Coin Update continues its series dedicated to reflecting on the long history of Whitman Publishing’s Guide Book of United States Coins, also known as the Red Book, now in its 72nd edition. “Red Book Recollections” features personal reflections written by Red Book contributors, collectors, and others with the aim of providing different perspectives on the long-lived reference work.
Our next narrative comes from Wayne Homren:
Why collect outdated editions of the Guide Book? Aside from the fun you’ll have marveling at the antiquated pricing levels and grading systems, the books provide valuable pricing history that can guide collecting decisions today.
I recall the day I was walking through a coin show and spotted a special coin in a dealer’s case—a Scott restrike of the Confederate half dollar. To me, it was the most interesting piece in the whole show, and I decided to buy it. But the $2,000 price tag gave me pause: Was I willing to spend that much on a single coin for my collection? I knew the dealer and asked if I could put a deposit on the coin while I slept on my decision, and he agreed. Back at home that night, I raced to my library and pulled out all of the old Red Books I could find. I grabbed a piece of paper and charted the price history of the coin. Not once did the value ever go down—year after year the value increased, at a fairly steady and impressive interest rate. Seeing the figures in black and white made it clear to me that I could easily justify my purchase as an investment. Mind you, I didn’t have a wife to convince in those days, so it would have been an easy choice regardless. But the Red Book convinced me.
The next day I returned to the show and purchased the coin. Several years later I sold it along with the rest of my Civil War numismatic collection, where the coin realized $8,625. Those old Red Books helped me more than quadruple my numismatic investment.
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I was going to buy a new Red book but glancing through it I saw it no longer contained data on American Silver Eagles. I realize they are considered bullion coins but putting Morgan dollars to shame with the demand by collectors all over the world and with so many low mintage off springs in the collection it would seem that full coverage of the set with the off springs the sales of the book would rise making the few extra pages well worth it. Newer collectors are not really interested in Morgans because of the high prices on so many for a nice coin making a full set almost a multi millionaires choice. The Silver Eagles are here with only a select few out of reach for some collectors in MS70 grade such as the 1995W coin. Others are turning out to have a low mintage but available when they first come out such as the 2017W burnished Eagle. No coverage on Eagles means no sale to me and I am sure it is the same for many others of us “New Era” collectors. We really would like information on mintage of all the off spring coins in MS/PR 70 & 69 condition in one book so we no longer have to search through NGC – PCGS or ANACS web sites for this information. Red Book needs to take a look at what the collector of today is collecting, not just what collectors of the 50’s were collecting. There is plenty of information printed talking about older coins such as the Morgan, Peace or even Walking Liberty coins to fill a library yet American Eagles with a high demand is just a foot note in the 2019 Red Book. If it is because of a lack of interest by the writers to gather the information then it is time for new writers that will give the “New Era” collectors what they will come to rely on as the years go by on these coins.
BTW, I am a “New ERA” collector at the age of 68 years old.
Michael, you’ll be happy to know that Whitman has heard from the collecting public on this one, and will be restoring bullion in the next Red Book! Complete, line-item listings of silver, gold, platinum, and palladium will all be back in their rightful places in the 73rd edition.
Best regards,
Diana Plattner
Senior Editor
Whitman Publishing, LLC