Awhile back I was searching for something on the internet and stumbled on to a CD for sale on eBay. As you may know, genealogy enthusiasts are putting lots of old books, such as county histories and other local history works, on CD and selling them at reasonable prices, usually $10 to $30. Often there are a dozen or more works on one CD.

I have often wished someone would do that with old numismatic works. Well, someone has. I ordered and received a CD containing around 100 (yes, a hundred) numismatic works, mostly from the 1800's, with a few from the 1700's and early 1900's. The CD also contains about 30 books on gold prospecting, gold refining, and goldsmith and silversmith markings. Some of these works are small -- under 100 pages -- but most run 200 to 500 pages. I have attached a list of some of them.

I contacted the seller, and he is the "maker" of the CD collection. He says so far he only sells them on Ebay, under the seller name: used_but_good_stuff. The CD I received is labeled "Vintage Gold and Silver Coins" but the item title on eBay is different. The heading reads: Gold Silver Coins - Hallmarks - Gold Silversmiths 130 Rare. The seller, Bill in Murrieta, CA says there are 130 titles on the CD. They are in PDF format and the CD is for use in a computer -- he says it won't work in a CD player or DVD player.

Most of the books are on Greek, Roman and British coins, but there are works on China, Japan, India, Mexico, Canada, United States and other areas. Also on the CD are single years of American Journal of Numismatics, Spink's Numismatic Circular, and the Numismatic Chronicle (Royal Numismatic Society). Of course, most of these works have been superseded by later works, but it is nice to have the older sources to look at. And the price for these 130 titles? Only $15.95 plus shipping. The only drawback I have found so far to this and similar CD's I have of Chinese works and works on Missouri history, is remembering what's on each disk