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by Neil S.Berman and Ron Guth
Coin Collecting
FOR
DUMmIES
‰
2
ND EDITION
by Neil S.Berman and Ron Guth
Coin Collecting
FOR
DUMmIES
‰
2
ND EDITION
Coin Collecting For Dummies
®
, 2nd Edition
Published by
Wiley Publishing, Inc.
111 River St.Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774
www.wiley.com
Copyright © 2008 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, IndianaPublished simultaneously in CanadaNo part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form orby any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permit-ted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior writtenpermission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to theCopyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, 978-750-8400, fax 978-646-8600.Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Legal Department, Wiley Publishing,Inc., 10475 Crosspoint Blvd., Indianapolis, IN 46256, 317-572-3447, fax 317-572-4355, or online at
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.
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LIMIT OF LIABILITY/DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY: THE PUBLISHER AND THE AUTHOR MAKE NO REP-RESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES WITH RESPECT TO THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THECONTENTS OF THIS WORK AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING WITHOUTLIMITATION WARRANTIES OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. NO WARRANTY MAY BE CRE-ATED OR EXTENDED BY SALES OR PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS. THE ADVICE AND STRATEGIES CON-TAINED HEREIN MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR EVERY SITUATION. THIS WORK IS SOLD WITH THEUNDERSTANDING THAT THE PUBLISHER IS NOT ENGAGED IN RENDERING LEGAL, ACCOUNTING, OR OTHER PROFESSIONAL SERVICES. IF PROFESSIONAL ASSISTANCE IS REQUIRED, THE SERVICES OF ACOMPETENT PROFESSIONAL PERSON SHOULD BE SOUGHT. NEITHER THE PUBLISHER NOR THEAUTHOR SHALL BE LIABLE FOR DAMAGES ARISING HEREFROM. THE FACT THAT AN ORGANIZATIONOR WEBSITE IS REFERRED TO IN THIS WORK AS A CITATION AND/OR A POTENTIAL SOURCE OF FUR-THER INFORMATION DOES NOT MEAN THAT THE AUTHOR OR THE PUBLISHER ENDORSES THEINFORMATION THE ORGANIZATION OR WEBSITE MAY PROVIDE OR RECOMMENDATIONS IT MAY MAKE. FURTHER, READERS SHOULD BE AWARE THAT INTERNET WEBSITES LISTED IN THIS WORKMAY HAVE CHANGED OR DISAPPEARED BETWEEN WHEN THIS WORK WAS WRITTEN AND WHEN ITIS READ.
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.Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print maynot be available in electronic books.Library of Congress Control Number: 2007941164ISBN: 978-0-470-22275-1Manufactured in the United States of America10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
About the Authors
Neil S. Berman:
Neil S. Berman has been an expert numismatist and profes-sional rare coin dealer since 1968. Coming back to the United States fromIsrael at the end of 1967, he apprenticed to the world-renowned Dutch numis-matist and coin auctioneer Hans M. F. Schulman. He incorporated as Neil S.Berman, Inc., in 1968. In 1974, Neil became an associate of Metropolitan RareCoin Company of New York. For the next several years, he represented Arthurand Donald Kagin of Des Moines, Iowa, then the largest coin dealer in theMidwest, as a purchasing agent. Later he represented Superior Galleriesunder the Goldbergs, also as a purchasing agent. In 1979, Neil, with hisbrother Jed, founded First Federal Coin Company, the first East Coast coincompany to sell rare coins into IRA, Keogh, and pension plans. From 1983until 1990, he was the purchasing agent for Asset Services, Inc., the largestcoin company serving the financial community. Neil donated his large collec-tion of German and Swiss silver minor coins to the American NumismaticSociety (ANS) in 1989. In 1997, he received the American NumismaticAssociation (ANA) Service Award from ANA President David Ganz. In 2005and 2006, he was associated again with Superior Galleries of Beverly Hills,this time under the ownership of numismatist Silvano DiGenova.Neil catalogued the U.S. gold in the 1977 Kagin’s ANA Coin Auction Sale, thefirst New York coin auction sale in 1981 of Spink and Sons, England’s oldestand largest coin dealer, and a coin auction sale by Superior Rare CoinGalleries of Beverly Hills in 2006.Neil has been published in
Barron’s,Trusts & Estates,The National Law Journal,The Financial Planner,Pensions World,
and
Executive Jeweler.
In 1987,he wrote, with Hans Schulman,
The Investor’s Guide to United States Coins,
which sold 40,000 copies and received a Numismatic Literary Guild award forBest Investment Book. In 2007, he wrote the second edition of the book withSilvano DiGenova. Neil has just completed a book on rare coin auctions.Neil has done coin appraisals for the U.S. Postal Service, the U.S. InternalRevenue Service, the New York State Internal Revenue Service, the FederalDeposit Insurance Corporation, the Securities and Exchange Commission,American Express Company, Bank Leumi Trust Company, Chase ManhattanBank, European American Bank, Morgan Guaranty Trust Company, FranklinMint, and Seaman’s Bank for Savings, among others.Neil has appeared and testified as an expert witness before the U.S. House ofRepresentatives House Banking Committee and the Subcommittee onConsumer Affairs and Coins on H.R. 6058 and H.R. 6158. He has also testifiedin open court as an expert witness for the U.S. Postal Service.He has, in the past, been a contributor to the
Guide Book of United StatesCoins,
by R. S. Yeoman, and John W. Dannreuther’s masterpiece
Early U.S.Gold Coin Varieties.
