The E-Sylum:  Volume 7, Number 23, June 6, 2004, Article 6

BUY THE BOOK BEFORE THE COIN

  Phil Dodson column in the June 3, 2004 issue of The Telegraph
  of Macon, GA, echoes Feldman's sentiment:

  "Several days ago, my wife, in her usually thoughtful manner,
  inquired as to why I was screaming at the television.

  Like a child drawn to fire, I had flipped the channel to one
  of those coin-sales programs where they unload grossly
  overpriced silver dollars, gold-plated states' quarters or
  inexpensive proof sets for five to 10 times or more their fair
  retail value.

  I was talking back to an ethically challenged shyster who was
  lying about how rare the overpriced pieces of junk he was
  selling were going to be. His message: Buy now and next year
  your coins will be much more valuable.

  He was hawking common, made-for-circulation quarters that
  the U.S. Mint cranks out by the millions that some enterprising
  yahoo had coated with one-one/hundredth of a millimeter of
  gold (and that's not very much gold). This exceedingly poor
  example of truth in advertising was explaining in all seriousness
  how these quarters, which won't be rare a thousand years from
  now, would be much harder to find and would cost much more
  this time next year.

  If his name were Pinocchio, his nose would have been about
  eight feet long at that point."

  "One thing I learned the hard way about coin collecting is that
  even experienced hobbyists can get burned.  Cautious collectors
  spend years learning the fine points of numismatics, and they
  usually develop fairly extensive libraries on the subject.

  The best advice I have ever heard for those interested in coin
  collecting is, "Buy the book before you buy the coin."
  Knowledge will save the collector a lot of grief.

  To read the full column, see:Full Article

  Wayne Homren, Editor

	coinbooks.org Web

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