Buying the coin first, then the book

shirohniichan

Every seasoned collector knows you're supposed to buy the book first, then the coin. Who has done it backwards and come away OK? We've heard stories of newbies buying cleaned XF 1921 Morgans at antique stores for $50, but who has a different take?

How many of us have bought coins that so intrigued us we had to find out more about them and later bought a book to learn more? I recently bought some British proofs inexpensively and now need to get some reference books to guide me in completing the set. After buying some inexpensive Centennial medals I spent $70 to buy a reference book on US Mint medals to learn about them, and I'm finding that the books are oftentimes many times more expensive that the coins or medals that lead me to them. It's a good thing the ANA has a good library-- I wouldn't want to have to pay $150 to find information on a $10 medal.

IrishMike

Back when I started collecting, it was buy the Scroll first then the coin. Seriously, I have always done it the other way around, with the exception of the Redbook. I mean you really have to like bust halves to buy the book first, it's way boring but great for attributions. Some of the coins are a lot cheaper then the books. I have never owned a Morgan book, but have owned and sold hundreds. There is a wealth of information on the web that you if take the time to find is often more timely. I am sure my wife would point out that I do own a couple of dozen books, but most of these were purchased after I discovered an interest in a certain series not before. What books have done for me is to deepen the collecting interest and breadth of knowledge. I can't really say that any book has sparked an interest in collecting a certain series. It has been the other way around.

coinrookie

I bought a few moderns without reading a book. Fortuneately, I paid about the market price. I think on moderns that you have a little wiggle room as far as overpaying and getting a disappointing coin. Now though I do buy books, search the web and ask questions here before I buy a coin that I am really unfamiliar with.

paigowjohnny

I actually bought a Redfield dollar before I researched the whole fascinating story...

mr1931S

i consider my investment in numismatic literature as much a part of my collection (accumulations?) as the coins themselves...for me,its not just about "the money,"both the money i might spend on the coins and the coins themselves...i enjoy numismatic history...my 12th edition Red Book... i paid $5 for at an indoor flea market was once the property of the Kodiac Baptist Mission,
Kodiac,Alaska...Good,Fine,Unc. were the grades used in the Red Book in 1959...the 1899 IHC i found while digging in the family garden in 1956 was valued at $1.25 in Fine in 1959 according to the Red Book...i remember well finding this coin...i don't remember what happened with it...i probably lost it...don't recall selling it...i wish i still had it...

i never have been one to rush out a spend big bucks on books about coins and how much i should be paying for them...

to the newbie who has obviously "payed too much" for a coin i would never say "you should have bought the book before the coin"...there is a wealth of information about coins out there and it's free...there's people that have more information contained within them about coins and collecting than can be put in any one book...some of those people participate in this very forum...

the book is being written as we speak...and it's free...

FrattLaw

Book...who buys books...takes $$$ away from coin purchases.

Really, though, I did buy Hghfill's book and am still looking for any book I can find about peace dollars. Most shops don't have them so I have to wait for the big shows.

I do have proof Ikes, SBAs and Sacs, and I think I did fine w/o a book but as you get into classic designs, weak strikes, MS coins, books are a must!

Michael

Clankeye

<< <i>Back when I started collecting, it was buy the Scroll first then the coin. >>



Sir IrishMike speaketh the truth here. In Coinalot we teased him mightily for being a "Scrollworm."

Clankeye

Wisconsin

I have to admit that a lot of times I have to buy the coin first. It is not as interesting reading about something unless you have the coin to refer to as you read. I find it much more interesting to buy a coin, and then get as many books on the series as I can, and then buy more coins!!

I recently got started on Draped Bust coins. I bought a few and am now in the process of doing all the reading and research. I might add that I bought coins from dealers that I trust and in PCGS slabs. It really is a lot of fun to try to figure out what variety you have and the rarity. I am amazed with the history behind these bust coins.

mr1931S

$3000 for an "Unc" 1894-S dime in 1959!?...

i'm getting dizzy...

i've fallen...

and i can't get up...

1959:
"Dad,we should get a second on the house,if necessary,to raise $3000 and buy an Unc. 1894-S dime!.This coin is going to worth hundreds of thousands someday...in our lifetime!"

2002:
The Daggett-Lawrence 1894-S dime recently traded for a reported $750,000...

crystal clear...just 43 years too late...

shirohniichan

It's a small price to pay if a reference book on mult-thousand dollar coins cost you $100, but it seems weird to buy a book for $100 if you're collecting tokens that only cost $1 or $2 each. Then again, the education makes it worth every cent-- as long as you read them!

shylock

I bet most trust their instincts before finding out good instincts are developed, not born with, in this hobby. Those who stick around long enough to read the book are the real coin lovers, and it usually costs them much more than the price of the book.

Gemini

Actually I had the book before I had any coins at all...

I only wish the amount of books that is out there today were around when I first started collecting.
My first coin book was a 1954 Blue Book it was then I descovered the older coins and had never collected any coins up to that point.

With only black and white grainy photos to work from and with little or no history in this first coin book for me it was the greatest impetus to spark my beginning interest in coins.

With todays beautifully researched books which includes much interesting historical data and the great plus of the modern internet the remotest of questions can be answered.

These things today are a real boon for the beginnig collector.