Question for the professional numismatic researchers...

Longacre

In your opinion, what are the most important research books or materials that you use on a regular basis (in other words, what are the few (or several) books you could not work without, and why)? I thought it might be interesting to get your opinions and it might help others to develop their own libraries. Also, for those of you who work as numismatic researchers at one of the large dealers, I'm curious how large your numismatic libraries are. I do a lot of research in my job (tax law), and our company law library is extremely large. I was wondering how large a library in a different (and possibly more interesting) field is. Thanks.

astrorat

Great topic!

The most important references will depend on your area of research. Few folks can have extensive libraries in all areas, so it would depend on the subject matter.

A researchers library will tend to be very large and, usually, limited only by space and budget. Remember, books are only some of the references. There are also periodicals and auction catalogs that can be very useful in a research library.

Lane

MrEureka

My numismatic library is "only" about 40 feet of shelf space. Of that, I rarely use 80% of it.

Like Lane said, it makes no sense to recommend specific books until you decide on your specialties.

Coinosaurus

A good core library for a professional researcher should include most catalogs from the last twenty years, especially those from auctions houses more noted for doing good research. Won't name names so as not to offend anyone. The researchers know who I am talking about For older catalogs, I would include the "name" sales for the last hundred years - and further back than that for specialities like copper.

For periodicals I would include complete sets of the Numismatist, AJN, Numismatic Scrapbook, and CCJ. For books, there are maybe 50 core references and then it gets into speciality areas pretty quick.

I wouldn't compare this to a legal library except to say that numismatic literature is a heckuva lot more fun to read!

Pistareen

There aren't too many professional numismatic researchers around, so I guess I need to answer this one!

My library is a few thousand volumes, the bulk of which is auction catalogues. I own all (or most at least) of the standard references, so I have somewhere to look whether I need to attribute an early dime or identify a Greek provincial coin. My specialty is early American coins, though, so my library has a strong focus on early Mint issues (pre 1836) and colonial era pieces. I probably have a few hundred more texts that are peripherally numismatic: a book on John Norton and Company, a merchant firm that helped to distribute Virginia halfpence, for example. Or a work on the yellow fever epidemics of the 1790s, when Philadelphia was evacuated for several summers in a row. You get the idea.

I have a bookcase on top of my desk containing things I use almost every day in order to do a day's work (namely, to write catalogue descriptions for ANR). These include:

All three Eliasberg catalogues
All four Bass catalogues
All the Ford catalogues (5 and counting ...)
Stack's Americana sales from 1996 to 2003
LaRiviere Washingtoniana, I, and II (early American medals)
Several scattered other sales (Amon Carter, Numisma 95, RL Miles I + II, Jimmy Hayes, Flannagan, etc. These rotate in and out)
All the ANR sales (of course!)
Early copper sales: RSB 1986, JHR 1989, RSB 1996, Cohen 1992, Whitney 1999, Roper 1983, and many others.

And the books ...

Breen's Encyclopedia (it normally never makes it back to the shelf, so it lays on my desk)
A Red Book
An unpublished work by Andrew Pollock on early gold die varieties
Judd on patterns
Pollock on patterns
The battery of early copper works: Breen on cents and half cents, Cohen, Noyes I and II, Grellman, CQR, etc.
Overton on halves
Browning on quarters
JR on dimes
LM on half dimes
QDB 2 volumes on Silver dollars
Breen's gold monographs
the Bass sylloge
Kagin on private and territorial
Garrett and Dannreuther on auction records
and a whole bunch more (I'm not at my home office at the moment, but I'm trying to visualize it as best I can!)

The things I probably use the most are Breen's Encyclopedia and the Red Book. The most useful info often comes from auction catalogues -- Coinosaurus said it best above. A set of Numismatist is also useful.

My recommendation: buy books with reckless abandon, threaten the structural integrity of your home, read them all, and then read them all again!

John K.

PreTurb

Pistareen,

What is the catalog you referred to under "Early copper sales" as Whitney 1999? I don't recognize that one...

Gemini

When researching Civil War tokens I have found much of my information in non numismatic literature and many times just by pure serendipty...

Pistareen

I meant the Stack's sale of the John Whitney collection of coins from 1796. Every die variety is represented, half cent through eagle, but since the coppers are so notable I include it in that section of my library.