Quote:I'd like to learn more about my favorite coin: the
Two Cent Piece. What books / reference materials are there that I can acquire to learn more. I have The Authoritative Reference On
Two Cent Coins by Kevin Flynn, but I'd like additional reference books to read.
There really aren't many others out there. I'm working on a book on Small Motto Proofs and patterns. Don't know if it will ever get completed.
Frank Leone has the best two books on the series in my opinion.
His first is: "Longacre's
Two Cent Piece die varieties and errors" it was published in a sprial plastic comb binding in December 1991
His next and final book is "Longacre's
Two Cent Piece: 1864 Attribution Guide" Published in a metal spiral bound book in 1997.
His plans were to create a book on each date and list all the die pairings, that was the impetus behind my own 2nd line collection. He never made the money from book sales and can't afford to finish them was the last word he mentioned to me many years ago. Sad.
The final book is by Myron Kliman and has no photos only some line drawing, everything in it has largely been superseded by Kevin and Frank's books.
Frank's books are long out of print and very expensive if you can find them. I do have extra copies but they would not be cheap at all. (Not a sales pitch, seriously it would take close to a half a grand for me to part with both books).
Kevin Flynn wrote a first book before his Authoritative book, which is cheap but adds nothing that isn't in the book you have already.
Frank did also put out a newsletter called the "2 Cent Times" in the early 1990's I have a complete set of them and am trying to find a person trustworthy to bind them for me into a hardbound book. Frank had a couple of copies last time we emailed, but no complete set. He also wrote a few columns in CONECA's Errorscope magazine detailing new die pairings. There have been a handful of articles written in magazines over the years but nothing new is added to what information is in Frank and Kevin's books, beyond the few Frank Leone article's in Errorscope.
If you really want copies of some of the various magazine articles, PM me privately and I'll see what I can gather up to send you. Most I have scanned as PDF files in my reference notes folder.
As you might have guessed I am pretty nuts myself over the
Two Cent Piece and it has by far taken over most of my research and collecting habits over the past 3-4 decades. There was a time I was heavy into
VAM dollars and lately I've gravitated towards Colonial and early American coinage, but since they are so expensive my next logical and so far really exciting and fun turn has been into British Provincial Tokens ie: Conder Tokens.
These I can get multiple 1790's coins and tokens in proof, proof like and uncirculated conditions, for a pittance of what a poor or about good 1793 large cent would cost.
While I still actively collect
Two Cent Pieces (by die variety) I am finding after 35 years collecting them it's getting harder and harder to find examples I don't already have, though upgrades show up often, the cost has really risen on the higher end examples.
It's a great short collection that can be completed in short order in fairly high grade both business strikes and proofs, even adding all of the major varieties (One exception, is of course, the Small Motto Proof).
"Buy the Book Before You Buy the Coin" - Aaron R. Feldman - "And read it" - Me 2013!
ANA Life Member #3288 in good standing since 1981, ANS, Early American Coppers Member (EAC), Colonial Coin Collectors Club member (C4), Conder Token Collector Club member (CTCC), Civil War Token Society (CWTS) member, Liberty Seated Collectors Club (LSCC) & Numismatic Bibliomania Society member (NBS), USMex, Member in good standing, 2¢ variety collector.
See my want page:
http://goccf.com/t/140440