My Numismatic Library

I had a dealer tell me to just go on-line instead of getting the actual books, my first was 1982 Krause, 8th edition, he did steer me to Amazon thou since he just didn't have them in stock. I have old red and black books too but Christmas 1991 I think I got the 1992 Krause, may have been 1992 when I got it, long time ago. The turn of the century was not good for me, long story and I don't even like thinking about it, so I'm not going to type it, but basically I was not able to get the 2002 book

I went to Amazon and found a 1974 2nd edition, wanted '72 1st but no luck yet since I was born in 1974 I guess it's more precious to me personally than the '72 would have been. Since my whole family is a bunch of book nuts I have tons of books of all kinds... a whole 10x20 storage unit FULL!, no joke I'd take pics but it's too cold to go out for a few minutes just for that. Yes maybe this post should be all over the place, you don't need electricity or a massive computer infrastructure just to open a book, if this all goes away over night all we will have is the books (just realized I didn't put the bank note book I got a few months back into my catalog) I use ANT movie catalog to organize tons of things, I like the interface and love the search-ability and categorizations



EDIT: also the images on the internet are different depending on resolution, magnification, screen size, the manuals have ACTUAL Life Sized Images.

Good quality book references are an essential tool for ANY museum.
I cannot think of a reason why a serious coin collector or numismatist should not have the same policy. That is despite the very great help that the Internet can provide.

Over the decades I have sold large parts of my collection when I was forced to, to raise needed cash, but I have NEVER sold any of my books.

The dealer I was talking about was helpful and had the new books for way too much money and I forgot to mention I wanted to have the Krause from 2002 and 2012, he didn't have them and pointed me to Amazon, I figured every ten years I'll get the new ones, Anniversary each decade of my collection.

By comparison to those mentioned above, I have a numismatic briefcase.

I have a couple of Whitman Red Books of US coins, the Whitman Red Book: a Guide Book of Civil War Tokens, a guide to the new Presidential dollars, and 3 Krause World Coin CDs: 1701-1800, 1801-1900, & 1901-2000.


I also have the internet and most importantly CCF, which contains (through its members) knowledge of all countries for all time

I have the intention of doing a review later, but I need to compare it to a Fuld book before an actual review.

But my impression of The Guide Book of CWT it is very good. I had been attributing my CWT using online images, but made corrections after re-attributing using the Guide. It is laid out well, easy to find something if you're looking for something specific, or as a CWT novice it had lots of info about CWT use and their history that I didn't know. It lists die pairings, has color images for attributing, and its less textbook more non-fiction novel (I guess).

Wonderful distinction there, a library is a nice thing to have but not very portable, easy quick reference is great and this place is wonderful, knowledge is power no matter where it comes from.

My notes on current circulation coins of the world have been printed in a book form by my club for its members.

The title is "Handbook of Current Circulation Coins of the World".

Keeping in view that the print order was more than the number of members and despite the fact that some members bought additional copies to gift it to their friends and associates, there are still some copies left.

In order to let other numismatists have the benefit of this knowledge compiled with the help of members, it has been now decided to offer these copies to select group to buy.

I thought I'd update this with the 11 books I've purchased since January.

The Authoritative Reference on Seated dollars by Flynn

The Authoritative Reference on Liberty Seated half dimes by Flynn

The Authoritative Reference on Mercury dimes by Flynn

The Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Liberty Seated quarters by Briggs (I spied this book on ebay and pounced)

The United States $3 Gold Pieces 1854-1889 by Bowers and Winter

U.S. Liberty Head $20 Double Eagles: The Gilded Age of Coinage by Bowers

Illegal Tender: Gold, Greed & The Mystery of the Lost 1933 Double Eagle by Tripp

King of Eagles The Most Remarkable Coin Ever Produced by the US Mint by Albanese

The Secret History of the First U.S. Mint: How Frank H. Stewart Destroyed & Then Saved a National Treasure by Augsburger & Orosz

History of the First United States Mint by Stewart (thanks to Westcoin I picked this reprint for $12)

Grading Guide for Early American Copper Coins by Eckberg, Fagaly, Fuoss and Williams

There are plenty of books I want to acquire, the hunt continues. -MV