If there’s anything we like to hear, it’s that attendees of the Whitman Baltimore Expo had a great time at the show. Legend Numismatics writes about their one-of-the-best-ever experiences at this year’s Winter Expo.
Author Archives: Editor
$10 Gold Eagles and Q. David Bowers’ New Book
Question: “What’s the best value in the United States gold coin market?” Answer? “That’s easy. Liberty Head eagles.” And no one better to write about them than legendary numismatist, Q. David Bowers.
Stack’s Bowers Whitman Winter Expo Currency Auction Opens Online
The Stack’s Bowers Galleries Official Currency Auction of the Whitman Coin and Collectibles Winter Expo is now open for bidding online. The auction, which is scheduled to be live in Baltimore on Thursday, November 9, will offer almost 700 lots of paper money, showcasing the widest range of American currency. Continue reading
Q. David Bowers, Guide Books, and America’s $10 Gold Coins
A new book on U.S. gold eagles ($10 coins) will debut just before Thanksgiving 2017.
Its author, Q. David Bowers, nicknamed the “Dean of American Numismatics,” has been studying U.S. gold coins for more than 60 years, and writing about them almost as long. He has examined more than 5,000 numismatic catalogs, read countless periodicals, and studied all the available books on gold coins. On top of this old-fashioned “book learning,” he has personally examined hundreds of thousands of gold coins, many of them in the process of cataloging the most famous coin collections ever to cross an auction block.
The Guide Book of Gold Eagle Coins—the 24th volume in the Bowers Series, and the 18th of those volumes written by Bowers himself— will begin shipping on November 21, 2017, and in the meantime can be pre-ordered online.
New From Whitman! Q. David Bowers Shares Secrets of Smart Numismatics
Whitman Publishing announces the release of the newest book by Q. David Bowers. Inside the Rare Coin Marketplace: Secrets to Being a Smart Buyer debuted October 1, 2017. The 320-page full-color volume is available online (including at the website of Whitman Publishing) and in bookstores and hobby shops nationwide for $14.95.
Inside the Rare Coin Marketplace shares Bowers’s more than 60 years of experience as a coin collector, professional dealer, award-winning author and researcher, and past president of the American Numismatic Association. He tells how to build a meaningful and significant coin collection on any budget, for your own pleasure, for investment, to share a fun hobby with your friends and family, and to explore history, art, commerce, technology, and many other areas of interest that are touched by coins.
Bowers’s goal, as he writes in his preface: “I would like you to become an expert collector of your choice of specialties: coins, tokens, and/or medals.” His case studies, personal recollections, and advice are accompanied by more than 800 coin and medal photographs, engravings, old cartoons, family photos, and other illustrations.
“I do not pretend to predict cycles for modern art or autographs or restorable Victorian houses,” Bowers writes, “but I have a lifetime of experience with rare coins, enabling me to predict (so far) various sea changes in that market.”
The book’s range is broad, with discussions of the minting process and distribution of coins; planchet quality, sharpness of details, and other eye-appeal factors; cleaning coins; elements of a coin’s value, including but not limited to grade; how to build a great collection; selecting quality and value in the marketplace; modern grading, including third-party certification; a discussion of every type of United States coin; colonial and early American coins and tokens; treasure and shipwreck coins; fair and exposition medals; commemorative coins; pattern coins; Civil War tokens; private and territorial gold coins; good-for tokens; collecting numismatic books; Hard Times tokens; encased postage stamps; Society of Medalist issues and other medals; and counterstamped coins. Bowers describes coin collecting and market trends dating back to the 1700s—a valuable study that gives insight to modern-day cycles. His final chapter is a “personal scrapbook” of his experiences in the coin market going back to the 1950s. Bowers tells of his start as a coin dealer at the age of 14, meeting and learning from famous coin dealers and collectors like John J. Pittman, Abe Kosoff, and John J. Ford Jr., the changes of the 1960s, numismatic trips to Europe, the U.S. Treasury hoards of silver dollars, developments in the markets, the rise of third-party grading, modern research and publishing, and countless other people, places, and events—all from his personal perspective, and told in his unique style, like sitting down after dinner with an old friend.
Kennth Bressett, longtime editor of the Guide Book of United States Coins (the “Red Book”), wrote the book’s foreword. “Yes, there are secrets to becoming a smart coin buyer and to enjoying a great coin collection,” he says. “Within this book you will learn and benefit from them all.”
Because Whitman Publishing is the Official Supplier of the American Numismatic Association, ANA members received 10% off when ordering the book directly from the publisher. ANA members can also borrow it for free from the Association’s Dwight N. Manley Numismatic Library.
