Over the weekend, I picked up the 2013 copy of The Official Red Book: A Guide Book of United States Coins. I purchase the new edition of the book every year and refer to it several times per day. This single book puts an incredible amount of information on United States coins at my fingertips for quick and easy reference.
I recommend that all coin collectors have a new or recent edition of the Red Book within their numismatic library. It can also make a great gift for someone just starting out in coin collecting. When I first started collecting, I used my first copy of the Red Book until the binding broke. Now, I always purchase the spiral bound version.
When flipping though the newest edition, I did notice a few errors, some of which have also appeared in previous editions. These are not typos or minor differences in figures, but more significant issues that could potentially have an impact on someone relying on the information presented. I also noted a few omissions which could be updated with available information.
Here are some issues that I hope the editors of the Red Book will look into before the release of the next edition:
2011 America the Beautiful Quarters Mintages
The mintage figures for most circulating 2011-dated coins are listed in italics (indicating that they are approximate) and seem to have been based on US Mint coin production figures from late 2011. Therefore, in most cases these mintages are slightly under the final mintage since a few months of production are missing. As an annual print publication, it is understandable that mintages for some of the newest releases are not up to date.
In the case of the 2011 America the Beautiful Quarters, the Red Book lists mintages of 180,600,000 Philadelphia and 168,000,000 Denver for each individual design, which is massively higher than the actual mintages. It seems that the total production across all five different designs was inadvertently applied to each individual design. The mintages by individual design are significantly lower. For example, production for the Gettysburg National Military Park Quarter was 30,800,000 Philadelphia and 30,400,000 Denver.
2008-P and 2008-D Sacagawea Dollars
The Red Book lists mintages of 9,800,000 and 14,840,000 for the 2008-P and 2008-D Sacagawea Dollars. These coins were only issued by the United States Mint within numismatic rolls and bags, and the total mintages were significantly lower at 1,820,000 each.
The basis for the incorrect higher numbers seems to be the US Mint’s 2008 circulating coin production figures, which include a large number of 2009 Native American Dollars that were struck during December 2008.
Correspondingly, the 2009 Native American Dollar mintages in the Red Book should be higher by the displaced amount.
While there are possibly similar issues for other coins, this has a significant impact because it makes the lowest mintage coins of the Sacagawea Dollar series look like they are amongst the highest mintages coins of the series.
2011 Presidential Dollars
The Red Book lists a mintage of 146,300,000 Philadelphia and 148,960,000 Denver for each of the 2011 Presidential Dollars. This is a similar situation to the mistake for the 2011 ATB Quarters, where the production across all designs was used for each individual design.
The Andrew Johnson Presidential Dollar, for example, had mintages of 35,560,000 Philadelphia and 37,100,000 Denver.
1999 Yellowstone National Park Silver Dollar
The Red Book lists mintages for the 1999 Yellowstone Silver Dollar of 23,614 uncirculated coins and 128,646 proof coins. The figures that I have are 82,563 uncirculated coins and 187,595 proof coins. I believe that the mistake is the result of not including sales for coins included in the two coin set offered by the US Mint for the program.
The figure reported for the uncirculated version would place this issue amongst the lowest mintage modern commemorative silver dollars. The correct figure puts the coin back into the average mintage range.
Omissions
There is no mintage listed for the 1999 Proof Susan B. Anthony Dollar. The mintage figure that I have is 750,000, which makes it the lowest mintage proof issue of the series.
The 2013 Red Book provides separate listings for the satin finish 2009 Lincoln Cents and notes their different composition of 95% copper and 5% tin and zinc. This is a change from last year’s edition where the special composition was described, but separate listings were not given for the satin finish versions. If these issues are being listed separately, it might be appropriate to also list their mintages of 784,614 based on the mintage for the 2009 Uncirculated Mint Set. Other satin finish coins of 2005-2009 are not listed separately, but in this case the difference from the business strike is both the finish and the composition.
There is no mintage listed for the 1998-S Matte Proof Kennedy Half Dollar. (There are mintages listed for the 1994 and 1997 matte proof Jefferson Nickels, which were issued under similar circumstances.) The mintage figure that I have is approximately 62,000 coins based on the sales of the 1998 Kennedy Collector’s Set.
There are no mintages listed for the 2007 Jamestown Commemorative Coins, even though figures are included for subsequent commemorative issues. The mintages that I have based on last reported sales are 18,623 uncirculated and 47,123 proof for the $5 gold coins and 81,034 uncirculated and 260,363 proof for the silver dollars.
