what are your most-used reference books?

Geoman

In an attempt to please the coin Gods, I want to "buy the book, before the coin" and was wondering what are some of your favorite and best-used reference books out there. Obviously, there are different ones for different series. The ones I have now are "The Red Book" by Y.S. Yeoman, and Photograde. I mainly am interested in Walking Liberty Halves, Morgan Dollars, Liberty Head Nickels. Also, how about one general book for world coins. I am not into world coins much, but have a few here and there, and would like a general book for reference on these world coins. Finally, I was slightly disappointed with Photograde. The pictures are B/W and not really sharp in contrast. What other grading books are out there? Any grading books written specifically for grading MS grades of Walkers and Morgans?

-Geoman

P.S. If anyone has "too many" reference books sitting on their shelf, I would be happy to take some off your hands. I would be willing to pay a small donation, plus shipping.

michael

well all the photograde coins are overgraded so make sure you do not use the book when you buy.....lol now the brown and dunn book get that for the grading of circ stuff and use it in conjunction with the photograde!

the ana guide might be helpful maybe

also for me i love the internet and i like to use the internet as a reference

for example www.ecoinage.com for a free coin price auction search no sign in three stars

www.teletrade.com just sign up and you can do a coin price search with photos for over a year back!!!!!!!!!! 5 stars

www.heritagecoin.com preminant auction records but you must sign up and it is free like teletrade they are great! you find many coin values and real selling price auction records with teletrade you have to be careful but if you are smart you can figure teletrade out1

also the free ngccoin.com pop report that is helpful also the www.numismedia.com price guide and of course pcgs.com prices but with these two you have to undersdtand waht you are looking at and subtract or sometimes!! add accourdingly like with the high grade proof brffs 36 and the ms 67 three cent nicks for an example!

especially if it is a monster great hi end finest toned coin likewsie for early commems!

and dealer sites you gain lots of knowledge in the descriptinos if you read between the lines and separate the wheat from the chaff so to speak and you gewt real offering prices weather they sell for that is another story!

so for me my book in the wild and crazy internet

well breens book the pcgs pop report book and breens proof book are good ton have if those types of coins that you are into but evewn with these above books you have to understand and know how to read ingbetween the lines so the ultimate book so to speak is my mind with all the stuff i have accumulated over the past 35 or so years!

sincerely michael

stman

The pcgs coin grading and counterfeit detection is decent.

Has a lot of color photograghs of mint state and proof coins. and good descriptions. But what I see in the book and what I see in the market are two separate things.

stman

michael

thanks stman!!!!!!! yes yes buy the pcgs coin book like stman says it is the greatest overall book in my opinino you can own yes yes yes!

i have one copy and i got a free grading in the backso it cost me nothing and it is worth its weight in gold if i had to only choose one book it would be that!

dorkkarl

realistically, my overton book is #1, and the redbook is #2! that's in terms of how often i actually look something up in it.

K S

Trime

Do a search for prior threads on this topic as there are lots of favorites listed.

nwcs

My most used reference material is PCGS's Grading Standards and the ANA guide to counterfeit/alteration detection. For now till I feel like buying something else.

kryptonitecomics

ANA Grading standards. Don't get me wrong, I know how to grade the series I collect, but when I jump into a new series that I am not familiar with it sure comes in handy!!!!

Pushkin

My checkbook.


The Cherrypickers Guide
Snow's series of reference books on FEs and IHCs
Flying Eagle and Indian Cent Die Varieties - by Steve & Flynn

cladking

Krause is the only good reference book for world coins. The prices have little
bearing on reality so there's no need to get an up to date issue unless you
think you might be collecting world moderns. If you get one of these from be-
fore about 1998 they are 1800-date and make a more handy reference. My
favorite issue is the '81 but the prices are even worse in it. (It's not too bad except
for silver, modern, and politically incorrect countries). The '86 is extremely difficult
to find but is a two volume hard cover edition which may be their most comprehensive.
For prices you'll need something from the various "home" countries.

Mrpawn

A copy of "Comprehensive Catalog and Encyclopedia of Morgan & Peace Dollars" will come in handy.

JR

Bustman

Two of my favorites are, PCGS Coin Grading and Counterfeit Detection and Walter Breen's Encyclopedia of U.S. and Colonial Coins. I would also add the Red book in there as a great quick reference giude.

DoubleDime

Lately its been my 3 Krause Catalogs for world coins.

dbldie55

For Liberty Nickels I have the Peters-Mohon book. I use Breen also. My current favorite book is Treasure Hunting Liberty Nickels. It is fun to find all of these varieties. Also have the Cherry Pickers guide, but it only lists 10 varieties for the Liberty Nickel series.

lathmach

For your V nickles, get "The Complete Guide To Shield & Liberty Head Nickles". The authors are Gloria Peters and Cynthia Mohon.

Ray

itsnotjustme

ANA Grading Standards
My "Book" of grey sheets
The Red Book
Breens

DaveG

Bruce Fox's book on Walkers is very good. He includes a grading guide with really big pictures; in includes not only the usual circulated grades, but also the 'mid' grades, like F-15.

For Morgan dollars, it depends on what you want. The VAM book is excellent for details of dies and die pairs; it also includes a good grading guide. It also has a great chapter telling the story of the GSA Morgans - apparently one or both of the authors was a consultant for the GSA and knew the entire story, from the beginning.

Bowers' Encyclopedia is expensive (it's out of print, so you have to get one on the used market) and it's huge! (It covers all the US dollar coins.) It gives really great historical details, excerpts of coinage legislation, congressional hearings, etc. It also has lots of dealer stories and good discussions of survival estimates. No grading guide, though.

Personally, I can't recommend Highfill's book, although if you can get it really cheap, it's an OK read - lots of dealer stories. The bad thing is it has way too many pictures of Highfill's wife, friends, family, etc.

As far as general books, Breen is one of the best. Fractional Money is a very good discussion of how coins were used and how they came to be, in the 19th century, and Taxay's US Mint and Coinage is a good general history.

Coulport

Handbook of Chemistry & Physics.
The Jeweler's Bench Reference

goose3

I actually use PhotoGrade quite a bit just for comparison purposes on circulated stuff.

I also really like the PCGS book and of course Rick Snow's book on FE cents! Great book!!!!!!

grip

Anyone have an extra book on World coin's ? 1900 and up??( a new addition).Al