First Look at the Professional Edition Red Book
Mike Marotta
clearly for a certain class of "professional" numismatist and perhaps
not for me. I do claim to be a professional -- at least that is what
our accountant tells the IRS every year. But I write. My numismatic
business is research and reporting. This book is clearly intended for
people who buy and sell American coins.
Moreover, it is the "dealer's dilemma" that collectors are specialists
whereas dealers are forced to be specialists. So, the collector
cherrypicks the dealer. This book can help the dealer. Specialists
will have the books listed in each of hte many bibilographies.
Specialists will have all of that information and more in their
heads. This book is for the dealer who has to look up the key errors
and varieties of each issue from half cents to double eagles.
The specialist will know which items have appeared recently at major
auctions. The dealer will have to look it up. That is what this book
is for. It contains a treasure house of information that the
professional simply cannot keep up front all the time.
Perhaps least permanent is the information at the back about recent
Chinese (and other) counterfeits. Again, specialist collectors will
seldom be fooled. It is the dealer who risks being taken advantage
of.
Mike M.
Michael E. Marotta
"Books are your friends
and you don't write on your friends, do you?"
Frank Galikanokus
What distinguishes Professional Edition from the working class edition?
JAM
Mike Marotta
wrote:
> What distinguishes Professional Edition from the working class edition?
Briefly, the nature of the information presented. For each issue from
Half Cents to Double Eagles, you will find tables of dollar values for
the high-end market grades, typically Mint State and Proof, though
down to VF and EF for early copper, as needed, and therefore DMPLs for
Morgans, too. Moreover, each table has a column for direct citations
to recent auctions. Furthermore, the tables approximate the certified
populations, including the percentage of those certified that are in
Mint State.
Extensive color photographs illustrate the differences among important
varieties, such as Small Date from Large Date, and so on.Important
varieties also receive special treatments with paragraphs in
standardized formats to give an overview of History, Strike and
Sharpness, and Availability on the market. The book is replete with
these throughout.
Not in here are Colonials, Tokens, Pioneer Gold, Modern Commemoratives
and US Mint Bullion.
I expect that this is the book that a dealer would take to an auction
at an ANA, Long Beach or Baltimore convention. The cover price is
$29.95 and if you buy and sell a wide populatton of US Type coins in
the ranges of hundreds to thousands of dollars, then this book would
be cheap at twice the price.
Mike M.
Michael E. Marotta
"Going once..."
Frank Galikanokus
Tanks Mike!
JAM