A plaque remaining from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem.

Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.

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Entry from August 31, 2015
“Buy the book before you buy the coin” (coin collecting adage)

“Buy the book before you buy the coin” is a coin collecting adage. There are many coin collecting books that provide prices and other information. The saying is similar to Wall Street’s “investigate, then invest.”
 
Coin dealer Aaron R. Feldman (1894-1976) created the saying. Feldman advertised in the March 1966 issue of The Numismatist, “BUY THE BOOK BEFORE THE COIN.”
   
 
7 October 1973, The State Journal-Register (Springfield, IL), “Coins” by Gary L. Palmer, pg. 35, col. 1:
“Buy the book before the coin,” was the slogan of noted numismatist Aaron Feldman, and collectors who have followed this advice have both enhanced their knowledge of the hobby and probably profited handsomely as well.
     
Google Books
The Numismatist
Volume 89
1976
Pg. 1987:
“Buy the book before you buy the coin . . .”
 
Google News Archive
10 April 1977, The Sun-Herald (Sydney, Australia), “Ask an expert before you buy a ‘rarity,’” pg. 72, cols. 2-3:
If you are ever offered a rare old coin, the advice is: Buy the book before you buy the coin.
 
“If the coin is genuine you can read all about in any number of numismatic books. Never buy a rare coin without an expert opinion.”
   
Google Books
Coin Clinic - 1,001 Frequently Asked Questions, Volume 1
By Alan Herbert
Iola, WI: Krause Publications
1995
Pg. 42:
Q: Who originated the slogan “Buy the book before you buy the coin?”
The late Aaron Feldman. Among other noted parts of his career was the operation of what was billed as the “smallest coin shop in the world,” a booth in a jewelry exchange.
   
Google Books: rec.collecting.coins
Who decides what You buy
Michael Edward Marotta
8/16/00
+———————————————————————————————-+
|  THE THIRD SIDE OF THE COIN                       |
|              (c) Copyright 2000 by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  |
+———————————————————————————————-+
    NUMISMATIC LITERATURE by Michael E. Marotta
What is always in demand but impossible to sell?  Numismatic literature.
 
For most collectors, numismatic literature starts and ends with The Red Book—which is not a bad beginning. The Red Book is best known for its tables of prices
(...)
“Buy the book before you buy the coin,” we say. And most collectors reply, “I’d rather own the coin than the book.” And so they pay twice—once for the coin and again for the book which someone else read.
   
Google Groups: rec.collecting.coins
Book Review: 100 Greatest American Medals and Tokens
Mike Marotta
12/22/07
(...)
“Buy the book before you buy the coin.” This advice originally came from coin dealer Aaron R. Feldman (1894-1976). Feldman promoted numismatic literature as the gateway to collecting. Today, thousands of collectors follow his advice, building numismatic libraries one volume at a time. (According to Bob Leonard, writing here in RCC in reply to Ron Guth:  “He used this slogan as a headline more than once in his ads in The Numismatist in the 1960’s (and maybe early 1970’s). You should be able to find him through the index of advertisers.  I don’t recall seeing his ad in the Scrapbook, but perhaps he was in there too.”
     
CoinTalk
Aaron Feldman: Buy the Book Before You Buy the Coin
Discussion in ‘Coin Chat’ started by mmarotta, Sep 13, 2010.
(This article originally appeared in the Winter 2008 issue of the MSNS Mich-Matist.)
Aaron Feldman by Mike Marotta, MSNS 7935.
 
BUY THE BOOK BEFORE THE COIN reads the advertisement in the March 1966 issue of The Numismatist. Aaron R. Feldman offered 25 titles, some of which were classics then as now: Sheldon, Beistle, and Bolender. Don Taxay’s book on counterfeits (1964) was a new addition to our knowledge base.
   
Numismatic News
Editor’s Pick: Buy the book before you buy the coin
Posted on May 31, 2013 by Debbie Bradley
(...)
Those old folders now sit on my bookshelf, worth more in sentiment than cash. Or at least that’s what I thought until I checked out a price guide.
 
Numismatic News editor Dave Harper often gives the sage advice, “Buy the book before you buy the coin.” That also means “Buy the book before you sell the coin.”
 
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Sacramento Valley Coin Club shared Krause Publications Numismatics’s photo.
October 16, 2014 ·
“Buy the book before you buy the coin.” Krause Publications is offering 40% off with code TBT40.

Posted by Barry Popik
New York CityBanking/Finance/Insurance • Monday, August 31, 2015 • Permalink


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