Coins Books

The Red Book is the guide. I recommend it. If you don't have a coin collector's guide to retail pricing, the Red Book is the first one to buy. Know this: The Red Book is Whitman's guide to retail value, and the Blue Book is Whitman's dealer-price guide.

I'll put my biggest issue with 2005's edition up front: The hard cover version, at least, has given us a wretched font change since its 2004 edition. It's a smaller and thinner typeface -- I don't know the name of the font, but I think I'll take out my loupe just to look up a coin!

The color images (last year = black and white) are nice. Two caveats: 1) For "the guide" I can't help but wonder why their visual examples aren't top-of-the-line (e.g., a photo of a double die or a 3/2 are typically not stellar examples), 2) Along with the color images, the paper has changed to a more magazine-type feel, and is of thinner/lighter-weight variety. It has more pages, but is actually a thinner book than 2004's. As you "break it in," the pages become easier to turn.

2005 has one extra grading category, adding another level of price. This still doesn't equal as many categories as current grading companies use. If we think of it as a price guide, and not a book about grading (i.e., there is some, but not comprehensive information about how to grade), it does its job. The number of grades, and which grades, given for each coin differ from coin to coin, but as an example it can read: EF40, AU50, MS60, MS65, PF, without the in-between numbers grading companies use.

Guide vs. true-retail price: One highly ignored issue is that the prices don't address or reflect online / auction coin-buying retail value, which is a large market. So, for selling online, or buying online, this is truly a guidebook, not definitive. A coin can sell online for twice, or half, the listed Red Book value. Or wildly to either side. I would guess the prices reflect more of what to expect to pay at a coin shop.

Regarding another review I read at Amazon -- 2004's edition does have the coin history, too, and I agree that it is a very interesting read.

Overall, if you're price-conscious I'd say buy a used one from last year. My primary reason for writing that is because it is so much more a guide than a set-in-stone reality. If you've not bought a Red Book yet, or want to see this year's model, do. I'm glad I did, and the more I use it, the more used to it I am becoming.

Kudos to Mr. Bressett on this edition. I would recommend this to anyone just starting to collect coins, or who hasn't picked up a copy of this reference in a few years. The Whitman ads that offended me in the 2004 edition have been largely addressed. While there are seven full pages of ads (no longer all from Whitman) still present, five of them have been pushed to the very front or back of the book. If the two remaining pages of ads smack dab in the middle were moved to either end as well, this would be a five-star book. Or if the price was markedly decreased with the additional ad revenue.
That said, there were some great additions: The introduction has been improved with a summary of abbreviations used throughout the book. An additional column of grades has been added with the early coinage, which is nice. The poor quality of images from the 2004 edition have been addressed - one or two slipped through, but by and large all of them are good. The value table for the misstrikes has been dropped, which is probably a good idea - misstrikes are fickle creatures when it comes to value. The misstrikes layout is also very nicely redone. The hard times tokens are back, and the patterns section was kept. Near the very end, a few new notes from Q. David Bowers really enhance the sense of what numismatics is about - that there is a rich history not only of the coins themselves but within the collecting community as well. Last but not least, a very nice glossary is included at the end.
Oddly the `additional contributors' section was dropped; not a big deal to the casual reader - I don't know how the contributors feel. The commemorative section has a plethora of new images and some layout changes, with mixed results.
Overall, this is an excellent edition. Meaningful additions were made and existing materials enhanced. I would recommend this edition to anyone looking for a good coin reference.
[Addendum]: It is true that the market prices can be very different than the prices listed in the book - some of this reflects natural fluctuations in the marketplace, as well as reference points - rarer coins have very few public transactions to estimate value. I agree that the prices should not be viewed as definitive.
As for the lack of some MS-state values - valuation of coins increases exponentially between MS-63 and MS-70. The editor appears to have selected popularly available grades for the appropriate denomination. In my opinion, it is a reasonable balance between useful information and keeping the guide to a reasonable size. Such detailed information would not be meaningful in an annual guide.
Those who seek current market values for very specific grades can find them online.

If I'd known the book did not track the higher grades, I would not have bought it.

I seriously thought I got an empty box from Amazon, then discovered that this book is so tiny it can barely be called a pamphlet. The material appears decent, but for about the same money I could get one of Margie Deeb's books, which could keep me occupied for months, and be used as a reference for years.

I realize figuring out techniques requires skill and takes a while - but if you have enough skill to follow this pamplet, you will be disappointed that you spent this kind of money for what amounts to a very few patterns. I'd skip this one, because it really wants to fit in a Little Coin Purse, not just help you make one.

I love the pictures and the ease in which all the patterns are laid out for you.

I wish I had read the reviews before I purchased this. I don't own a loom or know how to loom bead. It looks like I'll have to learn.

