New Collector Help? Best Coin Book?

The Mega Red Book is great for history and background along with having the content of the normal Red Book. However, prices in the Red Book are always inflated as opposed to reality -- and always have been.

Yet the hobby has always seen it as THE book. It lists mintages of each coin also as well as having in hand a list of every coin made in a typical set. However - all of this can also be found online.

However, for pricing - use http://numismedia.com/ and click the collector's guide. For up to date prices, look on ebay with the sold option.




You found it when you posted to this forum

We are here to help. There is no such thing as a dumb question.

Now, to be a bit more specific. I would say the best thing to do would be to do some browsing here and online to find what seems to be something you would like.

If you like, for example, Kennedy halves, then you can do specific searches online (or ask here!) for help in determining which ones to keep an eye out for, look online or in the Red Book for the low mintage ones (usually the keys to a set are lower mintage), etc. to get a feel for the series.

The hobby is very broad. You could also just collect what appeals to you until you find some are that you want to specialize in.

If you see something online you are thinking about buying, you can post a pic of the coin in the appropriate thread here and ask opinions. There are many people here more than willing to help newbies. Glad to have you aboard!

To the Forum.

Also what would be the cause of denting? I have a coin where the mint mark is stamped it is indented in the coin

If you look into it you can buy a one or two revision Red Book for a lot cheaper and only real thing missing would be the latest years of issue. Mega Red Book is overpriced for new collectors. And if you go to the Whitman Publishers web site you would see a lot of books on coins. Then go to Amazon web site where they are cheaper.

BadDog beat me to it! I got the 2017 last year right before Christmas for under 10.00 at Ollies. I never would have bought it otherwise.

As to the MM in your pic, you can see on the "head" of the P where it took a hit while sometime in circulation. The rest of the dents are also just circulation wear. It is not hard to dent a coin. Sometimes you will find small parallel ridges on a coin surface where one one coin hit another while they were in a mint bag.

As to MD vs a real Doubled Die, do a search here on this forum. There is a LOT of reading material and some great illustrations. it does take us all some practice.

Also, if you are interested in varieties, go to varietyvista.com There you will find e-books online with pictures of many of the varieties, DDOs, DDR,s etc. for most series.