What World Coin book do I need?

[vumc409]

I have ventured into the area of World Coin collecting and need to find the industry standard or "bible" for this area of collecting. Any suggestions?

[DC Dawg]

One of the better books are the Standard Catalog of World Coins by Krause Publications. They have various catalogs for the 17th through 21st century. The books contain a few paragraphs on each country, images of the coins, catalog numbers for each coins (KM and Y numbers) and pricing information.

 

If you don't mind the same information electronically, Krause publishes a 3 DVD set with the 19th through 21st century in machine readable form. I've been told that the navigation is a bit clunky, but its a first edition of the DVD set. It can only get better! The list price is $99. You can buy it for $79 from Brooklyn Gallery.

 

I bought the 20th and 21st century books before Krause released the DVD set. If I waited, I would have bought the DVDs!

 

Scott

[ant]

krause is awsome! get all the books if you find for cheap ,having just 1 doesnt realy cut it. and it is bigger than a denver phone book or "bible"

[satootoko]

catalog numbers for each coins (KM and Y numbers)

In addition to Yeoman ("Y") numbers and their own assignments ("KM"), they use Craig {"C") numbers for some older coins that have them.

 

Since they split the 20th and 21st Centuries into separate volumes, for most purposes other than pricing older editions of the 17th-20th Century volumes are quite useful, and often available on EBay, Amazon and other places at significant price savings.

 

They aren't the best source of valid pricing anyhow, when you consider the time lag between preparation for publication and actual sale, plus their sometimes major over/under price estimation for specific countries, and the effect of the volatile bullion market. .

[jackson64]

what satootoka said is true about the Krause guides...not always reliable if you're looking for value, but they are a must have if you want to identify a coin and learn a bit about it...

[physics-fan3.14]

I use Krause to get a general ballpark for value and then just decide what I feel like paying. Sometimes its more, sometimes its less. The real value of the Krause guide, however, is as a reference, not as a price guide.

[Conder101]

I have both the books and the DVD's. They both have their advantage. I copied the DVD's to the hard drive of my laptop so now my standard catalogs go with me everywhere my laptop goes and I'm not lugging along 45 pounds of books. If you can get a 4 gig or more flash drive you can put the whole set on that and carry it with you so you can just plug it into any computer.

[DC Dawg]

I have both the books and the DVD's. They both have their advantage. I copied the DVD's to the hard drive of my laptop so now my standard catalogs go with me everywhere my laptop goes and I'm not lugging along 45 pounds of books. If you can get a 4 gig or more flash drive you can put the whole set on that and carry it with you so you can just plug it into any computer.

Flash drive... that's a cool idea!!

 

I wonder what the interface or the file format is. I could get a 4Gb SD card and have the data available on my Palm. That would be real cool!!

 

Scott

[vumc409]

Thanks for all the response.

 

Krause it is - just pulled the trigger on the 20th Century book. Will likely end up with the DVDs, but maybe I'll wait for the 2nd edition. They might have some of the bugs worked out by then. The flash drive is an excellent idea.

 

Thanks again!

[Conder101]

The file format is PDF so that isn't a problem. Acrobat reader is a free download and the PDF format is so widespread that there are few computers out there that don't have it installed. Especailly if they are on-line. I don't know if it would work on a Palm though.

[World Colonial]

Krause to me is a good reference to give you an idea of the potential relative scarcity within a series and what exists to potentially collect if you have not made up your mind.

 

But once you have selected your series and have followed it for a while, you may find you do not need it. If there is a specific reference book for your series, you would (obviously) be better off with that. Trouble is, they often do not exist. An example of a good reference book is "The Milled Columnarios of Central And South America" by Frank Gilboy. Its good because it is more than just a price guide which is what most "reference books" really are - just a listing of mintages and prices by date and denomination.