Books on Gold Coins

Longacre

Does anyone have any reccomendations on books that specifically address collecting US gold coins. I have already read Bowers' US Gold Coins--An Illustrated History, as well as the Paul Taglione books on gold coins, and the Type III Double Eagle book by Winter. Do you have any other suggestions? Thanks.

kranky

There's a relatively new book about Proof Gold that is out. Don't know if that's what you're looking for.

RYK

Books by Winter on Type I $20's, Type II $20's, and Carson City, Charlotte, Dahlonega, and New Orleans gold coins are all excellent, though the New Orleans book is tough to find. Bowers book on Liberty and Saint Gaudens $20's should be good, too. That should keep you busy for a while!

DaveG

David Akers did a series on gold coins about 20 years ago that is still highly regarded by some (they're fairly expensive when you can find them). As I recall, he focuses on auction appearances to estimate rarity and devotes a page to each coin.

If you're interested in old-tenor gold, there's a book on early half eagles by Miller and one on early eagles by Taraszka. Art Kagin has a book on private gold coins and pattern gold coins. There's a book by Breen and Gillio on California Fractional gold coins.

There's a new book on the Carson City Mint by Randy Guth (sp?)

Also, there's "Detecting Counterfeit Gold Coins" by "Lonesome John" which is a lot of fun and useful if you're interested in raw gold coins.

I recommend you look at www.brooklyngallery.com to see what they have in stock. Books on gold coins tend to have small print runs and, except for the Winter books, haven't usually been reprinted.

JadeRareCoin

A really good book that will cover the very basics of each U.S. gold coin series is Breen's Encyclopedia of U.S. Coins. You can get a used copy for about $60-$70, or new for about $100. It is a good foundation, upon which you can add specialized books on the various series over time.

mhammerman

Just ordered the illustrated history, used. Seems that they are kind of proud of it. Amazed at the exceptionally scant information in the general coin books on the indian dollars so I'm having to look kind of hard. Anybody have any cool references for the indians? Thanks for the quick bibliography in this thread!!!

mhammerman

Oh, forgot to add...

Does any one have a recommendation for either the encyclopedia of u.s. gold coins by garrett or bowers book u.s. gold coins. Thanks!

Longacre

Regarding the Enclyclopdia of Gold Coins book and the Bowers book, I read that they are expected to be released in August, 2004 (next month).

As for gold dollars, I bought Paul Taglione's book called "US Federal Gold Coinage--Volume I, Gold Dollars" (or something close to that title). It is a great book and it lists each date and mintmark and tells facts about each-- such as typical strike, die varieties, mintages, how many truly exist, etc. It also gives a history of the denomination. He also has a book on quarter eagles, $3 gold, and one generally on investment advice (which I read and it is great). I purchased the $1, $2.50 and the investment book (I have not yet bought the $3 gold book).

You should try either www.gradybooks.com (but I think I bought the last $1 gold book that he had), or www.stacks.com. I just checked the Stacks web site and they have it for $24.50. Stacks also has the Taglione quarter eagle book, as well as the $3 gold book. Also, I believe that Doug Winter wrote a book on quarter eagles with Michael Fuljenz. You can maybe find that book on www.pinnacle-rarities.com. Good luck.

mhammerman

Thanks longacre! I will get after finding the taglione's book soon. Thanks so much for the lead. Good luck on your collecting.

nwcs

I have that proof gold coinage book mentioned. The photos are excellent and the details were good on some specific coins. I would have liked to have more detail overall in it, though. But it was an enjoyable read for a series I could never hope to afford to collect.