Quote from the first (1860) price guide
homerunhall
Posts: 2,496 ✭✭✭
PCGS Vice President Mike Sherman owns a copy of the first coin price guide, "Coin Collectors Manual," published in 1865. The following quote is from the 1860 price guide...
"It is a matter of regret, that there is such a diversity of opinion with regard to the condition of a coin. There must be an absence of prejudice and interest in the coin in question, in order to give a fair report of it; and at times, even experienced collectors and dealers will disagree."
No particular point I wanted to make, just wanted to share a quote from a time when there was only one full time coin dealer in the country, Edward Cogan, and numismatics was in its infancy. Mike Sherman and I have been discussing putting the price guide online, it's really interesting reading...and it's not too long since they only list one coin per date since people didn't collect by mint mark until 1893, and the price guide of course only goes thru 1860.
David Hall
"It is a matter of regret, that there is such a diversity of opinion with regard to the condition of a coin. There must be an absence of prejudice and interest in the coin in question, in order to give a fair report of it; and at times, even experienced collectors and dealers will disagree."
No particular point I wanted to make, just wanted to share a quote from a time when there was only one full time coin dealer in the country, Edward Cogan, and numismatics was in its infancy. Mike Sherman and I have been discussing putting the price guide online, it's really interesting reading...and it's not too long since they only list one coin per date since people didn't collect by mint mark until 1893, and the price guide of course only goes thru 1860.
David Hall
0
Comments
I'd love to see that price guide! Please put it up! Numismatic literary history is almost as fun as the coins themselves! As for the quote, some things never change!
Andy
First POTD 9/19/05!!
So what was my 1860 IHC PCGS MS64 worth back then?
My posts viewed
since 8/1/6
This is exceedingly valuable historically and I highly recommend placing it on the site.
Brian.
Isn't it already in the Corporate Mission Statement???
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
<< <i>So what was my 1860 IHC PCGS MS64 worth back then? >>
LOL
Joe
You can't even go home again.
<< <i>my havent we come a long way since then. and to think that the coins in use back then would become some great collector items in the future, if we could only go back! >>
That is the way with all good collectibles. It is the mundane everyday items that were meant to be used and which no one paid any real attention to that later become the desired collectibles. (This is one reason why I think eventually there may be a market for old slabs. No one has paid any real attention to them and over the years vast numbers of them have been casually destroyed.) One of the reasons the pocket change of that era is so valuable today is because no one really thought about it as being valuable in the future so they used it. How is that different from today? We chase the modern mint collectibles which are sealed away in plastic to prevent damage, and still casually spent our pocket change. We can't go back but what about OUR pocket change in 130 years?
Go BIG or GO HOME. ©Bill
K S