Travers' Top 88 Coins Over $100

I found this easy-to-read little book an excellent companion to Travers' more essential "How to make money...". The latter explains the workings of the rare coin market and the crucial grading arbitrage business that can lead to very fast profits. "Top 88..." is written primarily for the long term investor, providing rationale for why certain coins are likely to appreciate or lose value over time. This is done entirely with examples -- both pro and con -- to illustrate Travers' investment coin philosophy. The book is a little dated as I write this and it's likely Travers would modify the list to some degree in a new edition. This is only a minor shortcoming, however, an inevitable consequence of the passage of time. There is still plenty to learn here.

This book is going to help two primary classes of people: 'rare coin' collectors and collectors of 'rare' coins. Please indulge me with my distinction between the two. The rare coin collector is the person who builds a collection of coins, based around, say, getting one of each year and mint mark of the Buffalo Nickel, for instance. The collector of rare coins collects any coin that catches his fancy but which is distinguished by being extremely rare or highly prized within its genre, the 1955 Double Die Lincoln Cent, for instance. This book is going to help the latter type of collector because the coin-world renowned authority on U.S. coins, Scott Travers, has chosen 88 coins and categories of coins that are either 'winners' i.e. highly desirable and much sought after and 'losers' i.e. much hyped as being desirable and sought after but which are not, or carry too much of a premium to be worth acquiring. As a handy reference, this book is great for allowing one to get right to the point without having to do much of any research on one's own. Travers exxentially crystalizes decades of his coin buying/selling experience into brief form explaining why he has picked or panned each subject. These thumbnail analyses will be of help to the former type of collector to begin to understand what it is about an issue or series, mint state or condition, that creates demand and desire within a coin's niche. If one begins to employ critical analysis such as Mr. Travers does in his explications, whilst examining a coin or investigating a new realm of the coin collecting universe, one can make informed decisions about constructing the most highly desirable agglomeration of any given coin genre by knowing which coins to aggressively hunt for and acquire and which can be collected at one's leisure. After one has taught oneself to grade coins properly, this book is a must own for the entry level or, like me, just plain lazy collector of rare coins. Highly Recommended!!