This is a lovely,little book which provides very down to earth instruction on loom beading. The colorful illustrations are well done and instructions are easy to follow, especially for beginner loom beaders. The author has designed and built a loom with innovations that makes loom beading easy and is described in the book. I recommend The Little Coin Purse to beaders and non beaders alike.

This particular Whitman coin folder is a larger size than the standard blue Whitman coin folders. Labeled a deluxe edition, it has hopefully enough slots to collect US Presidential dollars through 2016. Instead of being the traditional 3 fold out pages, the book has 80 slots split evenly between four pages. The first two pages are for holding your Philadelphia mint coins, and the last two are for your Denver mint coins.

Sadly this is no extra slot for holding the reverse, but fortunately (or perhaps unfortunately) the mint marks for these coins is on the edge (making the marks hard to find, and almost impossible to display in any coin collecting folder or holder.

Whitman does have a two volume set of the smaller (standard) sized books (Presidential Folder Vol. I (Official Whitman Coin Folder)), but I like the larger format of this book because I'll be able to keep the entire collection together. The size of this book is identical to Whitman's complete Fifty State Commemorative Quarter Folder: Deluxe Edition 1999-2008. In other words, this book will not be an orphan.

A tip for those of you having a hard time finding these coins: US Post Office vending machines often return change in the form of the Presidential, Sacagawea, and Anthony dollars. The majority of the coins I've got are actually the Presidential dollars and of pretty good circulated quality.

A quick note on the size of these coins ... they are actually slightly larger than US quarters. Despite what one reviewer said, this coins will not fit in a generic quarter book. My dollars fit easily into each slot.

Like most Whitman books, the two different fold out flaps of paper contain interesting information on the physical parameters of the coins, their history, and summary statistics on all the US Presidents through George W. Bush. (Carter, Bush, Clinton, and Bush are not yet eligible for being turned into coins. But Whitman included stats about their Presidencies.)

All my coins are stored in Whitman Albums, Folders and Binders. This one is similar to the State Quarters Flip Album so works well :)

It is ridiculous. The size of the holes in this book is the same as those for quarters. So NONE of them fits.

Just got finished with this book...this is my fourth book in a week since my surgery...:) This one was pretty good, lots of action and twists and turns...although there was one thing that I had a hard time in deciding with this book. I was not sure if the author wanted us to feel sorry for one of the main characters (Cliff Blaylock) or not...in the beginning he was this poor soul who got robbed while leaving a coin show, and inadvertantly shoots/kills the neighbor kid (who was involved in the robbery) but shortly after the shooting Blaylock cannot bring it to himself to be honest and tell the authorities or family that he has made this terrible mistake. I was confused if I should feel sorry for this person or dispised him for all the lies he told throughout....another character that I was not impressed with was the mother of the slain teen. She showed very little remorse for the death of her son...and in the end seemed to deal with grief in a way most ppl would not....book ends with a bang....literally...
Would I read this author again??? Maybe...A Rage in Paradise was very intense in some spots...but again, very confusing in others...good beach read...but you may walk away shaking your head when finished with this one!!!!!

It has been some time since I've read an Ralph Arnote novel. His wonderful characters come jumping off the page. Arnote has a great sense of mixing the crime fighting super rich like Willy Hanson and mixing in the rotten bad guys. At times Arnote is a mix between Elmore Leonard and Lawrence Sanders

This story centers on Cliff Blaylock, friend of Willy Hanson and coin collector. On his way home from a coin show Blaylock is robbed of his briefcase containing many coins, one which is a valuable mint condition penny. The robbery does not go off without a hitch. Blaylock shoots one of the robbers, only to find out that he has killed his next door neighbors son. Blaylock trys to cover up the killing until friend Hanson starts investigating on good faith to find the coins. Then the second robber starts blackmailing Blaylock for the the killing.

This story really zips along. You can also feel the tension the Blaylock is going through. Heavy Leval is your typical bad guy, who is easy to hate. Peaches Collins is another one of Arnote's middle characters who is generally good but caught in a bad place. In total the characters here are worth the read.

This is a goo, solid, but average book. A good quick read with interesting characters and a story that builds up steam as it goes. A little like Elmore Leonard. If you need a book for a flight or for a doctors office visit, get this one.

I would have given the book four stars but for one issue (and it's minor.) The winners should have been in one part and the losers in another. But there was a winner on the left page and a loser on the right page.

I found the book highly useful. I'm not a coin collector. To the extent that I love history and money, I love coins. They have a history. They are a part of history. Some are indeed beautiful. But my interest is that of an investor. And this book is great for either the collector or the investor.

It gives a brief glimpse into each coin. It shows a picture of the coin and tells you why it's either a winner or a loser. Also, it tells you the approximate price you can expect to pay for it. You probably would want a more up-to-date guide as to buy and sell prices to accompany the book.

