Morgan library question

numonebuyer · July 10, 2004 2:34PM

I am looking to expand my Morgan dollar knowledge.

I have the following in my library. What would be your recommendation to add to it and why?

A Guide Book Of United States Coins (The Official RED BOOK), 52nd Edition by R.S. Yeoman
Handbook Of United States Coins (The Official BLUE BOOK), 56th Edition by R.S. Yeoman
Official A.N.A. Grading Standards for United States Coins, Fifth Edition by American Numismatic Association
Official Guide To Coin Grading And Counterfeit Detection, First Edition by Professional Coin Grading Service
Comprehensive Catalog And Enclyclopedia Of Morgan & Peace Dollars, Fourth Edition by Leroy C. Van Allen & A. George Mallis
Morgan Dollars An In-Depth Study, Second Edition by Dean F. Howe
The Top 100 Morgan Dollar Varieties: The VAM Keys, by Michael S. Fey, Ph.D. and Jeff Oxman
Grading Coins Today: An ANA Correspondence Course, by Don Bonser
Grading Mint State U.S. Coins: An ANA Correspondence Course, by J.P. Martin
How To Grade U.S. Coins, by James L. Halperin
Photograde Official Photographic Grading Guide for United States Coins, Eighteenth Edition by James F. Ruddy

K6AZ · July 10, 2004 2:45PM

The Morgan Dollar Textbook by Wayne Miller.

K6AZ · July 10, 2004 2:46PM

Also, the Morgan Dollar Redbook by Q. David Bowers.

bennybravo · July 10, 2004 2:47PM

What he said! The Textbook by Wayne Miller is a MUST have.It's out of print, but they turn up on eBay quite often.

Chris

numonebuyer · July 10, 2004 2:55PM

Isn't the Morgan Dollar Redbook brand new?

RickMilauskas · July 10, 2004 2:55PM

I'm no expert but two other books which I have and are quite interesting are "The Accugrade System" by Alan Hager and
"The Morgan and Peace Dollar Textbook" by Miller.

Hager's book explains his experience in selling and dealing bags of silver dollars and estimated numbers of surviving silver dollars in the grades of MS 60, 63 and 65. In addition he talks a lot about the percent of mintages of each year that were well struck, medium and soft strikes. It contains a wealth of info concering grading silver dollars by mint and year as each mint produced coins of varying quality over the years.

The only downside of the book is that it was written in the 1980's so it is a bit dated but provided an interesting perspective and angle to the study of Morgan and Peace dollars.

Miller's book is smaller and provides a quick "snapshot" of each year/mint silver dollar in the Morgan and Peace series'. Good pictures and also does a nice job of assigning rarity scales to each dollar.

I believe both books are out of print but can be found on eBay or at coin shows. I learned quite a bit from them when I started collecting silver dollars.
Rick

K6AZ · July 10, 2004 2:58PM

<< Isn't the Morgan Dollar Redbook brand new? >>

Yes, and I think it is very well done.

K6AZ · July 10, 2004 2:59PM

<< Hager's book explains his experience in selling and dealing bags of silver dollars and estimated numbers of surviving silver dollars in the grades of MS 60, 63 and 65. In addition he talks a lot about the percent of mintages of each year that were well struck, medium and soft strikes. It contains a wealth of info concering grading silver dollars by mint and year as each mint produced coins of varying quality over the years. >>

Surely you can't be serious. That book is garbage from cover to cover.

numonebuyer · July 10, 2004 3:00PM

I can get the Morgan Dollar Red Book through the ANA. I will do that right now.

numonebuyer · July 10, 2004 3:02PM

Any reason to get the Second edition of the PCGS Official Guide to Coin Grading and Counterfeit Detection?

K6AZ · July 10, 2004 3:03PM

bennybravo · July 10, 2004 3:04PM

numonebuyer · July 10, 2004 3:04PM

I somehow knew I would be seeing that picture again.

numonebuyer · July 10, 2004 3:07PM

Any opinion on the COMPREHENSIVE U.S.SILVER DOLLAR ENCYCLOPEDIA by Highfill?

RickMilauskas · July 10, 2004 3:12PM

<< I'm no expert >>

K6AZ seems to know more about the usefulness of the Hager book than I. Looks like or archery practice or vampire exterminating practice may be effective uses of it.

Rick

K6AZ · July 10, 2004 3:15PM

It also makes for a good door stop.

numonebuyer · July 10, 2004 3:19PM

The first time I saw that picture I almost fell over and off of my chair.

