As a beginner I have been looking at the books offered for sale on eBay such as guides to coin collecting and older published copies of coin valuation books such as those published in 2004 and 2018. I know the valuations in these books would have changed over the years but are they worth buying to help a beginner in researching this mind boggling hobby?
Commonly collected coins/notes are well documented on sites like Numista, so for the most part if you're collecting domestic or world coins in general, you can get away with no catalogs for a good while.
When you get into specialty coins and notes or obscure forms of currency you begin to see how much is not actually on Numista (or any other collection site, in most cases) and sometimes quite poorly documented online in general. For these you will probably want a catalog if you plan to get more than a few token pieces; some authors have generously offered such catalogs for free online in PDF form, some older works are public domain and can still serve, but some are out of print and may require a catalog purchase. Sadly these catalogs are also often somewhat expensive and hard to find, but they also contain information available nowhere else.
As for what catalogs are good for - not valuation, in most cases. Most of the time I have them to either find out what's actually out there to begin with, or to identify (or more fully identify) pieces that have little or no online documentation. Also, Numista can't very well expand its own catalog without someone referencing the pieces to begin with, so that's always helpful. Some catalogs also offer a lot of information beyond mere catalog numbers and values, and actually explain some of the history and origin of the pieces, which is in my opinion the entire point of collecting strange and interesting things.
Basically, the weirder the stuff you like to collect, the more research you'll have to do yourself. Part of the fun, though!
My thoughts are these:
1. If you plan to collect only British coins through all the eras you have mentioned (Roman to 19th c.), there are probably a few books you should have that others here could recommend for doing research (I do not collect British, so I don;t know them).
2. If you are open to coins from any/all places across two millenia, it gets much more difficult to do research from books, because there is no hardcover book that covers things this widely. For modern coins, the Krause (KM) catalog is a good all around reference for many countries, and used copies can be found at modest price. Earlier than 1600, Numista is indeed a good all around reference.
3. It also depends on your budget. If you plan to spend a few hundred pounds per year, you could spend that all on a few books, so it would be best to do your research using online resources. For spending into the thousands, books may be a good investment
4. For coin valuations, books and catalogs are nearly worthless. My three starting points are:
- eBay Advanced search function for common coins
- www.coinarchives.com and acsearch.info for less comnon coins that do not turn up often on eBay. There are ways to dive even deeper by country, using the archive function of large specialty auction houses
If there is a book that specifically addresses your collecting interest then buy it if you can't borrow from a library.
Very few books are in my interest zone so I make my own books, collecting bits of info here and there. If you have a computer, you have a word processor so it is fairly easy to do your own books.
Sold auctions are definitely the best way to find accurate values. If you can afford them, the Standard Catalogs of World Coins are useful and have somewhat decent valuations. Buy them for the centuries that you collect. Lots of information can also be found online, especially on Numista, but the SCWC and books that specialize in a certain area are very useful to have, especially if you specialize in rarer or more obscure coins.
They are most certainly worth collecting, not just for valuation but in the case of pre 20th century coins to identify various die differences. I have the full collection of Krause catalogues on a cd rom which is a much better way of storing them than the heavy and cumbersome tomes.
I think coin (& banknote) catalogues are highly underrated. If you are thinking about buying one be sure to wait till your local library opens up & then just check one out in your reference section. Flip through a few of the pages or read some of the introductions to a series you might be interested in. Chances are, you'll be surprised at how much extra info is contained in those pages.
To me, most have a "gold mine" of useful info. I recall going through early Charlton Guides (here in Canada) & it was like a lightbulb went off for me. I know it must sound corny but it was a true "eureka" moment. When I went to shows 15 years ago I remember thinking "oh this guy uses the net & this guy knows his stuff." Some sites are good but there's also a lot of hyperbole (esp in SM). Be careful what you read (& believe) b/c I've seen a lot of appalling misinformation.
Even older catalogues will show which coins are key dates, significant to collect, & what is common. So if you choose to save a few bucks by purchasing a used catalogue, at least you'll get to know what's desirable to collect vs what all the other chumps out there are hoarding (& won't sell for much down the road). The best thing about a hard copy catalogue is that it can help you define some clear goals in terms of what to collect (& scope or the range of your collection) & you never have to turn it on to access it.
