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 Replies: 26 / Views: 2,615 |
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Rest in Peace
United States
9104 Posts |
Old saying: Buy the book before the coin.
Back in the 60s, Gary Philips, the coin dealer from Athens, had a policy. Once a month, he'd buy a book on numismatics, preferably in some obscure area, and read it.
As a result, he could find interesting bargains that most people didn't know about. Sort of the original cherrypicker.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3540 Posts |
Archraz - nobody would pass up the deal. From early 60's to 2008.
Doubled up on a couple of mine, so I will be selling off the spares soon.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
842 Posts |
Thanks, Archraz! The prices inside are the market value of the coins in 1832. Naturally all of the coins carry a princely sum, even the ones that we consider common today. The main reason is that ancient coins were very hard to come by then, due to the fact that the only way to find them was to dig them up by chance (since no technology existed to detect them).
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
I'm actually doing the reverse of everyone. Getting rid of excessive books of all kinds. Due to old age and seeing what happens to excessive STUFF laying around that no one else wants, I've made myself New Years resolutions to start getting rid of STUFF at a minimum of one item a day. I still have my complete Red Book collection though but a real lot of just books are slowing going out. A neighbor of mine and his wife both recently passed away. He was a airplane collector and had a real lot of books on planes. Relatives came in and massively tossed almost everything into the garbage and every book, magazine, article on planes went. Seeing this and being old made me think of where all my stuff will end up so starting to downsize myself. |
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Rest in Peace
United States
9104 Posts |
If they bothered to check, they might have had thoudsands of dollars in books. I bought a stack of model train magazines for five bucks, sold several hundred dollars out of it.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
842 Posts |
We live in a throwaway society. I feel bad for future generations, because no one will be able to collect anything interesting and valuable! Our generations will have chucked it all!
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
3499 Posts |
Quote:
We live in a throwaway society. I feel bad for future generations, because no one will be able to collect anything interesting and valuable! Our generations will have chucked it all! Very true. In fact, I have heard stories of coin collections being thrown out because "those coins were so old that there was no way that they could still be spent" or "those coins were from other countries, so they must be worthless." Books on numismatics also are subject to such treatment since many coin dealers refuse to buy old books when entire collections are bought from collectors and book dealers often don't know what to do with them. They presume that numismatics is such an esoteric field that the books would never sell. But on occasion this assumption can lead to great deals on books in book shops where the owner understands the value of the tomes to numismatists. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
842 Posts |
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Rest in Peace
United States
9104 Posts |
Try spending a 2ยข piece sometime. Hard enuf to spend a current $2 bill.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3499 Posts |
biggfredd- I actually spend $2 bills all the time. It is dollar coins, especially the Presidential dollars, which often are difficult to spend. The poorly designed reverse with the statue of liberty and the dollar sign causes many store clerks to assume that you are trying to use some sort of token or casino chip. But back to the topic at hand. In general, have you guys found that most dealers do not want to buy or sell books on coins? |
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Moderator
 United States
189120 Posts |
Quote:
I have heard stories of coin collections being thrown out because "those coins were so old that there was no way that they could still be spent" or "those coins were from other countries, so they must be worthless."  |
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Rest in Peace
United States
9104 Posts |
Coin books are a specialty, like CWT or So-called $. A dealer who doesn't know the market can't give you a good price.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
Quote:
If they bothered to check, they might have had thoudsands of dollars in books. I bought a stack of model train magazines for five bucks, sold several hundred dollars out of it. First thing I thought of too. If I was younger I would have rummaged their garbage for all those plane books. Many were from at least the 40's and 50's. Magazines, articles, pamphlets all on planes and dumped into the garbage. Most people that know little to nothing about a hobby assume it's all junk. I too could believe this happens with all sorts of items when someone passes away. A sort of funny thing they told me as they cleaned out the house was they were also dumping bags of potting soil into the garbage. That too was just to old to be any good. |
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Rest in Peace
United States
9104 Posts |
Ever watch Jay (Leno) Walking? Check it on youtube. Amazing how ignorant people are.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3499 Posts |
biggfredd- Yes, many are quite ignorant, but even the ignorant enjoy turning perceived trash into money. While I find the throwing out of literature to be quite a poor financial decision, it also just seems like a waste since the owner/ person throwing it out is not making any money, yet others who would enjoy the books are denied access.
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Replies: 26 / Views: 2,615 |
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First Page
Posted 06/12/2011 11:31 am
