Photograde by James F. Ruddy (1990, Paperback)

I just received Photograde by James Ruddy, published by Whitman and I've already put it to good use. My 1798 Flowing Hair penny grades better than I thought and that knowledge alone has more than paid for the book and shipping. Although the book has been around for almost twenty years it's still relevent. It's been updated several times since the original 1990 edition so it's up to date for most of the circulated coins where grade makes up a significant portion of value. This is important because you are dealing with a circulated coin and the many shades of circulated as opposed to modern coins mass produced in uncirculated or proof for the collector market.
The book's easy to follow and with a little practice even the novice can become skilled enough to recognise better coins from numismatic junk.
The one drawback is the illustrations which are black and white drawing like photo representations. However there are plenty of them and with the help of the text you can still get it right. A must have for beginners and a useful companion for more experienced hobbyists.

I bought this book as I was having difficulty grading coins and this has been a big helpto me.
At first I was disappointed in the quality of the photos but as I used it I found out that it did not matter