RWB

To start, please reread the posts of Mark, KyCoin and some others. They are offering a free, no obligation reality check. The first thing to do is not only read the Guide Book, but every other coin book you can get your hands on (try ILL from your local library). Go to the Newman Numismatic Portal (NNP) and browse the smaller recent auctions; look at past ebay prices for the kinds of inexpensive coins you plan to sell/buy. Look at established coin dealers' on-line listings and comments; memorize the basics of grading coins - especially VF and EF grades - the most likely ones you'll be able to trade profitably. Participate in on-line forums and find out what low value coins are popular, and what collectors look for in uncertified coins. Learn what you can about coin certification and grading companies, but be aware that your $600 budget is very sparse. Be prepared to use only discretionary funds. If you make 10% profit on a transaction, consider yourself fortunate. After 1,000 such transactions you might consider if your time - even retired time - is being well used. There are other numismatic things you can also do besides selling coins, but they don't offer much in the way of monetary profit.

The silver dimes (through 1964 date) are worth their weight in silver; the others have no collector value above 10-cents. Please read Just Bob's comment carefully.

RE: "... they inspect with some kind of gun and he says it doesn’t have silver! " Please find a different jeweler. This one likely does not know how to use his XRF.

...and any good teacher/professor knows how to detect ghost-written material...and also how to assign an "F" to the paper.

This book is a promotional publication, much like the Saint-Gaudens book prepared by Heritage alone.

Thanks for the interesting notes and name spelling correction for Ms Meade. I took my reference off one of the on-line seller's listings - my own copy being someplace in storage with other books.

A lot of bad things happen to one-cent coins. These two seem to have had a hard life in a convenience store parking lot. Why would the original poster think they might be valuable?

The Guide Book of US coins is likely in the vicinity of 20,000 per year - widely stocked and well known. The other Guide Book series are probably at the 5,000 copy level - this is also a cost break-point where the cost per copy drops dramatically. Although the Guide Book is an annual publication, the others can be offered for sale as long as copies remain in inventory -- same as my books or any others. The unwritten rule is to avoid having a published book appear on the "remainder" table in book stores. So publishers usually order only what can be sold in a reasonable time. Fifteen years might seem long, but for special interest books - especially ones built on research data like mine - it's not unreasonable. The distributor gets steady income over many years.

Differences between 1st and 2nd editions are mostly structural, with a little more clarity in the 2nd. The primary disadvantage is age of the material. Mr. Akers did not have access to the immense mass of information now available, nor to the original data that was unknown in his day. The result is that opinions on appearance and relative abundance, which might have been accurate on initial publication, and have now been superseded by more reliable estimates and opinions based on much larger samples of coins. (Readers will see this in the Saint-Gaudens DE book where some of Mr. Akers' comments are accepted as remaining valid and others are not.)

The ANA has an annual YN essay contest. Check out their website for your son.

A coin book press run is rarely more than 5,000 copies, and most are just a few hundred. Some newer books are either print on demand, or advance order only and result in less than 100 copies printed.

Thanks! Good to know. Maybe the mint will issue a commemorative coin with a reverse featuring a bunch of people kicking a dead horse. Seriously, the fall-back option is likely a 2021 gold Peace "dollar" on a 1-oz planchet....matching the 2016 gold bullion issues. That could make an impressive set of four gold pieces in a custom case - or maybe a double set to show both sides....?

Yep --- "A rolling time stone gathers no space." --- An ancient adage from the future.

The current edition was published in 2005. It has taken 15 years to sell out - which is about typical for a numismatic book. I don't know what the press run was. For comparison J.Hewett Judd's book on US Pattern coins came out in 1959 - and new copies are still available!

The Annual Assay Commission meeting was consistently the one time during the year that the mint director saw coins from all the mints in one place and in comparable conditions. Even after initiation of the Special Assay at HQ in Washington, the director was only marginally involved - unless something unusual was noticed. (See my Coin World article on 1890-O dollars with letter E transfer.) Pyx coins were put into padded, sealed envelopes. These were opened only by the Commission. The director did not see them until the meeting. Letters relating to the Assay Commission occasionally include references to coins of defective appearance, or clipped planchets. But there is much less of this than I would expect in relation to the two Southern gold mints.

Ahhhh....so it was the future that was deleted before it happened.

The reverse depicts St. George the Veterinarian Dentist, doing a root canal on the dragon. The dragon was in so much pain from his impacted tooth he was spitting fire. --- Or so it says on the internet?

What was deleted?

History of the United States Mint and Its Coinage by David W. Lange (Author), Mary Jo Mead (Contributor). I understand that the print version is sold out, but I think Kindel and other electronic versions are available. Not sure how an electronic version could be autographed....an "e-signature" maybe?

For ancient Greek, Parthian, or Roman Republic coins work with an experienced dealer in these items. Sellers can refer you to multiple sources for historical context and preservation.

They are currently retailed at about $387 each in lots of 20+. Your hoard has an approximate retail value of $116100.

RE: "What is the...star given...for?" Stars are given for being good or doing good things. For example, little boys get a silver star for not going "pp" in their pants, and a gold star if they hit the pot. Some use shiny green or gold stickers, or plus-signs for the same purpose. Not sure about coins, but likely something similar...or maybe it's like a "participant" trophy....?

An authentic 1829 master coin ("proof") dime would be worth closer to $100,000 than $1,000.

Not sure if the legislation passed Congress and was signed before adjournment. In any event nothing has been produced, so any ads you see are for imitations or counterfeits.

Until a few years ago ebay employed a retired teaching nun (Sister Brutus from the Order of the Sisters of St. Bernard) who was sent out to give malefactors a sharp wack on the hand (or neck) with her wooden ruler. I recall reading that Sister Brutus quit after breaking a gross of rulers and wearing out her custom-made steel toed jackboots. She then took a job with the Greenbay Packers as left tackle. At 375 lbs she could make quite an impression on the field. (The silver cross she wore with the sharpened upright might also have contributed to her success.) ....or maybe it was a different nun....