Last month, we discussed the first book written aboutspeculating in - as opposed to collecting - U.S. coins, AGuide to Coin Investment (published in 1957), and itsestimable author, Dr. Robert Bilinski. This month we meet the manonce described as Bilinski's "evil twin," the author of TheProfit March series on coin investment, the Barnumesque GeorgeHaylings.

Mr. Haylings left Detroit for California during the GreatDepression, and shivered through two years living in a tent untilhe discovered, as one of his book titles put it, 125 Ways toMake Money with Your Typewriter. Haylings turned out a seriesof how-to-earn-a-quick-buck books, including two with chaptersadvising readers to invest in coins: Hidden Dollars (1947)and Vacations Unlimited (1952). By 1960, the long postwarbull market in coins inspired Haylings to write The ProfitMarch of Your Coins from 1935 to 1968.

Dr. Bilinski had extensively researched the coin market andused data to make conservative projections of future priceperformance. Haylings' methods combined hype, uncriticalextrapolation of past results, and wildly optimistic predictions.There were a million coin collectors in 1954, 3 million in 1960,and would be 5 million in 1966. In the go-go coin market of theearly 1960s, Haylings looked like a prophet.

In 1964 he wrote The Profit March of Your Coin Investment,1935-1971, twice as long as his first Profit March, and 10 timesas enthusiastic about speculating in coins: "... the mostastounding investment to be found on earth today!" Now hepredicted that soon there would be 20 million coincollectors!

Haylings crowed that rare coin prices had risen "... over thepast 29 years, with all indications that the same relentlessincrease in prices will go right on for the next 29 years." Thestretch from 1964 to 1993, however, proved a roller coaster forthe rare coin market, with three boom periods and three busts,starting with a market meltdown in 1966.

This explains why so many of Hayling's 1964 profit predictionsfor 1971 were laughably lousy. Four examples:

1942-S Lincoln cent - Haylings' prediction: $2,315 per roll.Actual: $125.

1937 Proof set - Haylings' prediction: $1,390. Actual:$350.

1952-D Jefferson 5-cent coin - "The sleeper of all time, in myopinion." Haylings' prediction: $2,175 per roll. Actual (stillsleeping): $87.

1950-D 5-cent coin - "The king of all rolls! Number one on the'top' list! Without a doubt the gilt-edged security in the coininvestment field. I am predicting that the price will be $10,000per roll ... in 1971, 157 times the 1954 price!" Actual: less than$50 per roll. Did Haylings eventually feel guilty for calling it"gilt-edged"?

He wrote another Profit March book in 1964, focusing on IndianHead 5-cent coins and small cents. Eventually, however, readersrealized that profits were marching to Mr. Haylings, but not tothem, and demand for his investment guides evaporated.

The Profit March series still provides unintentionallyhilarious reading. Haylings' pie-in-the-sky predictions offerendless chuckles, but don't overlook his coin care suggestions.In the last-named book, he recommends tumbling Uncirculated coinsin powdered stearic acid and rubbing them with a chamois clothbefore putting them into a plastic storage tube. Kids: DO NOT trythis at home!

To read the complete article, see:
George Haylings was a prophet who was wrong on coininvestments(www.coinworld.com/news/us-coins/2016/09/investment-book-authors-advice-was-not-so-good.all.html)