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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
4 Stars but only because of its explication of rating system, July 12, 2003
The review below lodges some valid and important complaints. To wit, this book really is not a price guide as such as the 'guidance' is so broad as to be meaningless. Also, it is quite difficult to look up specific varieties such as the one you may be holding in your grimy little paw, and it doesn't give enough up to date information on the populations of various errors. Having said that, it is one of those I believe any nonprofessional coin collector ... coin scout should have for the following reasons: Alan Herbert, the author does give examples of the broad panoply of mint errors that are out there, with description, level of rarity and, usually, a photgraph for visual reference. More importantly, the book includes a complete description of the rating system and all of the nomenclature surrounding the rating and identifying of various errors. This information alone makes this book worthy of purchase. There is other information here too, such as a simple, lucid and photographically enhanced description of the entire minting process that will definitely help you to get your head around the world of error coins. To be sure, this book is deeply flawed and on that basis should probably draw only three stars, but I've looked and there just isn't that much literature on error coins out there for the casual coin collector. So, if you want to fill out your knowledge of error coins but aren't a hardcore error hound, go ahead and get this book. You won't be sorry, I'm sure (possibly a little disappointed though).
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
For the serious error coin collector..., February 18, 2006
If you are into error coins big time, this book is for you. The book has hundreds of different errors, saying how they were made and a general price. It is like a encyclepedia: many different general entries, not going to specific on any one type of error. If you are a begginner to numismatics I would not reccommend this. Instead you should go for something like the Redbook. However, if error coins are your expertise, this is a must buy.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
The best in the field, April 29, 2009
Alan Herbert is one of the best in this field. He has decades of experience, has written a column for as long as I've been living, and has visited dozens of the world's mints in acquiring his intricately detailed knowledge of the minting process. His is as scientific an understanding of the error classifications as can be made.
Some are critical of his guide for not telling them the value of every error. Well, they are mistaken to expect high levels of pricing detail. Although certain errors are generic, like clipped planchets, most are unique. Pricing demands a level of expertise that cannot be encapsulated in a book. It is a multi-dimensional process that is a function of not just rarity and denomination and grade, but of series popularity and visual appeal which can only be judged by an expert; not to mention the large variety of ways in which sets of errors can be assembled, which drives the desirability of certain errors in unpredictable ways. Frankly, ranges of value are all that can be achieved. If you want straightforward pricing, error collecting is not for you.
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by Brian Allen