Inside the Rare Coin Marketplace: Secrets to Being a Smart Buyer
Mastering Franklin and Kennedy Half Dollars – Two of the Most Popular Series in American Numismatics
Today, Franklin half dollars (minted from 1948 to 1963) are avidly collected. Scarcely a month or two goes by without excitement in the auction room when a particular variety described as FBL (Full Bell Lines), perhaps of a date and mint that is very common without this feature and otherwise inexpensive, sells for in the many hundreds or thousands of dollars. Beyond that, and probably most applicable to you, a basic set of dates and mintmarks in a highly desirable grade such as Mint State-65 can be collected relatively easily, with an attractive display being the result. Proofs were struck beginning in 1950, continuing to the end of the series, and provide a separate collection to go with the circulation strikes.
Read more at Coin Update News.
Today, numerical grading comprises many more numbers than when first conceived by Sheldon in. In the Mint State and Proof category alone we have all numbers from 60 through 70 inclusive, for a total of 11 in each category. We also have different degrees within this, such as + signs added by NGC and PCGS, and also stars and other designations. As grading is an art and not a science, not even the most sophisticated grader can consistently assign the same numbers to the same coins. No matter; people love numbers, and they will be with us for a long time to come. And, without question, a certified MS-66 coin is nearly always better than one certified as 63. However, cherrypicking for quality and extra value, something the Guide Book of Franklin and Kennedy Half Dollars (third edition now available for preorder) will aid you in doing, can often lead to finding a 65 that can be certified as a much more valuable 66.
The Revised “Yellow Book” is an Essential Guide for Collectors
The revised and updated edition of Whitman Guide to Coin Collecting includes the basics from previous editions along with pertinent new information for both newcomers and experienced numismatists. In this review, we’ll cover in depth the content for new hobbyists, but we also want to address the numismatic experts early in this critique.
Too often coin dealers and numismatic writers, like me, overlook books that target newcomers to the hobby. What are we to learn, anyway, that we don’t already know? I’m writing this on September 25, 2017, and tonight I am slated to speak at the Ames, Iowa, Coin Club. Coincidentally, I just finished reading Kenneth Bressett’s Whitman Guide to Coin Collecting— a terrific bargain at $12.95 — and will use some of his basic information from the chapter on grading in my talk.
In other words, experienced collectors and numismatists can utilize this work to explain complex topics such as varieties and common coin errors in a language that beginning and intermediate collectors — as might be found in coin clubs — can understand.
If you give such presentations, buy this book. I can think of no better guide to introduce readers into the world of coins, and Bressett, the author of some 20-plus books, not only provides a wealth of facts in discussing basic collecting, replete with high-resolution photos on glossy paper (rare in book publishing), but also inserts history and numismatic tidbits throughout these chapters:
- Coin Collecting as a Hobby
- Coins Are Where You Find Them
- Learning About Your Coins
- How to Get Started
- Caring for Your Collection
- Grading Techniques and Standards
- Coin Prices and Values
- Catalog of Significant Coin Values
- Commemorative, Bullion, and Special Coins
- Oddities, Counterfeits, and Other Coins
The back-of-the-book content is equally instructive, featuring a gallery of actual coin sizes and a glossary of coin terms.
The writing throughout the book is crisp and conversational with a loving tone that begins with Bressett’s dedication to his wife and “second great devotion,” i.e. collecting. That tone is perfect in introducing potentially complex topics, such as grading standards, because it inspires readers to keep learning via more specialized works.
In the interest of disclosure, I know that Whitman operates Coin Update and perhaps has a stake in a positive review, which I am posting now. I am often wary about updated books, and this one has been a best-seller for more than 20 years. But an alluring aspect of this new edition is a snappy design with pull quotes and lots of photos to illustrate the topic for more-visual readers. As experienced collectors know, numismatic photography is a key component of the hobby, and the photos here excel both in detail and cutline. This is primarily why I decided to delve into this book, looking for problems or missing information.
I found none.
What I did find was a well-illustrated, designed, and fact-filled book.
For Serious Numismatists: Inside the Rare Coin Marketplace
“Buy the book before the coin” is good, solid, often-quoted advice for newcomers to the hobby. Frankly, it’s guidance for a lifetime of collecting; we should all heed it well beyond the beginner stage. And fortunately for today’s hobbyist, this advice has never been easier to follow—thanks in large part to one incredibly productive author, Q. David Bowers. Continue reading
Great Photos, Mediocre Coins, and Adventures in Numismatic Publishing
In February 2017, Dennis Tucker put out a call for “problem coins” to illustrate some of the educational warnings author Kenneth Bressett gives in his new Whitman Guide to Coin Collecting. He asked hobbyists for high-resolution photographs of PVC damage, bag marks, scratches, edge bumps, nicks, dents, and other problems caused by poor handling or storage. Continue reading
New from Whitman: Expanded Edition of A Guide Book of Lincoln Cents
Whitman Publishing has released an expanded, updated second edition of its best-selling Guide Book of Lincoln Cents, a popular entry in the Bowers Series of numismatic titles. Continue reading