The E-Sylum:  Volume 10, Number 29, July 22, 2007, Article 3

BOOK REVIEW: THE AUTHORITATIVE REFERENCE ON BUFFALO NICKELS, SECOND EDITION

I've been far behind on my book reviewing duties since I've
come to London.  My library is far away and it's difficult to
bring many books along for the trip.  But this week I take a
look at the 2007 Second edition of "The Authoritative Reference
on Buffalo Nickels" by John Wexler, Ron Pope and Kevin Flynn.

Multi-author books are something I'm typically wary of - it takes
the vision of a single lead author to pull a publishing project
together.  But most books of value are the product of multiple
contributors, and when contributors have a particularly large
role it's only fair to extend authorship credit.  The book also
has a two-page Acknowledgements section crediting (among many
others) Roger Burdette, Ken Bressett, Dave Bowers, Tom DeLorey,
David Lange, Bill Fivaz and John Dannreuther.

It is interesting (and not at all unusual in numismatics) that
the contributors include authors of competing books on the series
(David Lange and Dave Bowers).  I don't have the Lange Buffalo
Nickel book with me, nor do I have the 1st edition of the Wexler
book, so I'm at a disadvantage here. But I did manage to squeeze
a copy of the softbound Bowers "A Guide Book of Buffalo and
Jefferson Nickels" into my luggage for comparison, even though
it doesn't have the same focus on die varieties.

Both editions of the Wexler book focus on Buffalo nickel die
varieties.  According to the introduction to the second edition
one new feature is a date-by-date analysis of the series.  Also
new to this edition are a number of new varieties.

The second edition has a 2007 copyright date, but population totals
provided by grading services PCGS and NGC are copyrighted 2005 and
may be outdated.  Red Book values are shown in the date-by-date
section.  The copyright date is not mentioned and perhaps these
are outdated as well.

With any book on die varieties, the quality of the photos is
paramount.  I'll give the book a "B" on this score - the photos
are generally good, but some are a bit fuzzy.  All of them could
benefit from a better glossy paper stock.

If I were to sum up the differences in quality and size of photos
between the Zyrus-published Wexler book and the Whitman-published
Bowers book, I'd use a restaurant analogy - the food is OK, but
the portions!  The Wexler book has lesser quality photo printing,
but far more photos, and most are a good bit larger.  Now remember,
the Bowers book isn't focused on varieties and doesn't require as
many photos.  But I did find the larger photos of the Wexler book
(particularly in the date-by-date section) much more satisfying.
In the Whitman book, the photos are smaller and the details are
harder to see.  As my wife would say, maybe I'm just getting old...

Another peeve with the production quality of the Wexler book is
that the perfect-bound covers lack a scoring line.  This detail
would be overlooked by many, but it's present in the Whitman
books and evidence of a higher production standard.

There's not a lot of reading material in the Wexler book, although
it does have some good essays on proof issues and cameo or satin
strikes, and a couple chapters explaining die varieties in general
and doubled dies in particular.  But if I'm not mistaken this same
general text appears in Flynn books on other coin series, so it's
nothing new for readers with access to those other titles.

Despite its shortcomings I would certainly recommend the book for
any specialist in Buffalo Nickel varieties.  But for historical
background and any other information beyond varieties, be sure to
have the Lange and Bowers books on your shelf as well.

For more information, see the publisher's web site at:
More Info

  Wayne Homren, Editor

	coinbooks.org Web

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