Important Info Concering The 1859 Cent Postings Please Read!

The turn in this thread has been quite interesting. I'm a member of both the RCNA and ANA. I have borrowed books from both libraries, they come right to my door. I greatly look forward to the publications from each as well as other periodical literature that comes into the house either weekly or monthly. Interestingly,in the Jan edition of Coin World, there is an article by Steve Roach, Editor in Chief of that publication. The article is Seven Lessons in Collecting. His after the few introductory paragraphs, his first lesson is investing in your education first. He quotes Q. David Bowers "Building a working library is considered ideal by many coin buyers, but reality is that only a small percentage of people do so".

What you learn about coins from reading far surpasses what you will ever learn from a forum, even one with lots of banter like this one. The forum is great to start, but it is lacking the deep understanding that comes from reading and exploring your hobby through books.

When you walk into a coin store or walk the bourse in a show, it is comforting to know you are approaching the environment from a knowledge perspective. You will make better purchases, you take more pride in your collection and you continually minimize your potential mistakes. Knowledge is key. Don't short change yourself in that aspect of your collecting.

Dan, Fourmack, Pacific and others,

I do basically agree with you. However it applies only to collectors who have personal reasons and interest to know.

YES, true, knowledge is key...to making a smart purchase!
And "smarts" which is sometimes just common sense, do not come in books, from any library.

Is it important to know minute details of how the item you wish to purchase actually became that item?
Personally I am primarily interested in Queen Victoria Canadian coins only, 1 Cent to 50 cents, including provincials.
I am the proud owner of a very large number of these coins, some of them in super grades, raw and graded. Many of them are normal and many are interesting and extremely scarce Varieties.(I also have other (some scarce) Canadian coins. But my priority are Vicky coins)
I love finding known and unknown varieties in all denominations.
It does not really interest me HOW the coin was made and or what problems they experienced striking them etc. Or how a variety came to be. It does not matter to me if it was struck sideways, upside down, backwards, double or triple, with a worn die or polished die or whatever. Or a combination of all the above.
Only rarity, condition and a coins properties when I see it and possibly want to buy it, matters to me.
I am only interested what I can purchase, have, or can hold in my hand. A coins history also does not matter to me, unless it is for authentication, and I would never pay a premium for it.
I am also not interested in die combinations unless a certain combination represents a recognized value and is a known variety.
Further, I am not just a collector. I must see a coin as an investment. Otherwise my 1st hobby would be a very rich and expensive hobby. All coins I ever purchased were bought as a collectors item hoping for a future improvement in value.

Now gents, please tell me what books in which library are suitable for my type of a collector.

I am absolutely convinced that the majority of members here, and collectors outside the forum, have collections that are based on very similar criteria as mine is.

And, here comes a cruncher question:

What can a book tell you about a subject if a collector is only interested in the actual physical item and not in it's history and / or the "maybe's or maybe not's" of how it became the end product?

47: It sounds like you collect coins that are based upon someone else doing the research (starting through books)required to get a certain variety or type recognized, published, and then talked enough about so that the retail price goes up. Even 15 years ago, if you looked at Trends or Charlton, all you would have found is essentially a date listing of (for example) Large Cents. The only varieties that were listed were the '59 DP's # 1&2, the 9/8 and the 3 types of 1891 (LL/LD, LL/SD, & SL/SD. 20 years before that, you wouldn't even have had the DP#1 or 2, but rather the narrow 9 over 8 and the re-engraved narrow 9 with the current 9/8 being called the wide 9.

The availability of written information grows by leaps and bounds every year. Because of some work on large cents done by a small cadre of interested collectors on the old CCRS website, varieties and scarcities of certain obverse types and marriages got published and recognized and now form an intrical part of what we are discussing here. 15 years ago you could walk onto a bourse and find 1884 Obv 1 cents for just what an Obv 2 was because no one knew any different. Likewise for the '91 Obverse types and all the other 1859 "irregularities". If you don't understand the "how" or "why" of a coin, then you really won't understand the "what". That small group of people saw that certain coins weren't like others and started putting populations and minds together to come up with scarcities and explanations how they came to be. If you don't understand every step that goes into the making of the working die and how the working die actually produces a coin from the strike onto the planchet, then you'll never comprehend or recognize when you have found something truly out of the ordinary.

Some of the people that started this off are right here on this site, at least 4 for sure. They also got ICCS, Charlton, and Trends to add DP's 3-5, the '59 TP, the 9/6, the '82 Obv 1, the '84 Obv 1,the '86 Obv 1a, & the '91 & '92 Obv's. All this was done just to help other collectors, since not a single one was a dealer. It's called 'giving back to the hobby'. They have all written books, papers or articles about what they found, both individually or collectively. All the information is right out there, essentially for free to whoever wants it and all they have to do is READ. If people want to just transpose some dollar value to what they have in a drawer, then they aren't collectors, they are investors. Unless a person is a newbie or someone who just wants to find out about grampa's coin, they won't get much help from me if they don't want to do some work for themselves. Coin sites are for "sharing" information, not to be on the receiving end of gimme, gimme, gimme some information 'cause I'm too busy to look it up.

Oakie,
Your personal opinion and judgment about my collecting preferences is purely based on speculation on your part.

I am glad you vented your thoughts and let us all know what some members here, including you, accomplished for the benefit of us un-knowledgeable collectors. You did your part for your very own reasons, whatever these might be.

Just ask yourself this: In your last post, why did you need to go into details of the large cents which you guys "discovered or worked on"? (for lack of other words or expressing it better)

Your response, even though directly addressed to me, has absolutely nothing to do with my earlier post and fails to address some of my questions regarding myself not needing or wanting a numismatic library which goes beyond the basics in numismatic publications. ( basics is a given)
My collecting interest is very specific and looking at numismatics as a whole, is very, very small. The information I need at times is available on the open market in many places, and I usually find exactly what I am looking for. Why should I have a library with a bunch of old books?

It does NOT matter at all to me who the authors and contributors are in any book or publication.
If it serves my purpose, I buy it, pay for it, and use it. I do not need anything else because others think so.
And if that suits my collecting preferences, so be it.

It takes very little skill and knowledge to write a large cheque to purchase a rare coin, but it does take a great deal of skill and knowledge to know WHY you wrote that cheque in the first place.
@47P7 there is definitely one numismatic book that for you is required reading and is indeed available from my vast library is "The Expert's Guide to Collecting & Investing IN Rare Coins" Q. David Bowers Whitman Publishing. Might help with getting a grasp on what we are trying to share here and elsewhere. It includes amongst other topics the seven lessons of collecting mentioned in a previous post.

How much for the 3 books please ?
cheers Don

SPP,
sorry my comments were just made in the context of my post.
I never expected anyone to come back about it.
should have known better

okiecoiner..I have the cure..."Just say the word"..and I'll try to make it right ..and..I'll bring my favorite nurse along..