Share Your Research

[leeg]

Hi All,

I've been wondering how many forum members are doing research on the coin series of their choice.

I've been working on the Early Classic Commemorative series for a book project.

I started my project because forum members like to read about, and said I should do a book.

I started my book in 2009 when I worked at David Lawrence Rare Coins (DLRC).

Here is one item of research that I found:

The Stone Mountain Confederate Monumental Association has announced that President Coolidge has accepted as a gift the first coin struck of the Confederate memorial issue. The first coin struck January 21, the 101st anniversary of Stonewall Jackson. The gift was mounted on a plate of gold mined in Georgia. Officials of the association journeyed to Washington to make the presentation. It was announced that Secretary Mellon would be presented with the second coin. ‘The Reading Eagle,’ Reading, PA, May 29, 1925.

 

You didn't really think I'd give you the image right? 

Please share a little of your own research here, TIA.

[Just Bob]

I am not writing any books, but I do like to research the issuers of the tokens that I collect. I also research the towns, some of which  no longer exist, in which those businesses were located. 

 Here is one interesting tidbit:

The Gus Stevens Supper Club, formerly in Biloxi, Mississippi, which issued a $5 token, was the site of the last performance of actress Jayne Mansfield. She was killed in a car accident on her way from Biloxi to New Orleans. I actually spoke with the nephew of Gus Stevens, who was asked to be her driver that night, but was too tired, so the job was given to another employee, Ronnie Harrison, who was also killed in the crash.

[physics-fan3.14]

I am not currently writing a book, but I won't rule it out in the future. I'm currently reading and learning more of the history behind the Moroccan coinage I collect - particularly the period of French occupation around the turn of the 20th century. It is a fascinating history, full of warlords and huge egos, military campaigns and pomp and circumstance. The one I'm reading now is basically a journalists travelogue from the time he spent in the country in the 1880s, including time with the rulers of the time. 

I would eventually like to write a book in English on this coinage, but I'm a long ways off from that. There is a book in Spanish printed in the 1970's, and there is a book in French which is pretty much the equivalent of our Red Book, focused on the coinage of all of the French colonies.... but no books in English. 

[numisport]

I'm not even slightly qualified to author a book but would like to see more research on 1950-1964 proof coins. I would like to see a die pair study that would further explain relative rarity of certain dates in early die state. I put this idea to Roger Burdette not too long ago and he said that mint records for proof dies may not exist for 1950 and beyond. Due to huge numbers of proofs made after 1955 this information may not be too valuable but for 1950-52 I think die summary could be an important study for me. Rick Tomaska has a fine book including images of die states from fresh 2 sided heavy cameo to fully brilliant. However even though there are several contributors to his work I don't know of any other available books on the subject.

[Christiandc94]

In my personal experience, I’ve found large amounts of information on famous rare gold coins/common dates from my favorite mint (New Orleans) for $2.5,$5,$10,$20 gold pieces but not very much information on less common dates. As I’m compiling my collection, I’m constantly looking for pieces on the market that are undervalued/overlooked and it has been a struggle finding information on. I’m a collector of strickly U.S gold coinage since I’ve found it to be challenging finding reliable information since all the sources are from the late ‘70’s and somewhat outdated.

[leeg]

Thanks all for adding to this post.  Interesting to me due to the variety of coins to research.

I've also been working on a chapter around early commemoratives that failed in the House or Senate and also by Presidential Veto.

 

[Mohawk]

Well.....I do a lot of research for my main collecting pursuit on here, but it's not necessarily about the coins themselves.....it's about the animals on the coins.  My main pursuit is my thematic Custom Set Avians: The Dinosaurs Among Us and if you read the descriptions of the coins in the set, you will learn a lot about birds and other dinosaurs along with their shared evolutionary heritage.  It's a way to combine two things that I really love and to continue researching about birds and other dinosaurs.  As far as collecting goes, I'm not really much of a series guy.  I tried that on long ago and a little bit again recently and it just doesn't hold my interest for very long, so I've pretty much stopped pursuing that mode of collecting.  On the other hand, my thematic set has held my interest for over a year and it continues to fascinate and captivate me......maybe there's a book about thematic collecting in my future someday, who knows?

Anyhow, it's been interesting to see the responses from the community on this and to add my own perspectives.  Such is the essence of scholarly discourse!

~Tom

[leeg]

19 hours ago, Mohawk said:

Well.....I do a lot of research for my main collecting pursuit on here, but it's not necessarily about the coins themselves.....it's about the animals on the coins.  My main pursuit is my thematic Custom Set Avians: The Dinosaurs Among Us and if you read the descriptions of the coins in the set, you will learn a lot about birds and other dinosaurs along with their shared evolutionary heritage.  It's a way to combine two things that I really love and to continue researching about birds and other dinosaurs.  As far as collecting goes, I'm not really much of a series guy.  I tried that on long ago and a little bit again recently and it just doesn't hold my interest for very long, so I've pretty much stopped pursuing that mode of collecting.  On the other hand, my thematic set has held my interest for over a year and it continues to fascinate and captivate me......maybe there's a book about thematic collecting in my future someday, who knows?

Anyhow, it's been interesting to see the responses from the community on this and to add my own perspectives.  Such is the essence of scholarly discourse!

~Tom

Hi Tom.  Thanks for your thoughts.  

[DWLange]

I'm currently researching and writing the third volume in my series on coin album publishers and their product lines. Volume Three will cover Whitman folders and albums.

I haven't yet decided how far to take my cataloging---whether to stop at 1996 when Western Publishing sold its coin products division or to go up to 2003 when the current ownership began. That may depend on how big the book gets.

[leeg]

I understand that Dave.

I'm sure my book is over 1,000 pages.

[physics-fan3.14]

19 minutes ago, leeg said:

I understand that Dave.

I'm sure my book is over 1,00 pages.

I'd love to see that much info.... but I'd rather that be in 3 volumes for practical purposes!

[leeg]

22 hours ago, physics-fan3.14 said:

I'd love to see that much info.... but I'd rather that be in 3 volumes for practical purposes!

Yeah. I'm leaning that way myself.

 

[leeg]

Just wanted to a little something to this thread:

This is Agustus Lukeman's vision of Stone Mountain after Borglum was fired.

[leeg]

[leeg]

I'm currently rebuilding my 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition Chapter after a hard drive failure.  I know, I know, backup.