If you were gonna write a book about coins, and you are a doctor

ER

would you put M.D. after your name, as author? Why or why not?
I would not. What does M.D. have anything to do with coins?

ER

I wonder if coinguy1 would put J.D. after his name, if he were to write a coin book?

construct

No. It would be seriously low class to put "M.D." after your name as author of a coin book.

construct

Oh dear! Did some member write a coin book and put "M.D." after his name?

ER

United States PATTERN COINS - 9th Edition, J. Hewitt Judd, M.D., Edited by Q. David Bowers

Proof Gold Coinage of the United States - Robert J. Loewinger, M.D., Edited by John West Dannreuther

johnsim03

<< <i>would you put M.D. after your name, as author? Why or why not?
I would not. What does M.D. have anything to do with coins? >>



No.

However, it would be appropriate to use "Dr." in front of your name.

Funny enough, in Europe, if you did not use your title, people would think
that strange. A social difference between USA and Europe, I suppose.

To answer the question, it is never inappropriate to use a valid title in
your author by-line, but some would think it is kind of strange, if you
are not a Doctor of Numismatics, anyway (does such a thing exist?).

John

relayer

A woman who was arrested for fruad had used the initials H.S.G. after her name.

She was advertising for sale areosol cans that you could spray on your car to prevent radar detectors from seeing the car to avoid speeding tickets. Her defense was that once she collected enough money she planned to hire a chemist to create the formula.

When asked about the H.S.G. after her name, she explained that she used it in the ad in order to impress potential buyers and that it stood for High School Graduate.

ER

I believe Don Kagin is a real (PhD) Doctor of Numismatics.

Connecticoin

As they say, Numismatics is one of the very few (if not only) professions where being called "doctor" is a bad thing.

vega1

It wouldn't bother me at all either way. IMO becoming a doctor is no small feat (or feet if your a podiatrist I guess) and you (they) should not be shy about using the earned title in situations like that, even if it doesn't add to the credentials of the topic at hand.

Longacre

I would put M.D. on the article. It adds something to the article, in my opinion. It is difficult to become a doctor, and it sort of indicates that you know a thing or two about how to research and how to write.

RYK

I am surprised by the last two replies. It would never occur to me to put MD after my name for any numismatic publication.

ER

How about S.H.S. after your name?




Some High School

Barndog

here's another one:

The Ultimate Guide To Attributing Bust Half Dollars (2nd ed.) by Glenn R. Peterson, M.D. Published 2004. I own the book and like it. I also know the author. I see nothing wrong with adding the M.D. -- it neither adds nor detracts IMO.

jayboxx

I have run into people that insist on being called Doctor xxx, even outside a medical setting, so it doesn't surprise me that someone would have the hubris to need to put that on their book even though it didn't relate.

I also think there is still a population out there that believes that just because a doctor wrote it, it has to be intelligent and factual, so it could be viewed as a marketing tactic.

DRG

So ER, why do you ask?.........Oh, never mind, now I see the reference...........Is that the only reason or did you have some thing else on your mind?

Please see the right, bottom of the page on this link..

Rob and I are both M.D.'s. Neither of us thought it was relevant to the article.

I do wonder if anything written by an M.D. will be taken more seriously just because of this fact. I think it has it's good and bad sides. I don't really like to advertise that I am an M.D. I do go by DRGOLAN, but those are just my initials (David Robert) not my title.

pharmer

There are other professions which involve a doctoral degree, like lawyers and pharmacists, but I imagine only MD's would mention it, gotta let the ego out to run and play.

DNADave

I wouldn't do it.

pcrdnadave, B.S., M.S.

morgannut2

Most people get Masters degrees these days. A PHd is a college teaching degree that required independent new reaseach. So a professor may be called either Professor or Doctor-- but in medicine those called doctor, are a step below professors. Only Dr. Kagan-the coin ecpet-- is an actual PHD. and whole teaching at ANA. should be called professor.

--I never use my PHd title---except when asking for a loan at the bank to buy coins!!!

ER

Bull Shit
More Shit
Piled Higher&Deeper
Mentally Defect

TomB

It seems like such a trivial thing to me that I would not have thought about it if not for this thread. I don't see a problem with putting M.D. after an author's name on a numismatic publication, nor do I see a problem with putting Ph.D. after the author's name, provided that the author actually earned the degree in question.

Hoot and I wrote the feature article on Barber half dollars for an issue of Coin Values a few months ago, and the article was featrured again later in a sister publication, but I don't believe either of us used Ph.D. in the byline even though we have both earned the degree.

Longacre

When I write an article, I am using the full monty of my initials-- Longacre, B.S., C.P.A., J.D., LL.M.

morgannut2

<< <i>Bull Shit
More Shit
Piled Higher&Deeper
Mentally Defect >>

--

I assume this means
1) B.S.
2) MS (or MA)
3)PHD
4)MD

amercoin

David Close MD wrote a Vam Peace Dollar book.

Barndog

<< <i>When I write an article, I am using the full monty of my initials-- Longacre, B.S., C.P.A., J.D., LL.M. >>



But what about articles outside of your area(s) of "normal" expertise? If you were to write an article on Sportfishing in Australia, would you use all those titles?

vega1

You know what? If I paid $100k or more for education to get a title, I'd use it! On *everything*.... checks.... license plates.... excuse notes to my kid's teachers....

robertpr

<< <i>How about S.H.S. after your name?