K6AZ · July 10, 2004 3:25PM

I'll tell you the story behind that picture. Larry Calder was a guy in Dallas Texas who sold supplies and books. Somehow, he came up with a case of those books. I and some others bought copies just to have for grins. Larry decided to take one of the books and make an example out of it, he took suggestions and somehow it was decided to drive a stake through it. Myself, I would have put a .44 round through it.

numonebuyer · July 10, 2004 3:38PM

OK, I ordered the Red Book. Any opinions on the others?

Myqqy · July 10, 2004 3:43PM

Hager's book explains his experience in selling and dealing bags of silver dollars and estimated numbers of surviving silver dollars in the grades of MS 60, 63 and 65. In addition he talks a lot about the percent of mintages of each year that were well struck, medium and soft strikes. It contains a wealth of info concering grading silver dollars by mint and year as each mint produced coins of varying quality over the years.

Them's some bold words to be saying around here!!!

numonebuyer · July 10, 2004 3:50PM

I also found (online) and ordered the Morgan Dollar Textbook by Wayne Miller.

K6AZ · July 10, 2004 3:53PM

Cool, I'm glad you were able to find it. There are some awesome plate coins in that book with various different types of toning, and it clearly shows that nicely toned Morgans were in demand even 25 years ago. It will be a nice addition to your library.

numonebuyer · July 10, 2004 3:56PM

Isn't it amazing what can be found online anymore?

K6AZ · July 10, 2004 4:00PM

Sure beats the old days. Was this an eBay auction, or a web site with multiple copies? I know someone else who would love a copy of it. If there is more, please send me a link via PM.

earlwbollinger · July 10, 2004 8:58PM

Does any of the books have more details on the mintage quantities of the different coins?
I know the Whittman books hve min figures.
But I was wondering if anyone combined all they could on mint numbers, GSA sales, meltdown numbers and such as much as possible.
The book "The Comprehensive Catalogue and Encyclopedia of U.S. Morgan and Peace Silver Dollars" (by Leroy Van Allen and A. George Mallis) had a tantalizing glimpse into this on pages 52, 247, and 261.
I was wondering if anyone was able to come up with interesting numbers on the surviving coins, etc.

RickMilauskas · July 10, 2004 11:38PM

Q. David Bowers new Morgan Dollar Redbook gives ranges of estimated "availability" of silver dollars by grade (unc and proof)/date/mm.

DennisH · July 11, 2004 12:32AM

Bowers' 2-volume set "Silver Dollars and Trade Dollars of the United States, A Comprehensive Encyclopedia" is hands-down the most information and most used part of my Morgan dollar library. Sets are almost impossible to find any more, and they're expensive as can be. But It's the last numismatic reference work I'll ever let go of.

numonebuyer · July 11, 2004 2:58AM

DennisH

I also found (online) and ordered it. I ordered hard back versions of both volumes. You weren't kidding about the price. WOW!

Thread that pertains to this book

Wolf359 · July 11, 2004 2:59AM

Hot 50 Morgan dollar book. Out of print, but sometimes available on eBay.
1921-D Denver Morgan dollars. 90% of these vams are not in any other book.

numonebuyer · July 15, 2004 12:45PM

See this thread to see how I ordered COMPREHENSIVE U.S.SILVER DOLLAR ENCYCLOPEDIA by Highfill. You don't always have to spend a fortune.

ccex · July 15, 2004 1:58PM

I don't have the Bowers tome yet, but I agree heartily with K6AZ that the Wayne Miller textbook is required reading. Mine is now well worn after 15 years, and I'm not even a serious fan of Morgan Dollars. (If I chose what to collect on the basis of photorgraphs and literature alone, Wayne Miller would have made me a Morgan dollar collector).

I also have a copy of Alan Hager's first silver dollar book, from a charity auction on eBay to raise money for restoring Larry Calder's church. Many others requested that Larry shred this volume after they paid for it. Mine is intact, sitting next to the worst book I have ever read on this subject, "Silver Dollar Fortune Telling" by Les and Sue Fox.

The only part of Hager's book worth reading is where AH admits how he got his start as a kid in 1960 in Las Vegas. When his mother went gambling, she wrote a rubber check to the casino and gave it to the cashier, who let young Alan look through a bag of silver dollars. Alan soon knew which dates to pull and replace with the common dates he brought along, and always made sure he returned a full bag, so that the casino would never know about his mom's checking account balance. He used these early experiences at the bottom of every page in the date/mint/grade analysis to say that "this dealer has handed x,000 examples of this coin in this grade since 1960." Most of the numbers are pulled out of thin air and the price predictions/investment recommendations are laughable. Alan Hagers' books on Prooflike Morgans, Ike Dollars, and baseball cards are similar to this first book, which resulted in a suit by the printer, who was never properly paid for his work publishing and binding them. A classic only if you collect memorabilia of famous fraudulent American entrepreneours.

