My first exposure to the Newcomb book......now I'm hooked!

[coinsandmedals]

Great fun.

 

As some of you may know I'm currently a student at North Carolina State University (NCSU), one of the many great benefits of being at student at state is the resources available to me. One of the most useful resources on campus that I have found is the library, surprisingly enough we have a fairly good selection of books relating to numismatics! Despite the good selection of books there are no books relating specifically to large cents, however the university has a program that allows me to check out books from other universities around the country and have them shipped to me. I took advantage of this as soon as I was made of aware, and now I have three large cent die variety guides sitting at my desk. I have four large cents with me now, and I think I may have attributed my first one! Needless to say I'm completely hooked and I just may have to break down and buy the book so I can study them at my leisure. I have two more books on request, which should arrive in the next few days giving me enough time to get them before I head back home for Easter.

 

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[coinsbygary]

Attributing coins is fun and furthermore you can't get the most out of our hobby without becoming a student of the hobby through reading and research. My collecting interest is in Morgan Dollars and only recently have I started to learn about the many die varieties on Morgan Dollars. VAMs as they are called are quite fascinating and I even bought a binocular microscope to observe the varying varieties. At any rate, my personal collection of numismatic books is growing along with my collection of coins! All the best!

Gary

[Electric Peak]

In addition to getting your own copies of the relevant books, I'd suggest becoming a member of the Early American Coppers club. Go to www.eac.org for more information, including application info, and a list of recommended books. The club is the largest specialty club in the hobby, and is full of helpful, friendly people who want to share their knowledge of those great old coins. They have an annual convention (this year, in May, near Columbus, OH) plus regional meetings at various coin shows. (I just attended one at the Baltimore show last week.) Welcome to the wonderful world of large cents! - Alan

[coinsandmedals]

Thanks for the replies; I must say that I almost like attributing the coin more than the thrill of the hunt for the coin! I hope to add to my book collection as well, unfortunately these books for the most part are not very easy to find and are rather expensive to purchase one book is almost as much as my organic chemistry book and that was close to $300.00! I don’t personally collect Morgan dollars; however my appreciation has grown for the series immensely after a better examination of the Vam’s on Vam world. I have checked out the early American copper club website many times, and I know that I eventually become a member when more cash is available. The only true issue that I have now is just trying to focus my collecting goals. I have found myself purchasing more and more early British copper mainly because it is relatively available in higher grades and at a good price, as opposed to early U.S. copper where the competition drives the price way out of my budget. The last large cent that I purchased was an 1820 in a PCGS holder graded 66BN and that purchase was done privately through a collector nearly a year ago. I may just need to change where I look for these coins; however I often times tend to be very picky about the coin. Thanks for the welcome Alan; I will be looking at your sets for motivation and hope when I hit a rut!

[RichH]

Its always a great approach to "buy the book, then the coin". Happy hunting, RichH