Some High School >>



Isn't that like NCNE? (No Certification, No Education)

mgoodm3

I don't plan on it. other than stroking your own ego, there's not a lot of use to it.

kiyote

<< <i>I wonder if coinguy1 would put J.D. after his name, if he were to write a coin book? >>



ER, are you a doctor? What state to ya live in?

ttxp

<< <i>You know what? If I paid $100k or more for education to get a title, I'd use it! >>


At that low price, I doubt you would have any credible initials to use, so perhaps you wouldn't?

Russ

There sure seem to be a lot of Doctors and lawyers in the coin business.

Russ, NCNE

DMWJR

I've always been confused about why doctors have to note their profession in everything they do even when it is totally irrelevant. Maybe Judd was a proctologist.

I rarely use any alphabet soup around my name.

Nysoto

Seeing Dr or MD attached to an author's name makes no difference to me, but the halo effect is a powerful marketing tool for the masses.

Dentuck

In the case of the recent (8th and 9th) editions of J. Hewitt Judd's United States Pattern Coins, you're seeing the "M.D." used as a nod to numismatic history. Dr. Judd's earlier editions identified him as an M.D. on the cover and title page (and he signed his acknowledgments that way).

Pattern coins really caught Judd's eye. (He was an ophthalmologist.)

CommemDude

I dont think the "MD" belongs after the authors name on a numismatic article. IMHO, I also dont think my name belongs on slabs just because I was able to buy a lot of coins and put a set togehter.

At my med school graduation the speaker (Alan Alda, believe it or not) reminded us to be humble, and that our mothers did not name us "Doctor" when we were born.

TwoSides2aCoin

I don't care if a doctor writes a coin book and has M.D. after his name, so long as our professional numismatists keep on editing them

Myqqy

You know what? If I paid $100k or more for education to get a title, I'd use it! On *everything*.... checks.... license plates.... excuse notes to my kid's teachers....

I would too....

ABC123

Maybe his sub-specialty is Proctology !

RWB

I avoid it too. Footnotes are enough to scare off 90% of coin collectors and assorted abbreviated titles only make it worse.

lkenefic

<< <i>

<< <i>Bull Shit
More Shit
Piled Higher&Deeper
Mentally Defect >>

--

I assume this means
1) B.S.
2) MS (or MA)
3)PHD
4)MD

>>



I thought "MD" was "Minor Deity"...my mistake...

Seriously though, I think it's inappropriate to use MD or PhD for non-medically related or articles outside of your areas of expertise. After I complete my PhD, I'll also have a track record of publications in molecular microbiology. Does this in any way translate into expertise in numismatics or history or whatever? I think not. All of this sort of reminds me of "Dr." Laura Schlessinger.

Leo

TOMCATTOM

<< <i>You know what? If I paid $100k or more for education to get a title, I'd use it! On *everything*.... checks.... license plates.... excuse notes to my kid's teachers....

I would too.... >>

ER

If I were gonna write a medical texbook, I think I'll put W.N. after my name.



Wannabe Numismatist
Chit man, with the money I've spent on coins, I deserve to put it anywhere I want to.

KoinDawg

I would put M.D. on the article. It adds something to the article, in my opinion. It is difficult to become a doctor, and it sort of indicates that you know a thing or two about how to research and how to write.

LOL. Medical Students don't even receive a simple statistics class. Most practicing physicians know diddly about research. Only the EDUCATOR PHYSICIANS that have to "publish or perish" really know much about research.

I have a Ph.D. and from the grueling process of researching, writing, and publishing my dissertation, I have alot more respect for the "Poor humble Doctor" compared to the "Mighty Doctor". Also, after years of reading dictated and written medical records by M.D.'s, I concluded that M.D.'s can't communicate in writing.

Doctors Michael Fey and David Close are both Ph.D.s and use their title in publishing. Dr. Michael Fey's Ph.D. is in Physics which has nothing to do with numismatics. I don't know what David Close's Ph.D. is in. Does anybody on the forum know?

bidask

I'd write a book about doctored coins!

amercoin

<< <i><EM>I would put M.D. on the article. It adds something to the article, in my opinion. It is difficult to become a doctor, and it sort of indicates that you know a thing or two about how to research and how to write.

<EM><STRONG>LOL. Medical Students don't even receive a simple statistics class. Most practicing physicians know diddly about research. Only the EDUCATOR PHYSICIANS that have to "publish or perish" really know much about research.

I have a Ph.D. and from the grueling process of researching, writing, and publishing my dissertation, I have alot more respect for the "Poor humble Doctor" compared to the "Mighty Doctor". Also, after years of reading dictated and written medical records by M.D.'s, I concluded that M.D.'s can't communicate in writing.

Doctors Michael Fey and David Close are both Ph.D.s and use their title in publishing. Dr. Michael Fey's Ph.D. is in Physics which has nothing to do with numismatics. I don't know what David Close's Ph.D. is in. Does anybody on the forum know?</STRONG> >>


David Close MD

DRG

So what do you think of Dr. Jerry Buss (owner of the LA Lakers)? He has owned both a 1913 Liberty Nickel and a 1804 Dollar so there are many references to him in the numismatic literature.

It is hard to find a reference about him, even in the sports magazines, that doesn't refer to him as Dr. Jerry Buss. He makes it a point that he is only to be introduced as Dr. Buss ( I have met him on several occasions). He has a PhD in Physical Chemistry.

I have always found it interesting that he does this. He is the owner of the Lakers!!! What does his PhD in Chemistry have to do with anything at this point in his life????????

ER

Heck, even in the clinic, my nurses call me SOB (in my native language).