THE IMPORTANCE OF A NUMISMATIC LIBRARY

 

We truly live in a great time. Thanks to technology and the internet, the world's knowledge from ancient times to now is at our fingertips. Using a small device most of us carry in our pockets, we can access information spanning time and continents. Want to know who won the men's marathon at the 1928 Summer Olympics? A quick Google Search reveals within seconds that it was Boughera El Ouafi, born in Algeria but competing for France. Or, if you need to know what the fastest route is from your house to a coin show in a neighboring state, not only will the internet tell you the route, thanks to GPS, your navigation system will guide you from door to door. In today's digital age, it is sometimes easy to forget that only a few decades ago, you probably needed to go to a library to answer the 1928 Olympics question, and had to map out your route using, gasp, an actual map!

In what I consider one of the most underrated and essential books on American numismatics (and one that I learned a great deal from), An Expert's Guide to Collecting & Investing in Rare Coins, Q. David Bowers devotes an entire chapter to numismatic libraries. While written two decades ago, his words continue to be of importance today:

In coin collecting, there is a mantra (it also applies to paper money and many other collectibles): ‘Buy the book, then the coin (or banknote).' The reason is that, as a beginner, you are more likely to make mistakes that could prove costly in the future. This is also one of the reasons why we always recommend buying from trustworthy sources. But even then, knowledge is power, and much of it can be found in numismatic books. Now, you might argue that whatever knowledge you need can be found on the internet. Still, I will explain why I believe that building a physical library, even of sources and books available online, is an important endeavor, and when taken together, they give tremendous power to the collector.

Books provide something tangible, something you can hold, flip through, and make notes in. While digital media has made it possible to do most of that, I am the first to argue that an actual book often is easier to use than a digital product. In addition, I'm a proponent of physical copies, simply because one day, maybe, the digital files could disappear. Of course, this is unlikely, but we've all experienced the internet going out at our house or workplace, so it is perhaps not as unlikely as it sounds.

It is also important to note that even if a book is available digitally (these days, most books are, and various projects are ongoing to digitally scan older publications, with millions of out-of-copyright books already freely available), there is no guarantee that it has been reproduced in sufficient quality. While modern scanning methods can be near-perfect, they come at a price, both in terms of expense and speed. As such, many books have been scanned with less-than-ideal settings, and small details (for example, in the plates, as well as in the text) are not always reproduced accurately. This causes issues in attribution and pedigree research, two areas in which older printed references continue to be important.

Of course, a lot of information is accessible online, and much research can still be done there (especially when it comes to auction catalogs, with most numismatic companies now having digital archives, which is evolving the format of auction catalogs). Still, numismatic references remain vital and important for serious collectors regardless of the format. I want to urge you not to look at books as a relic of the past, but as a valuable tool that still has great benefits. On the other hand, utilizing digital sources provides more opportunities for the collector, as they provide convenience and a wealth of information easily accessible at little to no cost. Taken together, for beginning collectors and advanced numismatists, today is an exciting time for research and collecting.

To read the complete article, see:
The Importance of a Numismatic Library in Today's Day and Age (https://stacksbowers.com/the-importance-of-a-numismatic-library-in-todays-day-and-age/)

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