Isbn: 0312291264
Sales Rank: 49688
Subjects:  1. Antiques & Collectibles    2. Antiques / Collectibles    3. Antiques/Collectibles    4. Coins    5. Coins, American    6. Coins, Currency & Medals    7. Collectors and collecting    8. Handbooks, manuals, etc    9. Reference - Price Guides   

Reviews (6)

But where's the proof?
This book is good for what it includes, but there is a glaring and shocking omission!There is no info on proof sets, only on some individual coins.With the introduction of state quarter sets, annual proof sets have become a hot commodity, yet this book completely overlooks the entire category!

A Guidebook of United States Coins by Yeoman
This work has been printed and re-printed for years. It is well
organized. There is a fair concensus of coins represented.
This book is a "must read" for coin buffs and persons
seeking to establish a fair valuation for any collection.
If you own a coin handbook, eventually it will have to be
replaced in order to keep current with the most recent
evaluations.Yeoman distinguishes between grades of coins,
alphabetic abbreviations and the quantity minted.
For instance, in the year 1909 alone, there are at least
4 different coins. i.e. Lincoln Head, VDB,S and SVDB.
Lastly, the author enunciates U.S. Coin Standards in terms
of diameter, thickness, gross weight, grains and thousandths
(fineness measurement). Purchase this book if you have a coin
collection either large or small.

Reviews (10)

Inexpensive Introduction to Greek and Roman Coins
This is the book to begin with if you think you may have an interest in ancient Western coins. This covers Greek coins from 680 B.C. to Roman Coins up to 476 A.D. The scope of this book is basically European coinage for roughly 1,000 years. What this book does NOT cover: Byzantine, Persian and Far East ancient coins.

About 60% of the book (the first half of the book) is devoted to Greek coins, and the other 40% to Roman (mostly imperial) coins. There are lots of black and white pictures of real coin examples in both sections of the book. I will be focusing mostly on the Roman section.

THE GREEK COIN SECTION:
This begins with a description of how ancient coins were made.

Greek 101 is not a prerequisite! The book teaches you how to read Greek characters on the coin inscriptions.

It also goes through a pictorial history of Greek coinage: The Period of Archaic Art (680-480 B.C.), The Period of Transitional Art (480-415 B.C.), The Period of Finest Art (415-336 B.C.), The Period of Later Fine Art (336-280 B.C.)The Period of the Decline of the Art (280-146 B.C.), The Period of Continued Decline in Art (146-27 B.C.), and finally The Imperial Period (27 B.C. - 268 A.D.). There are lots and lots of pictures.

THE ROMAN COIN SECTION:
This was what I primarily bought this book for. There is a brief history of early Roman coins (how they were cast instead of struck), but there isn't much in the way of text or pictorial examples in regard to Roman Republican Coinage...this is nearly all Imperial (From Caesar Augustus (29 B.C.) to Romulus Augustus (476 A.D.).

It goes through the denominations of Roman coins. It gives relative Roman values of: Aureus to Denarius to Sesterius to Dupondius to As to Quadrans. What it does NOT give much hint about ancient values is of later denominations like Antoninianus, Follis, Siliqua, and Solidus.

There is a big picture section on Reverse Types of Roman coins, going through all the gods and goddesses that appear on the backs.

There is an excellent section on how to read Obverse inscriptions. This is probably the most helpful section for the beginner. Included also is an extensive list of Emperor's names as they most commonly appear on the coins.

Finally, there is an Emperor-by-Emperor coin-by-coin history of Rome, with very brief comments about each ruler. Only one coin per ruler is listed, so don't expect to find a lot of examples of each Emperor.

CONCLUSION:
What this book will NOT do is give you the present-day values of coins, the relative rarity of a coin, and it speaks nothing about grading coins. If you have poor-quality late Roman coins that you are trying to attribute, this book will be of minimal help. The best book I have found on the Subject of Roman Coins is David Van Meter's Handbook of Roman Imperial Coins: A Complete Guide to the History, Types, Symbols and Artistry of Roman Imperial Coinage. It is much more in-depth, but of course, it is a lot more expensive as well.

This Handbook of Ancient Greek & Roman Coins serves as a fine introduction to these two subjects. Without breaking the bank, the huge amount of information contained in this 288-page Volume will give you a good idea if you want to pursue this subject further. For the range of coverage and the price, you can't go wrong.

A excellent book for beginners
If you are thinking to collect classic Greek and Roman coins and you have no idea of how to start, this is a good book to introduce in a cheaper way.

There is a interesting introducing chapter and after the boor is organized in two main chapter, the old greek coins ant the imperial roman coins.

There are many illustrations exemplifying coins kinds and a little bit explanation in each one.

I can only put it an inconvenience, forgets the Republican and the Provincial periods of Rome coinage, but you can understandbecause the book would shouldat least 100 pages more.

Reviews (1)

A pleasure to read !
From beginning to end, I enjoyed reading this book.

Each chapter can be read on its own, as a series of articles on the subject, but going through them all, makes clear the wealth of information that can be gathered from the tiny masterpieces of art preserved on ancient coins. Buildings of all types are depicted on coins and on reconstructions; some history of the structures accompanies text.

Coins depicted alongside the text are hand drawn, something that was the standard on most early books. This allows the author to stress or fill in details that the actual photograph can't provide, and as they are in a larger size than the coins themselves I didn't have to struggle to notice them. Photographs at the end of the book (black and white, why not in color?) provide the feeling of the real size and appearance of what survives today.

Features

• Magazine Subscription

Reviews (2)

Don't Buy it at Amazon
This is truly one of the great magazines for numismatists, but don't waste your money here, go straight to the source at coinagemag dot com and pay HALF as much.

