Unusual World Coins: Companion Volume to Standard Catalog of World Coins Series

If you are a coin or medal collector you are familiar with the resource books of Krause Publications. It has always astounded me that they not only have cataloged nearly every coin in the world over the ages, but have also either photographed or diagrammed them for the reader. This large paperback book is an absolute must for those coins that fall outside the realm of the usual state minted money. Private coins, one of a kind coins and medals and special coin releases are all listed here. This is a rare book for its value as a resource, and not because it's difficult to find. However, if you're not a collector or you are just getting started, you may want this book in your library along with the other World Coin catalogs. But it should be noted that while the regular coin catalogs have revised and updated editions, this book was last published in 2007. This is not a problem because what is known about these "unusual" coins has not really changed much over time. But do not take the estimated values to heart, as the value of these coins are not only driven by rarity, but more by demand. In any case, this is a great resource book deserving of your consideration.

This is a coin catalogue worth buying even if you don't have a single coin it lists. The Unusual coins are really unusual in the way they depict human vain hopes, unattainable dreams, and impossible ambitions. You can see here coins from imaginary or lost empires (Russian monarchists struck their coins in 1990), states that have not been recognized by a single sovereign nation (Hutt River Province) or worlds which existed only in the imagination of writers (the Middle Earth) or private mints (Russian euro coins...). All this is a great tribute to human imagination and entepreneurial spirit, neatly presented in the form of a handy volume.Naturally, you may actually collect these coins. In this case you will find the typical Krause quality - lots of pictures are missing, some coins are not listed completely (just my luck - I have only 1 euro coin of the 2002 Vaticane euro trial issue and this coin is missing - there is #6 - 50 cents and #8 - 2 euro but no #7 - 1 euro ;) but as it is in the case of all Krause catalogues: you just won't find anything better!

Don't make the same mistake I did. Seeing the name of this book, I assumed it would basically be a highlight book to some of the more unusual shapes, designs, and devices that someone normally would not see on a coin. However, it is simply an add-on to the massive world coin catalogs to include pattern coins, some commemoratives, fantasy coins. There were a few interesting things in here, but overall not what I expected. If you can't find your coin in the main world coin catalog, it might be in here, but if you are just looking for something that you might want to collect, you're probably better off somewhere else. (Glad I bought a used copy!)

Great book & quick to deliver!

Very helpfulNotting bad About it.

Wonderful Book!!!!!

This book does not list coin YB65a, which is an official Restrike in 1991 at the Lenningrad mint of a 1902 37 1/2 Ruble coin that had been struck at the same mint. Official restrikes are important because they are authorized by the government official mint. Fanstasy "coins" made at a private mint may be unusual, but rather meaningless, as most are really bullion or medallions, like the Maui Trade Dollar, issued by the Chamber of Commerce; the Maui Trade Dollar was one of the best of the fanstay "coins". However, this book fails to list the silver Maui Trade dollars, so not much effort was made to make this book complete, in its limited area of unusual world "coins". One one bullion bars are listed, but they are not coins. Little thought went into this publication.

I am embarrassed on behalf of the editors of this book -- mainly for the copy editors. Flipping through it at random, I found pictures of coins followed by descriptions of completely different issues, typos, and even HTML markup in the text. It's bad enough that I honestly don't know how much of the book I can trust because I don't know how much of it is in error. The only reason it gets two stars instead of one is because it is at least a guide to issues I didn't know existed (albeit an incomplete one -- I have two micronation issues that aren't listed).If I hadn't gotten it second-hand and had instead paid full price, I would've been livid. One hopes the 6th edition has fixed these issues.

Arrived on time few pages ripped which was a shame but apart from that all good

really good book lots to explore thanks

Este catálogo es muy interesante para las personas que buscamos monedas "raras" como los ecus que nunca llegaron a circular.

great historical information and great pictures