An interesting new Classic Head Gold Book 1 1

[jtryka]

So a few weeks ago, the John Reich Collectors Society held a virtual meeting via Zoom, and one of the featured speakers was Darly Haynor, the author of a new book on classic head gold coins entitled, "United States Classic Gold Coins 1834-39" which presents a detailed analysis of the various die marriages for Classic Head quarter eagles and half eagles of that period.  For someone like me who collects bust half dollars by die marriage, this was an interesting new book and new avenue for my nascent collection (or perhaps accumulation) of Classic Head half eagles.  Even among my small collection, I found duplicates, but it was also a new dimension of collecting this sleepy series.

Perhaps the most interesting discovery was on the first coin of this series I ever purchased, which was in a lot of two 1836 "sea salvaged" coins in ANACS AU details holders that I bought maybe 20 years ago.  I kept the most attractive one and sold the other, but the one I kept turned out to be an HM-1 die marriage, rated R.6 and the rarest die marriage I own in the series!  If any of you are interested in this series, I highly recommend this book, available at Wizard Coin Supply.

[Zebo]

I have not found the time to start reading my Copy yet. Hopefully one of these days. Too many books to read - so little time. I bought the deluxe edition - looks great in my library. 

[physics-fan3.14]

This is a fairly new book, right? Came out last year? 

I've heard good things about it, but as that series is well outside of my collecting area, I've not gotten the book. 

[RWB]

Excellent. The standard for a very long time to come.

[Zebo]

3 hours ago, jtryka said:

So a few weeks ago, the John Reich Collectors Society held a virtual meeting via Zoom, and one of the featured speakers was Darly Haynor, the author of a new book on classic head gold coins entitled, "United States Classic Gold Coins 1834-39" which presents a detailed analysis of the various die marriages for Classic Head quarter eagles and half eagles of that period.  For someone like me who collects bust half dollars by die marriage, this was an interesting new book and new avenue for my nascent collection (or perhaps accumulation) of Classic Head half eagles.  Even among my small collection, I found duplicates, but it was also a new dimension of collecting this sleepy series.

Perhaps the most interesting discovery was on the first coin of this series I ever purchased, which was in a lot of two 1836 "sea salvaged" coins in ANACS AU details holders that I bought maybe 20 years ago.  I kept the most attractive one and sold the other, but the one I kept turned out to be an HM-1 die marriage, rated R.6 and the rarest die marriage I own in the series!  If any of you are interested in this series, I highly recommend this book, available at Wizard Coin Supply.

 

Based upon your post - I decided to look up the die marriage on mine. The book is very easy to use, very good illustrations and logically laid out. It is moving up on my read list. 

[jtryka]

17 hours ago, physics-fan3.14 said:

This is a fairly new book, right? Came out last year? 

I've heard good things about it, but as that series is well outside of my collecting area, I've not gotten the book. 

That's right, and I think it won a numismatic literary award, though I can't recall which one!

[Henri Charriere]

["Die marriage" is a new one on me.  The Oxford Dictionary (of humorous quotations) says, Marriage isn't a word...it's a sentence!"  Your interests evidently extend up into the rarefied strata of numismatics. I wish you the best of luck!]

Edited September 30, 2020 by Quintus Arrius
Missing word

[DWLange]

This book is new and won the Numismatic Literary Guild's Book of the Year Award. It was a close call, as Daryl's book just barely made the NLG's May 1, 2020 deadline for entries. Due to the Covid-19 shutdown, the author was unable to obtain printed copies for submission until the very last moment. That was a serious problem for many entrants this year, and the judges had to work with electronic submissions in some cases, because the hard copies were under lockdown in some business or institution!

[RWB]

FYI - I had the pleasure of working with Daryl on overall concepts, research, structure and other kinds of "basics" of the book. We had multiple working lunches and library meetings to exchange ideas and share some of my many "goofs" in writing and publishing numismatic books.

That Zebo found the book "...very easy to use, very good illustrations and logically laid out" is a credit to Daryl and his attention to detail. His approach included walking through the content as if he were a user, not the author. He also relied heavily on original research materials to get to the facts, and then let them tell the story while using his hands-on collection knowledge to analyze, understand and communicate meaningful results.

[physics-fan3.14]

3 hours ago, RWB said:

His approach included walking through the content as if he were a user, not the author.

This is one of the most important concepts for authors of reference books. Write the book you want to read. 

[RWB]

Agreed - and very few numismatic authors do this. Some are so taken by their "genius" that they forget their readers and write both FOR and TO themselves. Most seem to make lists and have them printed.

[GoldFinger1969]

On 10/1/2020 at 8:43 PM, physics-fan3.14 said:

This is one of the most important concepts for authors of reference books. Write the book you want to read. 

Bingo.....I couldn't put down Roger's book on Saints.  Took a long time to get through it, but it was never tedious. 

[Zebo]

8 minutes ago, GoldFinger1969 said:

Bingo.....I couldn't put down Roger's book on Saints.  Took a long time to get through it, but it was never tedious. 

Time to expand your horizons and read Daryl's book??? Or maybe Schein's book on the Gold Indians?