Good place to buy OLD coin catalogues/books in London?

[Pavel 1]

I will be travelling to Europe next week and will spend some time in London. I was wondering if you can recommend some second-hand book shop/s where I can find old coin catalogues or books? By "old" I mean anything older than, say, 20 years.

[Rob 3,355]

Depends on what you are looking for. I have a few thousand spare catalogues and books going back to the late 19th century, not all of which I have had time to list on the site. You might have to narrow it down a bit.

[Pavel 1]

I can tell you why I want them, and maybe you can give me a hint of what I need?

Specifically... for my site, I need old pricing data so I need books like Remick (I have the third edition only) with extensive listings, and coin prices in a usable form (e.g. not "between 1 and 10 pounds depending on grade", as some books tend to have).

I put these into a CSV, then import it into the site, mangle the data with some basic arithmetic (e.g. apply inflation data, then make a linear regression), then generate price graphs and trends. You can see an example here: https://onlinecoin.club/Coins/Country/New_Zealand/Half_Crown_1940/ for the NZ Centennial Crown - note the tables and the graphs, and see FAQs for background.

Currently, I only have these for New Zealand (thanks to the publishers of the John Bertrand catalogues allowing me to use their data) and a handful of others, but I want to expand to all other countries. The site is under construction, but eventually I hope it will cover basically everything (or a reasonable part thereof).

Edited May 8, 2019 by Pavel

[rpeddie 119]

I cant help with catalogs but i like it

I have recently started collecting NZ coins, i feel they are unappreciated at the moment.

I will definitely have a look further into this site

[Rob 3,355]

Prior to the publication of Seaby's Standard Catalogue in 1962 you have to rely on the prices realised at auction or those listed in places such as the Numismatic Circular, Coin & Medal Bulletin or other dealers' lists. Seaby and Spink did produce a couple of books prior to that with prices indicated, e.g. Seaby Catalogue of Copper Coins and Tokens (1949) but these reflected their stock at that moment in time, so you are still better off with a broad selection of lists.

I have a book from 1917 - 'Coins and their Values' by E H Courville which, as described in the preface, is an attempt to list the prices realised for the major pieces at auction during that year. However, this only addressed the larger ticket items.

Aside from oddities such as these, your best approach would be to acquire a broad selection of dealers' lists, with an emphasis on Seaby's Bulletin and Spink's Numismatic Circular, as these two dealers effectively set the market prices. With auctions too remote to attend for many and no internet, people obtained their pricing either from post-sale priced catalogues, or these two publications.

I have a good number of spare Circulars and Bulletins going back to the 1940s if of any use along with a broad selection of catalogues, some with prices realised. A full list however, would be a case of opening Pandora's box.

[Peckris 2 2,254]

Interesting. In my own (FileMaker Pro) database, I designed a layout that compiles prices from Seaby/Spink from the 60s to recent times for my own collection. Here is a small sample (note that coins I didn't already own in the 90s have no values for that period which I own no catalogue for, unlike the other values; there was anyway a great stagnation in values for about 10 years from the mid 80s to the mid 90s):

*note it's not up to date - there's nothing after 2009 in this image, and I've also since added 1976 values

Edited May 8, 2019 by Peckris 2

[Pavel 1]

16 hours ago, Rob said:

I have a good number of spare Circulars and Bulletins going back to the 1940s if of any use along with a broad selection of catalogues, some with prices realised. A full list however, would be a case of opening Pandora's box.

Would you be willing to donate some, or maybe just allow me to borrow them for a short period?

I only need to copy the data, long-term I don't need the actual books, my wife is already complaining about the two bookshelves I have taken over for the purpose. I suppose I could just take photos of the pages or something.

[Pavel 1]

4 hours ago, Peckris 2 said:

Interesting. In my own (FileMaker Pro) database, I designed a layout that compiles prices from Seaby/Spink from the 60s to recent times for my own collection.

Exactly what I am trying to achieve 🙂

But I also want to have "present value" of that money, so I apply inflation correction based on OECD data. Long term, I want to be able to track "return on investment" over a period. And yes, I know coin collecting is a hobby and not a sound investment strategy as such but I want solid figures to a) back this statement, and b) hopefully find some exceptions to the case.

[Rob 3,355]

23 hours ago, Pavel said:

Would you be willing to donate some, or maybe just allow me to borrow them for a short period?

I only need to copy the data, long-term I don't need the actual books, my wife is already complaining about the two bookshelves I have taken over for the purpose. I suppose I could just take photos of the pages or something.

Ultimately I am in business and not a charity. Whilst I am not averse to helping out with the odd enquiry, the number of catalogues you would need to compile a comprehensive list is large. Even if you took all of my spares you would still need to find more. Plus, the cost of shipping 100s of kgs half way around the world would be not insignificant. It's the age old problem of everyone wanting the information, but nobody is willing to spend money on acquiring the knowledge.

[Pavel 1]

23 hours ago, Rob said:

the number of catalogues you would need to compile a comprehensive list is large

Well, yes... If I could pick them up from somewhere in London between June 1st and 3rd, I can buy a reasonable (small) number of books off you and carry them in my checked luggage on my way back to Australia?

[Rob 3,355]

I'm in Manchester, but could get things shipped to a London address in time. The only other option would be if I was in Bracknell for the LCA auction, presumably the Sunday, but I haven't had a catalogue yet to determine whether it is worth going down.

[Pavel 1]

I will "swing by" the LCA auction, as the English expression has it so I can probably at least get you a coffee for the trouble 🙂

[Peter 616]

[1949threepence 3,369]

In Reading rather than London, but this numismatic bookshop might be worth a try at some point.

http://www.douglassaville.com/