HOW TO MAKE A KILLING IN COINS

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V21 2018 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 21, Number 23, June 10, 2018, Article 10

I knew there had to be a better way to get rich than working for a living, and I believe I've found it. This valuable pamphlet has all the answers! From the daisy wheel printing, my guess is that this dates from the 1980s.

Dave provided a complete scan of this little promotional pamphlet. While not great numismatic literature, it is a part of numismatic history. No great coin boom is without its promoters, and this is a good example of investment promotion in the 1980s. I've never heard of Frank K. Wood or U.S. Book Publishing Company. My first step was to reach out to Joel Orosz, who has a shelf of his library dedicated to such literature. -Editor

I probably have the most comprehensive collection of U.S. coin investment literature from the beginning of this particular plague around the start of the 20th century until the great crash of 1965.

Prior to 1965, with prices mostly on an upward plane, the investment literature was usually naive and optimistic; after that date, dealers realized prices were not immune to the laws of gravity, so investment literature became more and more bloviating and cynical. And accordingly, I have collected nothing of the genre post-1965.

This attached piece is actually one of the more restrained examples of the post-1965 genre of numismatic investment literature that I have read. I did chuckle at the repeated references to the weight of the book—numis lit by pound—but at least the author didn’t promise endless riches without the need to do any studying.

So, while I could write a dissertation about earlier authors like Bilinski or Haylings and their work, I know nothing of this fellow and his contribution the—ahem—“literature” of post-1965 hypesters.

Next I tried an internet search. While at first I came up empty, I did find a possible match for "Frank K. Wood" and "Publishing" on a product page for "Frank K. Wood’s Pain Relief Rub" on the web site of FC&A Publishing. Here's text from their "About" page. -Editor

Welcome to FC&A Publishing! For over 45 years, our company has had the privilege of helping people across the nation.

As a leader in the marketing and publishing industry since 1969, we specialize in nonfiction, self-help publications. We love to discover the latest and greatest information in a variety of categories such as healthy living, household and gardening, money-saving, computer know-how, and so much more!

We have sold over 28 million copies of our bestselling books, over 4 million jars of our clinically-proven Pain Relief Rub, and over 1 million jars of our popular Age-Away Skin Cream — and we’re just getting started!

Our mission is to improve the lives of every person we touch, one book at a time!

The company is located in Peachtree City, GA. The coin pamphlet had a College Park, GA address. The two towns are just 23 miles apart, southwest of Atlanta. FC&A publishing is found mentioned as a scam operator on web sites including RipoffReport.com and sunshine-for-seniors.blogspot.com. But I could not find many mentions of them either positive or negative. The products are listed on Amazon.

I contacted the company via their web site to ask if they indeed published the How to Make a Killing in Coins booklet. If the copyright is theirs we would need their permission to place it on the Newman Numismatic Portal. But if the publisher cannot be found and the copyright is believed to be orphaned, that would also allow us to post it. Great literature it's not, but it is a part of numismatic history, and all of that is worth making available to future hobbyists and researchers. Thanks, Dave. -Editor