The only part of Les & Sue Fox's book worth reading is their interview with Wayne Miller, after he auctioned off his collection and decided to do charity work for a few years. The Fox's numbers and investment recommendations are even wilder than Hagers' (and met with Hager's scorn).

My same bookshelf that contains the above two volumes also houses Weimar White's disappointing Seated Liberty Dollar book, which spends too much time with mathematical formulae conjecturing future value of each date by grade, and few anecdotes. This same bookshelf, also includes an autographed copy of Dean Howe's "Mogan Dollars: an In Depth Study" which is just OK but a slim summary of what can be found in the Wayne Miller book.

I still get a kick out of my Walter Breen encyclopedia, with his stories of political machinations ("silver Dick" Bland etc.) and conjectures about branch mint proofs. Wayne Miller considered Breen to be the final authority on authentication of branch mint proof Morgans.

Since I have hinted at what you're not missing from several lesser tomes, can someone tell me what I'm missing by not owning the Bowers book?

Coinosaurus · July 15, 2004 2:17PM

You have enuf books already. Go look at a few thousand Morgans, take your own notes, and then worry about what other books you need

Book knowledge in coindom is overrated. I have several thousand pieces of numismatic literature in my house, so I speak from experience. Everybody I respect in this biz has learned it the old fashioned hard way, buying and selling and make a few costly mistakes early on. No book will ever teach you what to buy and sell - the only place to learn that is the school of hard knocks.

On the other hand, if you want to write a kewl book like Cardinal's on the 1794 dollars, then by all means, get all the material you can.

numonebuyer · July 20, 2004 2:55AM

I have received the first book The Morgan and Peace Dollar Textbook, by Wayne Miller. I have finished the first chapter. Wayne Miller is a pretty good author. The book is an easy read.

<< You have enuf books already. Go look at a few thousand Morgans, take your own notes, and then worry about what other books you need

Book knowledge in coindom is overrated. I have several thousand pieces of numismatic literature in my house, so I speak from experience. Everybody I respect in this biz has learned it the old fashioned hard way, buying and selling and make a few costly mistakes early on. No book will ever teach you what to buy and sell - the only place to learn that is the school of hard knocks.
>>

I disagree with the quoted statement above. Books provide knowledge and resources for discussion. By reading more and more books by different authors, the humanbrain begins to form individual thought and makes decisions as to what it has read has been opinion, fact or something in between.

TONEDDOLLARS · July 20, 2004 6:41AM

I have all of the above mentioned books, and have read them all cover to cover. This includes Hagers book which contrary to some here I learned from reading it. Reading his book and buying his coins are two entirely different things.

numonebuyer · July 21, 2004 9:35AM

I just received The Official Red Book of Morgan Silver Dollars, by Q. David Bowers.

I purchased it from the ANA.

Get this... The ANA threw (FOR FREE) into the shipment A Guide Book Of United States Coins (aka The Offical Red Book), 56th Edition.

I already had one, but it was 52nd Edition.

I think that was pretty cool.

numonebuyer · July 21, 2004 9:39AM

I also just received The Comprehensive U.S. Silver Dollar Encyclopedia, by John W. Highfill. This hard-bound book is huge. If you remember from a different thread, I purchased this book for a song on eBay.

numonebuyer · July 22, 2004 1:15AM

<< If you remember from a different thread, I purchased this book for a song on eBay. >>

Another forum member PMd me to tell me he/she also purchased the same book from the same seller (after reading this thread) for even less than I paid. My work here is done.

I thumbed through the book last night and it has a ton of stuff that I am really looking forward to reading. By the way my book had an individual number assigned to it inside the front cover.

numonebuyer · July 22, 2004 7:17AM

I just received the last book that I ordered. I received the Silver Dollars & Trade Dollars of the United States, by Q. David Bowers. I received both volumes (brand new and still in the shrink rap).

numonebuyer · August 16, 2004 6:20AM

I am half finished with Q. David Bowers new Morgan Dollar Redbook. The book is well written, but poorly edited. I have found multiple errors in the book that should have been caught by the editor.

RickMilauskas · August 16, 2004 9:32AM

If you haven't read numonebuyer's info on how he found Highfill's U.S. Silver Dollar encyclopedia you should do so. I did the same as he did and scored the book for $14.00!!!

Thanks again for you tip numonebuyer!! oh..I checked and my boob also has a limited edition number.

Morgan library question

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