Can anybody suggest any good books on errors/varieties for American coins especially pennies.I have a large amount to search and would like to buy some good books.
For cent varieties I recommend coppercoins.com. For other varieties, variety vista. (Second choice because of lack of images, but has descriptions.) Another site I use is from John Wexler is doubleddie.com Studying these sites can give you a lot more information on what to search for.
The problem with websites is 1) They're far few & in between for this topic. I've only found 2 and one of them is Wikipedia (which comes with a basket full of misinformation because any fool can edit it.) Which brings me to 2) reliability of information
Books usually have a fact-checking process before publication & include credible references. That being said, I've found 1 site that's pretty good concerning double varieties. http://doubleddie.com/ Edit: Coop beat me to the punch! Many thanks Coop. I'm seriously considering becoming a site supporter. Not gonna lie, procuring a copy of your DVD is a big motivator.
I personally enjoy the, "Strike It Rich" book. While it doesn't have as many listings as "Cherry Pickers", it has a good variety to keep the average coin collector busy. Pretty good pictures too. Between the websites listed above the "Strike It Rich" book, I feel like it keeps me busy. :)
I use both. There are some things in the books that aren't on the various websites and the reverse is true. You can get a broader perspective on what to look for using both. I find the websites to be more complete and comprehensive but as noted, some sites are better than others. However, it takes a bit of surfing to find sites that support various interests you might have (double dies, die clashes, trails, rotations, etc.). Just less convenient that you need to keep bouncing through sites rather than flipping pages in a book.
For me, I don't mind. Flipping around and reading, reading, reading helps the collector establish depth in the hobby. I think it's essential.
Hi penny mann - I have Strike it Rich and the Cherrypicker's Guide Volume 1. I got these after using the various sites (see John's link to a thread with the list of sites he (we) use regularly). If I had to state it boldly, I wasn't overly impressed with the texts, but I think it's because I had already gained a decent body of knowledge from all the sites and research I had done prior. I think the books would be more meaningful to the new Variety collector than for the avid collector. This said, however, there are several older, out of print texts that from what I've read here are very solid resources for experienced variety hunters.
Note: I found things in both texts that I hadn't found on the web or if I had, it did not have pictures to accompany the textual information. To that extent, I was pleased. Was it worth the price? Probably so, but I'm thinking folks more experienced than me would probably feel otherwise.
Just noticed you are a neighbor to the north. I've been accumulating a bunch of Canadian coins to check for varieties. I know of at least one site that has some detail and pictures of errors/varieties. I'll make it back one day to sort through my small hoard.
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Posted 10/03/2014 07:18 am