Be sure and note the condition of the coin. The book makes clear what condition you should buy. You would want to avoid anything but those in most cases.

Also, a most valuable glossary is at the back of the book. I find all the terms used in coin collecting completely offsetting as I know so little about it. This glossary is a great guide that you can quickly go to.

I promise you, this book will help you to avoid the many mistakes that we all make in buying coins.

Highly recommended.

I enjoyed the book, however the author is obviously an expert in coin collecting. Several things were mentioned that really don't apply to the "NEW" coin collector.

Should you buy the second edition of this book? At $13.95, YES! Is it well written? Yes. If you are planing to spend serious money and are looking for specific advice on what coins to buy or not buy, this is the book for you! It covers all price ranges. It's easy to read and fun to read! It's a popular book and at this writing 40 new and used copies are available on Amazon.

However, it needs an aggressive editor who knows coins! Hopefully, a future third edition will include that! Unfortunately, there is no Table of Contents and no Index in this book. The pairings of Winners and Losers could be improved upon. Winner #17 Better-date silver dollars and Winner #38 1885-CC Morgan dollars graded Mint State 65 should have been paired up with Loser #18 Generic Morgan dollars graded Mint State 65, 66, or 67, Loser #25 Common date Peace dollars graded MS 63 & 64, Loser #26 Picked-through rolls of uncirculated silver dollars, Loser #35 1887/6 Morgan dollar graded MS 64 and higher, and Loser #44 1924-S, 1925-S, and 1928-S Peace Dollars graded MS 65. The explanation for the last loser alone is worth the price of this book! Needless to say, Scott Travers is not advocating that you complete your sets if you are investing in coins!

Another example of the need for editing is Winner #9 Proof 66 nickel three-cent pieces could have been combined with Winner #35 Nickel three-cent pieces certified as Mint State 66 or 67.

Commemorative coins are also scattered throughout the book. Examples are Winner #2 Lafayette dollars graded MS 65 and Winner #15 Isabella quarter MS 65. But, one wonders why not MS 64 coins at half of the price? Examples of losers are Loser #2 Iowa commemorative half dollar MS 65 and Loser #34 Sets of 1946 through 1951 Booker T. Washington commemorative half dollars. Given the explanations, one wonders whether MS 66 & 67 coins would be worthwhile? And there goes the idea of owning a complete collection! There's also worthwhile advice on Buffalo nickels and gold coins.

One controversial loser. Loser #24 is Proof coins priced excessively high because their business-strike counterparts are scarce. It gives the example of the 1877 Indian cent with 900 issued as being excessively priced at $15,000 in Poof 65 RED. However, why not recommend an 1877 Indian cent in PF Red/Brown for $6,500 as opposed to paying $28,500 for the 1877 in Mint State 65 RED or $11,000 in MS 65 RB? It appears Scott Travers is advocating that we don't mix uncirculated and proof coins in our collections. But how does that advice against proofs match up with his Winner #5 1856 Flying Eagle cent in Proof 63, 64, or 65? Or Winner #12 1936 Walking Liberty half dollar in Proof 65 currently priced at $6,000, a much newer coin with more than four times as many coins issued (3901) as the 1877 Indian?

I bought this book for the pictures but the ONLY good picture is on the front cover and the resolution on that is not very good. Don't waste your money.

This is the perfect little book to get for valentines day. It is beautifully designed and illustrated and the topic is fascinating. You can tell that Roberta Etter really did her research for this book and many of the love tokens photographed in the book are from her own collection. Perfect to give to your sweetheart gentlemen for valentines day or to give you ideas on some love tokens you could give her, and ladies the same goes for you. You can make Valentines day special with the practice of exchanging tokens of love with eachother.

One is struck by the extravagance of the tokens exchanged by lovers through the ages and across many cultures. The book demonstrates the universal depth and intensity of that emotion we call love and our need to express that feeling with a physical (and permanent) representation. A great gift to someone you love

This paperback with glossy cover is a must for collectors inthe metalware field. It's strongest points are in the excellent and numerous photos presented (all of which are in color). ... Most people would find the prices paid for identical pieces to be much lower, but it is still a worthy effort.

The author also devotes the last chapter to discussing forgeries, fakes, and reproductions which is also a must for a novice or anyone who hasn't had years of hands on collecting in the field.

If you had only one guide for the field, although I would never recommend only using one reference source, this could be it.

The only weakness with the book is that the text and background surrounding the various pieces is seriously lacking. But taking into consideration the price and the superb pictures, it is money well spent.

At the same time I would also recommend "Collecting Antique Metalware" copyright 1974 by Evan Perry. It has a mixture of both color and b/w photos in a hardback, but it much superior in explanatory text. I would whole heartedly give each book 5 stars.

