is from this post on CCF

So, now my question has been answered by this quote (on that forum) from Mr. Lorenzo:

" 99% of the people I meet in this hobby are SMA's. Some examples - someone who has collected their entire lives and never wrote a coin article, people who chase MS66 type coins CONTINUOUSLY, people who when attending a gathering never go beyond type/grade in a show and tell among their peers, people who write an article never advancing any information - just compiling real time data.

Ok, so I did  pursue it a but further.

[John P. Lorenzo]

There are exceptions to this rule of being a "simple minded accumulator." If you are Canadian the rule does not apply. Since at this point the book has surpassed Haxby's Canadian Red Book and U.S. Red Book as the #1 selling coin book in Canada in KINDLE. Perhaps it has to do with Chapter 1 or the upcoming Robbins Sale by Heritage in April? I do myself accumulate double sided rainbow toned Morgan Dollars. Really ...  

Canada Kindle

[Just Bob]

54 minutes ago, John P. Lorenzo said:

If you are Canadian the rule does not apply.

 

I wouldn't mind seeing pictures of some of those toned Morgans, though.

Or, some of the counterfeits you have collected.

 

Now, I wonder if Arch will change my title...

[John P. Lorenzo]

This book has value for slab or U.S. Federal coin collectors in terms of seeing all the different metal alloys coming at you as to how counterfeiters counterfeit different coins for different time periods from the 16thC to present. I also wrote a whole chapter on how to identify and avoid Chinese forgeries and their most common alloys - all for $3. This book is a spread of knowledge not a money making book using some big name numismatist and just regurgitating already exisitng information avialable on the Internet. If any of you reading this now you know making money off a paper book is quite difficult today unless you are selling the RED BOOK <BG>. Hence its commemorative nature - I just promised the Canadians I would revamp the Canadian Blacksmiths --- an area sorely needed for some time to be rewritten ... as they noted in Charlton's Canadian Colonial Token Book (9th Edition - W.K. Cross) - Token Metrology (Foreward Section). My chapter 1 is the new book on Blackmsiths they were hoping for - for their 10th Edition? I certainly hope so ...

JPL

[Bobsr]

Dang Just Bob . When I read your Jan 24th post, I thought maybe I had inadvertently change my text option to a foreign language of some type . I read it 4 times and I still don't understand what it meant. Now I'm so confused, I don't remember what the post was about. Ah well, I'm going to order the book and see if I can figure out if I'm a counterfeit or  a simple minded accumulator , or UHHHHH durn it I forgot what the third Option was.

Bob Sr CEO Fieldtechs

[John P. Lorenzo]

BOB - Come to the Whitman Coin Show EAC Meeting 3/24 @ 1PM Room 301 and I will give you a free book and CD. So no need to worry anymore. I meet SMA's all the time - most people just collect coins to show off to their friends and to relax. Nothing to be ashamed about. LOL.

Anyone at NGC or anyone else reading of Bob's dilemma and mentioning this post also gets a free CD. At this point with Kindle Unlimited 7,000 people have read Forgotten. I am carrying 3 other books but there of course for Charles Davis. 

INCREDIBLE! 7,000. Ranking: India/Canada/U.S./U.K./other countries

[Bobsr]

Hi John;

I would love to come to the show, however, I am currently in Tennessee, and we are battling My Wife's cancer so I'll probably miss the show. But I would certainly enjoy having a copy of your book so I'll order it from the net. Thanks for the offer. I don't think of myself as an SMA as I truly don't hoard anything except base metals Silver and gold. Most of my collections are because I like them or their history. I don't collect types or series. I like 16th & 17th century history and I have accumulated a small collection of those years coins. I am partial to U.S. coins but I think my favorite is a half penny 1773 State of Virginia copper that is British.  It joins both Continents at a time that was so formative for our country. 

Bob Sr CEO Fieldtechs