Coin Collecting for Dummies [ILLUSTRATED] (Paperback)

by Ron Guth (Author) "If you have, you've experienced a small taste of what it is to be a coin collector..." (more)
Key Phrases: complete details about services, major die varieties, mintmark set, United States, Half Dollars, Draped Bust (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
There’s a special comfort in collecting, in surrounding yourself with familiar objects and building a store of assets. The allure of money is especially strong. Coins represent real value. The warmth of silver and the weight of gold are irresistible to some. Coins travel throughout the world and through time itself, representing and absorbing history as they pass from one person to the next. Oh the stories coins could tell if they only had voices.

Coin-collecting is a relaxing and inexpensive (although it can be very expensive!) hobby. If you buy properly, coins can be an excellent place to park your money for a rainy day, and if you buy the right coins and the market improves, you may even be able to make a profit on your collection. In fact, numismatics (the fancy term for coin collecting) offers more riches than you may realize. This rewarding hobby also opens the door to some serious life skills, such as

History

Geography

Observational skills

Organizational skills

Analytical tools.

This book is designed to appeal to collectors at every level, from beginner to advanced. This is not a hardcore coin book; rather, Coin Collecting For Dummies is a great general reference that points you in different directions for further investigation. Perhaps the most important goal of this book is to get you excited – and to keep you excited – about coin collecting. Coin Collecting For Dummies covers all these topics and more:

Deciding what to collect

Storing your collection correctly

Finding out about repaired, restored, and recolored coins

Pricing world coins

Finding a good coin dealer

Buying at auction

Understanding that condition equals value

Exploring the wild side with rare, expensive, and esoteric coins

Selling your coins

No one needs coins, but if you decide to collect them, you certainly need this book. Coin collecting can sometimes be a confusing maze of choices sprinkled with little traps along the way. Sure, you can go it alone, but why not make your journey into numismatics a lot easier by picking the brain of an expert collector and learning from the mistakes of others.

From the Back Cover
Turn your pocket change into a treasure with this valuable guide!

Packed with tips that every coin collector needs to know Numismatics? It's just a big ol'term for coin collecting. Let expert Ron Guth show you how to start your own collection — the fun and easy way. From evaluating a coin's value to avoiding pitfalls when buying coins and selling them at auctions, this handy reference is your step-by-step guide to creating a really cool collection.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: For Dummies; 1 edition (September 29, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764553895
• ISBN-13: 978-0764553899
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #346,609 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

49 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Be a dummy and waste your money, or..., April 12, 2004

By A Customer

...be smarter and purchase something which at least contains helpful information. Unfortunately, I did waste my money on this book and found it totally unorganized and of very little practical help. I've been curious about many of these so-called "for Dummies" type of books. If this is an example of one, you could do much better by either contacting the American Numismatic Association (ANA) at their website at
<http://www.money.org/index.shtml> or a wonderful and little known website entitled: "Coin Facts" which is found at <http://coinfacts.com/>. The Coin Facts website is the best reference source I have found for coins----I've been collecting for over 25 years. Even better, the websites are free to browse and print from. In addition, every state in the US has a state coin association and they always love to help folks---especially young persons. I've found great enjoyment not only in coin collecting but MEETING the many interesting folks who engage in this endeavor. You don't need to purchase any book which denigrates the reader even in its title--especialy when it gives such poor and disorganized material.

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Coin Collecting For Dummies, November 18, 2001

By	martin kaplan (Houston, TX) - See all my reviews

"Coin Collecting For Dummies" is a book both for the beginning and advanced collector (and coin investor)...it belongs in every coin collector's library! The adage "buy the book before you buy the coin(s)" applies to this excellent volume. The book is well written, easy to understand and covers everything the collector/investor should consider before, and while, collecting/investing. It is never to late to learn from the information in "Coin Collectring For Dummies"! Humor is sprinkled throughout the book which keeps information that is sometimes academic from being too dry. The beginning collector can easily feel that he is "on the wrong side of the table" (dealer versus collector) and the information in "Coin Collecting For Dummies" definitely "levels the playing field". The cost of this book is far less than the price of many coins...not reading this book will definitely "cost" the collector/investor with money ill spent! A must read!

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Immensely Helpful Introduction, January 18, 2002

By	Mike Blaszczak (Mercer Island, WA, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I'd bought a few mint sets, and ocasionally thought about saving particularly good-looking coins. Someone gave me some more coins for Christmas, and I've exploded into coin collecting.

There's a ton of stuff to learn. This book covers alot of it in a very approchable way, and isn't quite as condescending as most of the "For Dummies" books. The humour is a little too frequent for the level of the content, but the book is a great start for the new collector.

There's a few sections the book could have done without, like the chapter on record-setting auctions. It would've been great to balance it with a section on the most underrated coins, or the best bargains.

If you're interested in getting started, this book is for you. For anyone with experience, it's probably not appropriate.