Additional US Gold Dollar Purchasing Questions...

Ugh. You're banging your head against the wall. Having collected Gold Dollars very seriously (at one time #7 ranked NGC complete gold dollars date/mm)....please pay attention to what I'm telling you here. BOOKS should be what you buy FIRST. Dave Bowers (Whitman) book on gold dollars. David Akers book on Gold Dollars. Learn the odd traits of these coins and how rarity/survivor numbers impact the series. Learn which examples circulated and which did not. Lonesome John and the Fivaz book on counterfeit gold are also needed. As to genuine/fake...Give Up! As others say, buy these slabbed. An excellent grade level is AU55. NGC has loads of great coins graded MS61. Once you learn the various rarity levels you understand why 1862 is common, and 1863 is a great rarity. You'll learn strike characteristics that allow a 1859 C to look like garbage and still be perfect MS. As to type 3s, they are delightful and extremely beautiful coins. Many rarities lurk here, 56D, 61D. 1875.... But again lots of counterfeits. This is hard to fathom but an expert can usually tell a fake 3 feet away instantly. Color says a lot. !Get Those Books!!

Hey, ambro, THANKS SO MUCH for the advice. I much appreciate your expertise. I will certainly buy those books. Along the lines of buying books, I just ordered two books, for Christmas:

The Official American Numismatic Association Grading Standards for United States Coins, by Ken Bressett, and,
United States Gold Coins: An Illustrated History, by David Bowers.

While neither are the ones you mentioned, they are "start" in terms of me learning a little more about all of this. The other titles you offered will go in my " Amazon shopping cart" for purchase in the near future.

On the Akers book, are you talking about the "Analysis of Auction Records"?

THANK YOU!

Steve