"Знание можность и есть" (or something similar...)
I'm sure that one can never have enough books at one's disposal. What I would find useful for many, who are perhaps starting out on the adventure of collecting Russian coins, is a "must have" list of references. Assuming that most will have Krause-Mishler anyway, I would propose to build a list of books that any collector should have who is more than casually interested in Russian coins.
Although it would be nice for everyone to have access to all 13 (???) volumes of the compendium put together by the Grand Duke, for example, they are not all that easy to find (and are probably somewhat more expensive than the entire Encyclopaedia Britannica).
Here is my personal list:
A. General reference: Bitkin, Rylov/Sobolin, Uzdenikov
(Bitkin is getting harder to find, though -- I have only a ripped-off CD of scanned pages bought off of eBay, I must confess
... every time I see the real thing offered at auction, I am outbid! 
);B. Copper: Brekke;
C. Silver: Julian, Severin (both are somewhat hard to find nowadays -- I still do not own a copy of the Severin silver book);
D. Gold and platinum: Severin (readily available as a reprint and sold on eBay).
The advantage of these books is that they are of relatively recent date, which has the advantage of being able to build on earlier references, and they are quite affordable. Of course, there will be many specialized references (such as Kazakov for Nicholas II) which one could add, as well as periodicals such as the JoRNS and the more important auction catalogs such as Dmitry Markov's N.Y. Sale catalogs.
I would suggest that we put together a list which is as mutually exclusive as possible so that the material in one reference is as little duplicated as possible in the others. Once we have a consensus, we should try to give detailed information (e.g. ISBN numbers if they exist; dealers who are known to sell them) and perhaps post it to the "Links" forum.
What about it, folks??