The mintage figures listed for the First Spouse Gold Coins start looking strange around the 2008 Martin Van Buren’s Liberty coin. For this and the next four coins, the figures seem to reflect partial sales. From the 2009 Margaret Taylor coin onwards, no mintages are provided. These are the same partial/ incomplete figures that appeared in the last edition of the Red Book. While most commemorative issues and American Eagles have been updated with fairly complete information through 2009 or 2010, no updates have been made to the mintage information for First Spouse Gold Coins. Last reported sales data, which provides an approximate mintage, is available for all First Spouse Gold Coins through the end of 2010.
Thank you! I have been looking for the Jamestowm Comm. production figures for a long time.
I also show 187,595 for the proof Yellowstone dollar too. (didn’t buy the unc. that year.)
This is concerning to me since I just purchased my first version of the Red Book Online about a week ago. I would expect that the publishers would have the MOST CURRENT/Accurate information in this book since it is the coin collectors bible.
If the information is not is this book – how is someone suppose to find it and expect that what they find is accurate?
I haven’t even received my book yet and I’m already disappointed!
RPW
As mentioned in the beginning of the article, on the whole the Red Book is an excellent reference and I recommend it highly. With so much information included, it is somewhat understandable that a few mistakes might slip through. Hopefully, these will be correct in the next edition.
For the 2007 Jamestown Commemorative coins, are the figures switched for the proof and uncirculated? Aren’t mintages usually higher for proof commemoratives?
Yes, I transposed those- will correct now.
I am impressed that you caught all those errors – you must have a memory like a steel trap.
MZ for US Mint Director !!!
Little Rock error. This edition has reversed the mintage figures for the proof and mint state coins. Nothing serious unless you’re new to the hobby.
I actually contacted the publisher last year to point out some of these issues like the spouse numbers, and I am disappointed that they have not been corrected. This info. is readily available online. But I agree that it is still a useful resource overall.
The Red Book the Frosted FREEDOM varieties for 2007 American Eagle Platinum Proof for the first time. Too bad they could not get the numbers right. The $100 coin is listed at (21). The published information received from the US Mint stated that (12) may be available for this denomination. Maybe the proof reader thought this was a transposition of the mintages for the $25 and $50 coins, correctly listed at (21).
The listings for the America the Beautiful 5 Ounce Silver Bullion Coins contains no mintage information.
I find that the Red Book mintages for modern coins is severly deficient. I no longer purchase the Red book on a yearly basis. I use and trust Michael’s data. He provides a valuable and timely service by keeping up the database.
Does anyone know why a 1999S Silver 9-piece Proof set from the US Mint was valued @ $400.00 retail in the 2008 edition..but only shows a retail value of $135.00 in the 2013 edition.
Why have they not put out an application or digital version with a search engine yet. 66 years and still nothing. Would be fairly easy for this. Type in a year or a specific coin and go right to that spot instead of flipping through hundreds of pages on the iPad or book. Just an idea.
Justin, they have put out an application. Released recently, https://www.whitman.com/redbook
hi – i’m trying to figure out – when they list mintage figures for individual
denominations – does that # INCLUDE the quantity in the mint sets – ?
example –
if the mintage for a 19xx coin is listed as 5,150,150
and the mint set for the same year is listed as 1,150,150
does that mean a total of 6,300,300 coins were minted or
only 5,150,150 were minted OUT OF WHICH 1,150,150 was put into
mint sets, leaving only 4,000,000 to be put into actual circulation….?
thanks much!
Hello, Howard — I’m the Red Book’s production editor, which means I coordinate the pricing and other edits and generally ride herd on the process. I also compile the mintages from the Mint’s published figures each year. The short answer is, yes, the single-coin mintages include the set mintages, so you don’t have to add the single coins to the sets to get an additional mintage figure.
Mintages for Proofs are derived a bit differently from those for circulating coins. For each Proof denomination, I figure out which sets it was included in (Proof Sets, Silver Proof Sets, Limited Edition Proof Sets, etc.), then add up the most recent numismatic sales for those sets. For circulating coins, I simply pick up the Mint’s most recently published production figures. The Mint pulls from this supply to make its regular Mint Sets, so the coins in those sets are already accounted for in the numbers the Mint publishes.
In your example above, the total mintage is 5,150,150. If the 19xx coin is a circulation strike, 1,150,150 of the coins went into sets and 4 million went into circulation. If 19xx is Proof, all 5,150,150 went into Proof Sets.
I hope that helps!
Diana Plattner
Senior Editor
Hi! Howard here again….was wondering why the souvenir sets for “every” is not listed….thanks!