There are a few nice pieces in this book but not enough to warrant a whole book. There is one picture I spotted as being identical to a picture on another page. Many of the items one could see by going to a Copper and Brass store that sells new items. I now have the book, "Metalwork in Early America : Copper and It's Alloys from the Winterthur Collection,". If you want in-depth information on antique copper and brass, I'm afraid you're going to have to go the money. This is what I was looking for when I bought this other book. Save your money.

I liked this book because it kept me on the very edge of my seat(so to speak). I stayed up till 12:30 AM to finish it. It was so good I could hardly put it down. Luckily, I had my trusty LED flashlight. Cissy (CeCelia) Nidd is the main character in the book. Her father is a maker of counterfeit coins and she is supposed to help exchange false coin for true coin. But in the process, John Bunyan, a True coin, comes for a stay in the jail. Will he have an effect on Cissy? Will she die of the Black Death (Bubonic Plague), or in the Great Fire of London, but more important, will she die to her sin? It's a very good, clean book, recommended for anyone who's age 12 to 112.

I got this book because I had greatly enjoyed Dust of the Earth, another historical fiction title from BJU Press. Unfortunately, this one didn't live up to that standard.

Why do I call this book sensationalistic? Because, it's one overly dramatic, soap opera moment after another.... Cissy Nidd lives during the time of John Bunyan; in fact, he is a prisoner in her father's jail, and Cissy is drawn to his teaching and his faith. Cissy's family has recently begun making counterfeit coins, and Cissy must help in changing the false coin for true coin. Her father pressures her to marry someone she can't stand because he has found out about the counterfeiting and is blackmailing her father. Cissy, when returning from exchanging counterfeit coins, instead falls in love with a highwayman after a brief encounter, during which he gives her a ruby necklace. After this a correspondence results, because he must flee England. Meanwhile, the undesired suitor tries to kidnap Cissy to compromise her reputation, but her brother rescues her. After Cissy becomes a true Christian and a Dissenter, she runs away from home to avoid being forced into marriage, lives through the Great Plague in London and the Great Fire. She's jailed for her involvement in the counterfeiting, as well as for being a Dissenter from the Church of England, and is to be publicly whipped, but at the last moment it's stopped by John Bunyan and her beloved..... This book is 172 pages! It's exceedingly sensationalistic and melodramatic.

The writing quality was so-so. The plot at times jumped off in another direction without it making any sense. Like the brief encounter with the highwayman where she falls in love and accepts a ruby necklace after a few minutes. I was really scratching my head over that one. There are several other plot jumps where things happened in 1 or 2 pages that should have developed over dozens of pages. There are also some moments where the undertones made me a bit uncomfortable in a book aimed at young people (when the highwayman is wooing her, when the undesired suitor tries to force her to kiss him, and when he tries to kidnap her).

You get to understand a bit about the Dissenters from the Church of England and the difficulties they faced. It's only a very little bit, however, and it hardly makes the book qualify as an educational read. There also is no information anywhere indicating how much of the information about John Bunyan is based on evidence or whether it's mostly speculation.

I won't be keeping this book. There are a few good pages here and there illustrating the change Jesus makes in Cissy's life, and a bit of historical/educational value. But, that doesn't redeem the rest of it.

Sorry LeadPedal2, but you are wrong, and I hope not too many people have been driven away from this wonderfully written, helpful, and complete book by your false statements.
This book DOES contain information on Proof and Uncirculated sets sold by the U.S. Mint, on pages 40-42.

I've been collecting both the Red and Blue books since 1993 as a nice compliment to my coin collection, and this edition maintains Yeoman and Whitman's high standards. I am very happy with this book, and highly recommend it to other coin collectors, beginners through those with much experience.

This book is good for what it includes, but there is a glaring and shocking omission! There is no info on proof sets, only on some individual coins. With the introduction of state quarter sets, annual proof sets have become a hot commodity, yet this book completely overlooks the entire category!

For anyone interested in collecting old coins from the Roman period, this book is a good addition to your bookcase. More and more coins of this period are coming on to the open market. E-bay for example is littered with them Because of the influx of modern equipment, particularly metal detectors, these coins are becoming relatively cheap and a nice collection can be built up for not a great deal of money.

The author Professor Richard Reece has a number of books under his belt on all things Roman and any book written by him is well worth having. There is no easy way to identify old coins apart from hard work and research and this book helps you to do that.

This book is aimed at those who have or are looking for roman coins found mostly in the UK. Starting with the absolute basics of how to spot an ancient roman coin, this book takes the reader through the stages of identification, perhaps aimed at the archaeology student. There are a lot of interesting facts and figures, which provide a good background to the subject. This book is not recommended for the collector who wants a catalogue book, although it does have a good series of drawings to help identify rulers and reverse types. Overall a very good beginners guide, although limited perhaps by its focus on the UK.