• Front Cover
• Other Books by This Author
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Dedication
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Chapter 1 - Investing Big Money in Small Change
• The Start of Something Big
• Gold Coins as a Driving Market Force Bullion Coins Vs. Numismatic Coins
• Positive and Negative Influences
• Going for the Gold
• Coin Investing s Three Basic Risks
• Coin Grading
• How Coins Are Graded on a Scale of 1 through 70
• The Elements of Grading
• Registry Sets
• Being a Big Winner
• Common-Date Saint-Gaudens Double Eagles Graded Mint State-65
• Chapter 2 - The Top 88 Coins
• The 1933 Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle
• Lafayette Dollars Graded Mint State-65
• Iowa Commemorative Half Dollars Graded Mint State-65
• Trade Dollars Graded Proof-64, 65, 66, or 67
• A Complete Set of Eisenhower Dollars, Proof Anduncirculated, in Typical Mint State Condition
• The 1804 Silver Dollar
• The 1792 Half Disme
• The 1856 Flying Eagle Cent in Proof-63, 64, or 65
• An Uncirculated Roll of 1950-D Jefferson Nickels
• The 1926-S Buffalo Nickel Graded Mint State-64
• The 1938-D Buffalo Nickel Graded Mint State-67
• The 1955 Doubled-Die Lincoln Cent Graded Mint State-63
• The 1995 Doubled-Die Lincoln Cent Graded Mint State-67
• The 1913-S Variety 2 Buffalo Nickel Graded Mint State-64
• The 1913 Variety 1 Buffalo Nickel Graded Mint State-66
• Proof-66 Nickel Three-Cent Pieces
• Mercury Dimes from the 1940s Graded Mint State-67 with Full Bands
• The 1909-S Lincoln Cent Graded Extremely Fine or Better
• The 1931-S Lincoln Cent Graded Mint State-65
• Type 3 Liberty Double Eagles Graded Proof-65
• An Uncirculated Roll of 1960 Small-Date Lincoln Cents
• A 1936 Walking Liberty Half Dollar Graded Proof-65
• Common-Date Walking Liberty Half Dollars Graded Mint State-66 or 67
• Franklin Half Dollars Graded Mint State-66 or Higher
• Susan B. Anthony Dollars Graded Proof-69 or 70
• Mint State 1809 1837 Capped Bust Dimes
• A Complete Set of U.S. Olympic Coins from Any Given Year
• An Isabella Quarter Graded Mint State-65
• Proof-70 American Eagles Sold for Tens of Thousands of Dollars
• One-Year Type Coins
• Coins Offered for Sale on Home-Shopping Television Programs
• Better-Date Silver Dollars
• Mint State-67 Commemorative Coins Priced Far above the Mint State-66 Level
• The 1915 Panama-Pacific $50 Gold Piece, Either Octagonal or Round
• Generic Morgan Dollars Graded Mint State-65, 66, or 67
• The 1864-L Indian Head Cent in Extremely Fine Condition or Better
• Modern Proof Coins Certified in Very High Grades and Sold at Ridiculously High Prices
• The 1793 Chain and Wreath Cents
• Bags of Uncirculated Late-Date Coins
• The Gobrecht Dollar
• Late-Date Proof Sets from 1968 to Date
• The 1912-S Liberty Head Nickel
• The 1883 Liberty Head Nickel without the Word Cents Graded Mint State-65
• The 1937-D Three-Legged Buffalo Nickel
• Mint-Error Coins Where Significant Magnification Is Needed to See the Mistake
• The Two-Cent Piece in Mint State-65 Red
• Proof Coins Priced Excessively High because Their Business-Strike Counterparts Are Scarce
• Shield Nickels Graded Proof-65 or Higher
• Common-Date Peace Dollars Graded Mint State-63 and 64
• The 1926-S Lincoln Cent Graded Mint State-64 Red
• Picked-Through Rolls of Uncirculated Silver Dollars
• Draped Bust Silver Dollars and Half Dollars Graded Au-50 to Au-55
• Russian 5-Ruble Gold Coins Certified in Grades of Mint State-65 and above and Sold for Excessively High Prices
• Early $2 1/2, $5, and $10 Gold Pieces in EF and AU Condition
• Common-Date British Sovereigns in Mint Condition Sold for Excessively High Prices
• Seated Liberty Dollars Graded Au-50 to Au-55
• Big-Mintage Modern Commemorative Coins from Small, Obscure Countries
• Copper-Nickel Indian Head Cents Graded Mint State-64
• Double-Trouble Coins
• Proof-65 Mercury Dimes
• A Roll of Common-Date Mercury Dimes in Average Uncirculated Condition
• Common-Date Barber Silver Coins in Mint State-64 or 65, or Proof-64 or 65
• A Complete Set of Average Uncirculated Franklin Half Dollars
• Twenty-Cent Pieces Certified as Proof-63 or 64
• Oversized Replicas of U.S. Coins Struck Privately in Silver
• The 1943 &Copper Cent
• Sets of 1946 through 1951 Booker T. Washington Commemorative Half Dollars
• Nickel Three-Cent Pieces Certified as Mint State-66 or 67
• The 1887/6 P-Mint Morgan Dollar Graded Mint State-64 and Higher
• Lower-Mintage American Eagle Bullion Coins, Undercertain Circumstances
• The Sacagawea Dollar
• The 1861-O Liberty Head Double Eagle Graded AU-50
• Gold and Platinum &Layered Coins
• The 1885-CC Morgan Dollar Graded Mint State-65
• Legal-Tender Coins Produced by Private Mints Such as the Franklin Mint for Issuance by Foreign Governments
• Type 2 and 3 Liberty Head Double Eagles Graded Mint State-60 through 63
• Fractional Gold Pieces Graded Mint State-63 through 65
• An 1877-S Liberty Head Double Eagle Graded Mint State-62
• The American Buffalo Bullion Gold Coin Certified as Mint State or Proof-70 First Strike
• The 1849 Liberty Double Eagle
• Average High-Grade Coins from Buried Treasure, Shipwrecks, and Hoards when First Brought to Market
• The 1875 Liberty Head Eagle Graded about Uncirculated-50
• The 1914 Indian Head Quarter Eagle Graded Mint State-62
• Early $2 1/2, $5, and $10 Gold Pieces in Mint Condition
• The 1936 Cleveland Commemorative Half Dollar Graded Mint State-65
• 1798-1807 Capped Bust Quarter Eagles Graded Extremely Fine-45
• 1924-S, 1925-S, and 1928-S Peace Dollars Graded Mint State-65
• Glossary
• About the Author
• Back Cover

THE TOP 88 COINS Oddly, the dollar was the last silver coin to bear the permanent ver-sion of the Seated Liberty portraiture—the one that paired Miss Liberty with a heraldic eagle. The first silver dollar to carry this de-sign didn’t appear on the scene until 1840. And though it was pro-duced on a regular annual basis until it was discontinued in 1873, mintages were modest for the most part, exceeding 1 million (and doing so barely, at that) only in 1871 and 1872. Mintages below 100,000—and even below 10,000—were far more typical. As you might expect, these coins bring a pretty penny—thousands of dol-lars, in fact—in choice mint condition. High-grade circulated exam-ples—certified as, say, About Uncirculated-50 or AU-55—can be had for just a few hundred dollars, and while they may lack the siz-zle of an MS-65 piece, they still give you plenty of “steak”: scarce, historic coins in desirable, collectible condition. 29 LOSER « Big-mintage modern commemorative coins from small, obscure countries Of all the “losers” profiled in this book, there probably isn’t a single one with more dismal investment potential than modern commemo-rative coins from obscure countries, including some issuers that may not be countries at all. They range all the way from base-metal coins priced at less than $10 apiece to gold and platinum coins costing hun-dreds of dollars each or and possibly even thousands. But they have three things in common: issue prices far above the intrinsic worth of their metal, virtually no collector base, and absolutely zero upside po-tential to ever rise in value above what they’d bring as bullion. Chances are you’ve seen commercials on TV, or ads in the paper, for coins from the Marshall Islands tied to some major event in the news 121