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21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Don't Waste Your Money, December 26, 2006
I was looking forward to this book so I could reference the latest issues of a number of countries. Unfortunately, there are very few listings that aren't covered in the 2005 edition of Standard Catalog of World Coins 1901-present. In addition, the lack of pictures of more modern issues is disturbing. There are abundant pictures of the outrageously excessive issues of the Isle of Man crowns; however, more important pictures of new issues from Thailand are not included. Unless you read Thai, the descriptions are useless and you can't easily reference your coins. Also, it is surprising the number of countries not listed past 2002 or 2003. If this is a 2007 edition, one might think that it would be comprehensive at least up to 2005. I would recommend waiting for later editions that will hopefully be better researched and more comprehensive. This is just a cheap attempt to make more money by re-packaging information available in earlier editions.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
More and more helpful but is it really necessary?, June 29, 2008
This review is from: 2009 Standard Catalog Of World Coins 2001-Date (Standard Catalog) (Paperback)
With every passing year the edition of a separate 21st century coin catalog becomes more justified. Any coin collector can easily list a number of countries which do their best to fill the volume with products of their mints and national banks. China and France alone add at least two to four pages yearly, Russia and Poland are not far behind. It does make sense to produce this catalog and yet there are doubts.
The 2009 edition brings another selection of new commemoratives plus a handful of fairly interesting regular coins but somehow I am still unconvinced that there were credible reasons for splitting the 1900+ volume into two - the 20th and the 21st century (apart from making more money on collectors ;) If you could remove "patterns etc." sections - most of which interest less than a hundred people all around the world - the 20th and the 21st century catalogs could still easily be produced as a single volume.
The volume seems to have become too big to handle for its editors. Several times the same coins are listed twice (Bangladesh 2 taka is the first to come to mind) with minute differences in descriptions as if there were differences between two coins. It seems nobody had the strength to edit the whole volume carefully...
In short - if you are seriously interested in commemorative world issues, this is your book. You simply must buy it as the only other choice is checking various internet sites. Yet if your interests are more moderate getting a new edition every two or three years should be enough.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Still Disappointing, September 13, 2008
This review is from: 2009 Standard Catalog Of World Coins 2001-Date (Standard Catalog) (Paperback)
The first two editions of this catalog received less than favorable reviews, so I waited until the third edition to buy one hoping that the bugs would be worked out. The listings for most countries are more current in that coins up into 2007 are included, which is reasonable for a 2009 edition that had to be printed in early 2008 or earlier. Older editions often were three to five years behind. On the down side, the catalog still includes major problems: LARGE numbers of coins for most countries are listed without pictures (80% or more for some smaller countries), some catalog numbers are different than those in earlier editions, some coin descriptions do not match the coins pictured (which is correct, the description or the picture???), some descriptions do not list the subject of the coin (especially a problems with some poor pictures), some coins are listed more than once with different catalog numbers (if all coins had pictures, this problem would be more obvious). The listed coin values are a mixed bag. Most of the values for newer commemoratives look like full retail as issued by the mints or their distributors. Values for coins from countries that are hot right now are a joke, but predicting market swings is beyond the scope of any catalog. Use the values as guides to approximate values and not the actual values.
With all the problems, this catalog (and the others in the series) remain the most comprehensive source of information available on world coins. The specialty collector can find better catalogs--usually at much higher prices. The more general collector or novice should use this catalog, if for no other reason than using the catalog numbers for record keeping and communicating with other collectors or dealers. The publisher could do a great service to the hobby by fixing the problems, especially adding pictures for ALL of the coins.
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