Neil is married to Susan Kerner Berman, a successful Realtor in northernWestchester County. They have two children, a dog, and a cat. He serves as a
member of the Antenna Advisory Board of the Town of Lewisboro, New York.You can visit Neil at his Web site at
www.neilsberman.com
or e-mail him at
neil@neilsberman.com
.
Ron Guth:
Ron Guth is a jack-of-all-trades and master of one — numismatics.Ron is a certified public accountant (CPA), a licensed auctioneer, and a writer,but the bulk of his time is spent on his true love — coin collecting and dealing.Ron’s battle with coin fever began when he was 12 years old, and he’s nevergotten over it. After a decade of collecting, Ron went professional in 1976,when he began working for a local coin shop in Tampa, Florida. In 1978, hepartnered with David Goldsmith and purchased the Bay Area Coin Exchangein Tampa. Ron and Dave blasted through the silver boom, and then split up in 1981, when Ron moved to Evansville, Indiana (his wife’s hometown), wherehe set up shop on First Avenue. In 1984, Ron formed Mid-American Rare CoinAuctions with Jeff Garrett of Lexington, Kentucky. The company quickly estab-lished itself as an innovative leader in the industry and, within the first year,became the fifth largest rare coin auction company in America. In 1988, Ronsold his interest in the company, went back to school to finish his bachelor’sdegree in accounting and finance, and has since become a numismatic consultant and a major dealer in German coins.In 1984, Ron won the American Numismatic Association’s Wayte and OlgaRaymond and Heath Literary awards. He has written many coin-related articles and is listed as a contributor to several books, including
Walter Breen’s Encyclopedia of United States Coins,
Krause Publications’s
Standard Catalog of German Coins,
Roger S. Cohen’s
American Half Cents,Walter Breen’s Encyclopedia of United States Half Cents,
and others. Ron has served as anumismatic consultant for many rare-coin companies, including major firms such as the Professional Coin Grading Services, Heritage NumismaticAuctions, and Early American History Auctions.As a rare-coin auctioneer, Ron has sold over $100 million in rare coins, including the $1.84 million 1913 Liberty Head Nickel (tied for the second most valuable coin ever sold at auction). His chant has been heard at auc-tions conducted by just about every major name in the business, including R. M. Smythe, Heritage Numismatic Auctions, Kagin’s, Lyn Knight, DavidAkers, Currency Auctions of America, Ponterio & Associates, Early AmericanHistory Auctions, Mid-American Rare Coin Auctions, and Superior Galleries.Ron’s professional affiliations include Life Membership in the AmericanNumismatic Association and memberships in the Rittenhouse Society, EarlyAmerican Choppers Club, Colonial Coin Collectors Club, Civil War TokenSociety, and numerous regional and state organizations.In 1999, Ron formed CoinFacts.com, Inc., a Web site that provides free, in-depth information about U.S. coins to anyone with Internet access. In 2000,he launched PaperMoneyFacts.com to provide a similar service for papermoney collectors.You can visit Ron on his Web sites at
www.coinfacts.com
or
www.papermoneyfacts.com
or e-mail him at
ron@coinfacts.com
.
Dedication
To my wife, Susan, my son, Eric, and my daughter, Ava, and her dog Millie, all of whom helped.—Neil S. Berman
Authors’ Acknowledgments
The following professional coin experts also helped: Andrew Lustig, SilvanoDiGenova, John West Dannreuther, Armen Vartian, Barry Stuppler, JohnKraljevich, Rick Bagg, Arthur Friedberg, Stephen Bobbitt, Steve Ivy, JamesHalperin, Julian Leidman, Anthony Terranova, Marc Salzberg, Kevin Lipton,John Albanese, Larry Demerer, Paul Nugget, Maurice Rosen, ArthurBlumenthal, Robert Steinberg, David Hall, David Ganz, Lyn Knight, FredWeinberg, Robert Lecce, and Dennis Baker.
Publisher’s Acknowledgments
We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments through our Dummies online registrationform located at
www.dummies.com/register/
.Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:
Acquisitions, Editorial, and Media Development
Project Editor:
Elizabeth Kuball
(Previous Edition: Tere Drenth and Tonya Maddox)
Acquisitions Editor:
Tracy Boggier
Copy Editor:
Elizabeth Kuball
(Previous Edition: Greg Pearson)
Technical Editor:
Richard G. Doty
Senior Editorial Manager:
Jennifer Ehrlich
Consumer Editorial Supervisor and ReprintEditor: