Old Coin Books

Numismatic History You Can Hold

- Joshua McMorrow-Hernandez

Many coin collectors appreciate history, so it’s little surprise that many of today’s hobbyists are turning back the pages of time when it comes to numismatic literature.

While there are hundreds of fascinating modern-day coin books on the shelves at coin shops and general bookstores on any given day, some collectors prefer the discourse of numismatic scholars from yesteryear. Many hobbyists enjoy buying old coins books for the simple joy of building a nostalgic collection of classic reads for their libraries. 

David Fanning, co-owner of Kolbe & Fanning Numismatic Booksellers near Columbus, Ohio, has seen a trend of increasing numbers of collectors buying coin books from days of yore. 

Fanning, who deals in a wide array of classic books about the hobby spanning centuries, got his start selling numismatic books in high school during the 1980s. Later, he teamed up with longtime numismatic bookseller George F. Kolbe, co-founder of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society. 

Six years later, Kolbe & Fanning has more than 1,000 books in its inventory, many of them rare and classic books from the late 19 th century through the mid-20 th century, when coin collecting was rapidly growing in the United States.

Many people don’t realize how much has been written about coins,” he says. “The heartening thing is that every time we have an auction, we have a few new bidders.” 

He sees this as a sign of healthy growth in the realm of collecting classic numismatic books.