Huge News - Announcing my first Book: "The Art and Science of Grading Coins"

[physics-fan3.14]

Many of you who have been around for a while have seen my series of What You Need To Know posts about grading. I walked through each component of grading, talking about the scientific and technical aspects, and tried to balance that with the subjectivity and art of grading. After I completed the series, I had several people mention that I should expand it and turn it into a book.

 

Well, now I have.

 

After a journey of over 5 years, I have finally completed it. The book is self-published by CreateSpace, owned by Amazon. Copies are available for order now on CreateSpace, and will be available on Amazon within 5 days (I'll update the link to Amazon when it arrives there).

 

You can find a link here: https://www.createspace.com/4432782

 

Take a look and tell me what you think - I am incredibly proud of this effort.

 

Special thanks go to James and Roger, who proofread early rough drafts and provided significant amount of help, encouragement, and feedback. I also want to thank Bob, who took a lot of the pictures.

[Deerefan8420]

Jason, that is wonderful news! Congratulations! And I'll be ordering my copy as soon as it becomes available.

 

Edited to add: I guess I misread your post. I see it is available for order at the link you provided. I am purchasing my copy now!

[physics-fan3.14]

Jason, that is wonderful news! Congratulations! And I'll be ordering my copy as soon as it becomes available.

 

It is available now. It is on the CreateSpace e-Store, it just hasn't made it to Amazon yet.

[Deerefan8420]

Jason, that is wonderful news! Congratulations! And I'll be ordering my copy as soon as it becomes available.

 

It is available now. It is on the CreateSpace e-Store, it just hasn't made it to Amazon yet.

 

I misread your first post. But I just completed my order from the CreateSpace e-Store and choose expedited shipping so I should have my copy early next week.

 

Congrats again Jason!

[Nutmeg Coin]

Congratulations, Jason, and I hope the project has real success.

[RWB]

Congrats!! I hope you e-store is overrun by customers, cash in hand.

 

RWB

[coinman_23885]

Congratulations Jason! Good luck with your sales.

[coinman_23885]

You should find out whether you could cheaply produce examples to be sold at coin shows. Contact Whitman or a book distributor that might attend larger coin shows.

[robec1347]

Congratulations Jason! I just made out my order.

[Raisethis2]

Just instructed the wife to order 2 for Christmas. One for me, one for my Secret Santa gift.

 

PS. You may not want me to be your Secret Santa.

 

Congratulations!!!

[rrantique]

Congratulations Jason! I just made out my order.

 

+1 (thumbs u

[physics-fan3.14]

Thanks for the support, guys!

[BKW]

Congratulations!! Looks like a good read.

[AHFreak]

I cant even tell you how awesome I think this is..... I hope you get more than you deserve (which is a lot) out of this project, and not just monetarily speaking...

 

I just ordered your book from Createspace, and I look forward to getting, reading and using It as a resource.

 

 

Thanks for sharing.

 

 

Good luck.

 

 

Chris.

 

 

[johnny9434]

congrats on that one

[leeg]

Way to go.

 

[jpcienkus]

Congrats Jason! Any signed copies available?

[joeyuk]

Just ordered mine. Thanks

[Hard Times]

Hi Jason,

Fantastic! The only problem is that you are charging too little, raise the price! Can't wait to read it.

 

Best, HT

[bsshog40]

First off, Congrats Jason. Is this setup like photograde and the ANA book with pictures of different coins and grading? I can tell by the link that you include a lot more info also. Just asking before I order my copy. Thanks Jason!

[bsshog40]

Congrats Jason! Any signed copies available?

Ditto!!!

[physics-fan3.14]

First off, Congrats Jason. Is this setup like photograde and the ANA book with pictures of different coins and grading? I can tell by the link that you include a lot more info also. Just asking before I order my copy. Thanks Jason!

 

No - Photograde and the ANA guide cover that territory very well. I didn't see a need to re-hash that.

 

What this book does is goes through each aspect of grading (luster, strike, wear, eye appeal, etc), and explains each one in depth. It talks about what factors cause a good strike, what makes luster appear, what causes toning - and really explains each aspect. It explains how each is used to determine the grade of a coin. The book is very similar to my series of WYNTK posts about grading (with a lot more detail and explanation).

 

As far as I could tell, there wasn't really a book that did this. For example, the section in the ANA guide that talks about these subjects is about 10 pages long. As I was learning, I always wanted to read a book that explained these parts more - so I wrote it.

[michael]

congrats (thumbs u sounds like a great book and just in time for the holidays too

[cladking]

Congratulations.

 

Good luck.

[bsshog40]

First off, Congrats Jason. Is this setup like photograde and the ANA book with pictures of different coins and grading? I can tell by the link that you include a lot more info also. Just asking before I order my copy. Thanks Jason!

 

No - Photograde and the ANA guide cover that territory very well. I didn't see a need to re-hash that.

 

What this book does is goes through each aspect of grading (luster, strike, wear, eye appeal, etc), and explains each one in depth. It talks about what factors cause a good strike, what makes luster appear, what causes toning - and really explains each aspect. It explains how each is used to determine the grade of a coin. The book is very similar to my series of WYNTK posts about grading (with a lot more detail and explanation).

 

As far as I could tell, there wasn't really a book that did this. For example, the section in the ANA guide that talks about these subjects is about 10 pages long. As I was learning, I always wanted to read a book that explained these parts more - so I wrote it.

Thanks!

[physics-fan3.14]

I'm listed on Amazon now! What I don't understand is how there are already sellers listing my book, both New and Used....

 

http://smile.amazon.com/Art-Science-Grading-Coins/dp/1492356107/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1417650052&sr=1-1

 

 

I would really appreciate it if those of you who purchased my book could write a review on Amazon and rate the book (when you get it).

[physics-fan3.14]

Congrats Jason! Any signed copies available?

 

I'd like to do autographed versions. However, since this is a self-published book, they only print a copy when you order a copy. I don't have a cache of them.

 

If you want to send your copy to me, I'll be happy to sign it and return it, but the expense of that seems more than its worth.

[jom]

Congrats on the book!

 

As to the question above about what your book has in it relative to the ANA guide: I'm curious how you compare your book to the PCGS Grading Guide. The original version of that was pretty good...

 

Thoughts?

 

jom

[JKK]

If you want some guidance on how to drum up Amazon reviews, PM me. In my non-coin life, I'm an editor who used to be a moderately big fish in the Amazon reviewing pond. I work with a lot of first-time authors, and get a pretty good look at what they do right and wrong.

[physics-fan3.14]

Congrats on the book!

 

As to the question above about what your book has in it relative to the ANA guide: I'm curious how you compare your book to the PCGS Grading Guide. The original version of that was pretty good...

 

Thoughts?

 

jom

 

As I see it, there are 4 top notch books about grading - Photograde, the ANA Guide, PCGS's book, and QD Bower's "Grading Coins by Photographs." Each of them all do the pretty much the same thing. They have a couple of opening chapters about the elements and approach to grading, and then devote the majority of the book to a series-by-series breakdown of each coin in each grade. Each of these is quite good, and essential for learning to grade coins.

 

The PCGS grading guide came the closest to what I wanted to do, but still sorta fell short, I think. The PCGS guide does a better job of explaining the components of grading, and their different appearances. It does a really good job of applying each of the characteristics to individual series, and explaining how they might be different on different coins. But it still lacked a lot of the technical details, I thought. What the PCGS guide accomplishes in the first few chapters, about 50-60 pages, I devote a whole book to.

 

There is definitely some overlap, but I think my book does a better job at explaining the details and subtleties, and goes more in depth on the components of grading than any of the existing books.