A good book and a good story...

[jtryka]

Well, today was a banner day at the mailbox! No, I didn't receive any stunning coins, or lots from Baltimore, I received a book! It's a book I've been looking for since I started collecting bust halves, the 1990 edition of the Overton book. They are buggers to find, but I finally found one at the Lake Books sale a few weeks ago.

 

For those who aren't aware, Lake Books is run by a fellow named Fred Lake out of Florida, and they specialize in numismatic books, many are used and out of print and very hard to find. It's sort of old school in that it's a mail bid sale, so you choose the books you want to bid on, then e-mail, mail or fax your bids to him (but you can look at the list on the website www.lakebooks.com to see if you want to bid. At the end of the sale, the high bidder wins, plus a 15% BP and shipping. So all told, I spent about $46 for this book. Now here's where it gets good. This is the first time I have actually won a lot in one of the sales, so after coming back from a weekend in Vegas, I see an envelope in the mail. No big deal, just need to send a check. Well today, I actually received the book! It was well packed and wrapped in paper, and then shipped in a large box full of peanuts! I still need to mail the check (which I'll send tomorrow), so it just struck me as a very nice thing, that people would actually trust one another to do the right thing. In a day where it seems like coin doctors and rip-off artists are doing as much damage as ever to our hobby, here is a pocket of the business that's run more like things used to be. Needless to say, when I am looking for more books, Lake Books will be the first place I check.

 

By the way, even though it's used, my new Overton book is in near perfect condition!

[braddick]

Nice! It's always fun to receive something coin related in the mail box.

[chrisfuccione]

I've sent Fred lake a few emails on questions pertaing coin books and he is very helpful. CHRIS

[TomB]

That's cool. You obtained the book for a very reasonable amount. I bought my copy when it was new for $50.

 

From his picture on his web site, it looks like he's a member of FUN.