Features

• Magazine Subscription

Reviews (3)

Numismatics, come out of the closet
Weekly issue in tabloid form.

This is the publication you have been waiting for. It is not just some sort of glorified price list. You will find out the latest news in the coin world and articles to enhance your existing collection. Find out where the trade shows are. You can also find this at trade shows; however is nice to have a copy on the off times when you are saving for the next show. You will get the latest information on people that influence coin collecting.
If you are interested in market trends they can be found here also.

There is also an online counter part so you can get the latest news through e-mail.

The only warning is that you will not be able to part with your older copy.

Geared to the collector/investor so lots of great data!
I subscribe to this because I like the fact that it has all of the up to date info on US mint programs, machinations, mintage reports and auction gossip with results, etc.It also has a very active classifieds section and super coin dealer ads.In addition there is the obligatory spec piece on overlooked and undervalued coins/coin segments, etc. which probably don't amount to a hill of beans actually but always get one to thinking about the particular coin/coin segment highlighted in the particular article.An oddly compelling part of the magazine is the letters section where very opinionated people tend to bash each other over the course of two or three issues.It is a lively and engaging part of the magazine-newsweekly that would be sorely missed if it were ever cut out.Also there is often a guest opinion or two from some of the coin world's heavy weights and/or notables.Every other issue or so there is an insert that lists either upcoming auctions and coin shows, or a table of inflated coin values (per all coin magazine tradition).On price alone, I highly recommend this but also if you like the cult/star trek aspect of coin collecting this is certainly a must-subscribe to periodical.

Reviews (11)

This should be your first ancient coin book
This is something of a potpourri of ancient coin information.It doesn't make a good reference work, per se; there are other books, etc. to purchase when you settle on your collecting theme.It is a great background resource, though, and helped me to clarify my own collecting themes.

The key to a totally different world of coin collecting
As a collector over 30 years on Chinese and modern world coins, it's an adventoure for me to probe a totally different field of coin collecting - the western world ancient coins. What I need most is something to show me the way, to give me an outline, to guide me to the right direction, as well as to keep me interested at the unfamiliar new world.

This book serves my needs exactly as it starts with very basic but substantial introduction to the ancient western cultures which are not familiarized by an oriental like me. Then there are good references provided, among them I appreciated most the last part of Chapter II, "Ancient Coins and the Internet", and also Chapter VI, "Numismatic Literature". Those information show a beginner to a broader view and an easier access in continuing his collection interest.

I would say the most fancinating part of this book is surely Chapter VII, "Identifying Ancient Coins". It's systematically arranged thus I can get a clear picture of different categories of ancient coins, together with fundamental history background of the coin issuers. That is, indeed, far more interesting than just reading a coin catalogue.

For anyone who intends to start ancient coin collecting, this is the book to start with.

Reviews (7)

Don't expect too much from this helpful, easy read!
I've decided to add my, ahem, two cents worth, on this book because I have just finished reading another book by the same author titled 'How to make money in coins right now.'I resisted buying the latter because I suspected, rightfully as it turns out, that there would not be much new information contained in it; Mr. Travers has a tendency to rehash a lot of his admittedly valuable and well-reasoned information advice.This book covers a lot of ground, per the reviews below, much of it essential.The single most valuable section, to my mind, is the in-depth discussion of coin grades as used by the professionals, and a discussion of recent changes made in grading standards.Also helpful is the section discussing ways to spot coins that may not be as good as the 'look,' and why (toning, doctoring, cleaning, etc.).I definitely can recommend this book as a stand alone purchase but would steer the interested buyer to another of Mr. Travers' books titled 'How to make money in coins right now.'I say this only because each book covers a lot of the same ground but the other contains information crucial to the 'value' question that every coin collector has at the back of his mind.Either will do, however, I just don't recommend purchasing both:One or the other and spend the money you don't spend on a nice collectible coin.

Well balanced
Travers does a great job of bringing balance to this book. It includes everything from what kind of magnafying glass to buy, to buying rare gold and all things in between.I felt the most helpful sections were the detailed write-ups on grading (different services, methods, and evolution of) and how to spot artificial toning, counterfitting, and doctoring/cleaning. It also explains how not to get ripped off at coin shows and by con-artist dealers. I would recommend this for beginners, as well as intermediate coin collectors.

Isbn: 0743214994
Sales Rank: 456874
Subjects:  1. Antiques & Collectibles    2. Antiques / Collectibles    3. Antiques/Collectibles    4. Coins, American    5. Coins, Currency & Medals    6. General    7. Reference - Price Guides    8. Antiques & Collectibles / General   

Reviews (11)

Highly Recommended!
For any of you who are interested in coin collecting, or if you happen to inherit somehow a collection of coins, this is the book for you! It is filled with information on how to take care of your coins, what to look for when purchasing, selling, trading or anything else regarding coins. The book is full of knowledge that is easy to comprehend. Buy it for youself or for your kids!

Be a dummyand waste your money, or...
...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 contactingthe American Numismatic Association(ANA) at their website at
or a wonderful and little known website entitled: "Coin Facts" which is found at .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.

Funny & Enlightening
Guth is a great expositor on the hobby/obsession of coins and coin collecting.The history of U.S coinage is one of the most interesting storie in the world and deserves a wider audience.It also deserves a great book, a story to capture the imagination that would also capture the hearts of the readers.Alas, this book is not that creature.But it is a great guide for beginners or anyone interested in the notorious ins and outs (including trading, on-line dealers, honesty and prices) of coin collecting.The allure of the hobby (sport?) is captured in his infectious passion and the humorous tales bring the reader back down to Earth.