New book - "Carscon City Morgan Dollars" - Review

jmcu12

Hello all,

I just picked up the new(er) book - 'Carson City Morgan Dollars - Featuring The Coins Of The GSA Hoard' by Adam Crum * Selby Ungar * Jeff Oxman

Positives:
Concise but complete story of the geographic area of Nevada and Carson City as well as the history behind the GSA sales.

Good reference for those who would wish to put together a set of Carson City dollars

Covers popular VAMS

Covers 1900 O/CC as a separate coin with a little history. But they dont imply that having one is required for a set, they only show it as an intersting addition.

We get to see a picture of the 1889CC in the GSA holder!

Negatives:
My chief complaint would be the lack-luster photos - I thought that a lot of them seemed a little dark, especially the pics of the coins in their GSA holders. A few seemed out of focus and a bit blurry.

Pricing was included - while this is not necessarily bad, I think we all know how pricing in a reference can become dated and irrelevant very quickly - just not sure what it adds to the book??

No photos of the O/CC - while I realize, as I said above, that this was added as a bit of a footnote, other VAM photos were included, why not the O/CC?

Pricing seems a bit steep ($24.95) for such a small and focused book (only 124 pages) - but if you collect the series and are interested in it then it may be a "nice to have"



Overall I think that the book is decent and I would say buy it - it gives the collector a somewhat broad overview of the series but does go into some detail around some VAMS as well as the O/CC. I think my postivies outweigh the negatives.


Hope this helps anyone who might be interested in purchasing the book.

ricko

I completed my set several years ago - including the O/CC. However, it sounds interesting. I will look for it and give it a scan. Could be a good addition to my numismatic library. Cheers, RickO

mustanggt

I thought it was an easy and interesting read that highlighted some of the more interesing varieties and was suitable for the less technical collectors. It should generate more interest the the CC series. I bought it a FUN to have something to read on the flight west. Needless to say it did not keep me busy the whole trip. Pictures seem to be an issue in many publications. Much of the problem I believe is in the transition from great photo to printable picture. I have seen some great pictures turn into below average when published. I think these were better than average. Overall a very enjoyable book.