![]() 33rd edition of the Red Book (1979, dated 1980), showing the solid red cover. | |
Editor | R. S. Yeoman (1946–1970); Kenneth Bressett (1971–2017); Jeff Garrett (2018–present); Q. David Bowers (Deluxe Edition, 2018–present) |
---|---|
Author | Richard (R. S.) Yeoman |
Language | English |
Subject | Numismatics (coins of the United States dollar) |
Genre | Antiques & collectibles |
Publisher | Whitman Publishing |
Publication date | 1946–present |
Publication place | United States |
Pages | 468 (76th edition, 2023) |
ISBN | 978-0794848026 |
OCLC | 1138499586 |
Website | whitman |
A Guide Book of United States Coins (The Official Red Book), first compiled by R. S. Yeoman in 1946, is a price guide for coin collectors of coins of the United States dollar, commonly known as the Red Book.
Along with its sister publication, the older Handbook of United States Coins (The Official Blue Book), it is considered an authoritative U.S. coin price guide. The Guide Book and Handbook got their nicknames (and now official trademarks), the "Red Book" and the "Blue Book," due to their respective solid red and blue covers. [1] Both books are published annually, dated for the following year.
The Red Book lists the retail price of all United States coins from colonial issues to modern circulating U.S. coins, including each year of issue, mint marks, and significant design variations. In addition, the Red Book lists commemorative coins, mint sets and proof sets, and bullion coins, as well as significant U.S. pattern coins, private and territorial gold, Hard-times tokens and Civil War tokens. Also listed are Confederate issues, Hawaiian tokens and coins, Philippine issues and Alaskan tokens. Each listing includes variable prices based on a coin's measured quality, or grade.
This section needs additional citations for verification .(December 2023) |
A Guide Book of United States Coins (the Red Book) is the longest running price guide for U.S. coins. Across all formats, 24 million copies have been sold. [2] The first edition, dated 1947, went on sale in November 1946. Except for a one-year hiatus in 1950, publication has continued to the present.
R. S. Yeoman was the founding compiler of the Red Book while employed at Whitman Publishing. In 1942, Yeoman had served as a founding co-editor of Whitman Publishing's Handbook of United States Coins (the Blue Book). The Blue Book was successful in giving hobbyists an overview of U.S. coin history and coin wholesale values (prices coin dealers would pay for collectors to sell coins). However, Yeoman believed collectors wanted even more information on their coins, so he began to compile the Red Book. Delayed until the end of World War II, the Red Book was published in 1946, providing collectors even more historical information as well as retail values (prices collectors could expect to pay coin dealers to buy coins) instead of wholesale values.
R. S. Yeoman served as editor of the Red Book and Blue Book until he retired in 1970. In 1971 his assistant, Kenneth Bressett, took over as the editor. Bressett himself retired in 2017, and currently serves as editor emeritus. [3] Jeff Garrett has since served as senior editor of the Red Book and Blue Book, [4] [ better source needed ] while Q. David Bowers has served as senior editor of the Deluxe Edition of the Red Book since 2018. [5] Yeoman and Bressett remain listed on each edition of the Red Book and Blue Book as their editor.
The book's all-time peak print run for a single year was 1.2 million copies in 1965.
In 2022, the Red Book is in its 76th edition (dated 2023) and the Blue Book is in its 80th edition (dated 2023). [6]
In addition to the traditional hardcover edition, new formats have been added through the years:
Since 2015, Whitman Publishing has published the (Expanded) Deluxe Edition, trademarked as the "MEGA Red." The MEGA Red includes more expanded design, mintage, pricing, grading and historical information than the standard Red Book. Since the 1st edition, each edition features "in-depth coverage" of a different denomination of U.S. coins:
Early editions of the Red Book are collectible. The first edition has commanded $1,500 or more on the open market. The Red Book has its own Red Book – A Guide Book Of The Official Red Book Of United States Coins by Frank J. Colletti published 2009 by Whitman Publishing ( ISBN 978-0-7948-2580-5).
A facsimile of the 1947 edition was published in 2006, on the 60th anniversary of the publication of the first edition. Dubbed the "1947 Tribute Edition" ( ISBN 0-7948-2230-4), it differs from the original by having a dust jacket (the first Red Book ever to have one) and an additional 32-page color section, comparing the coin collecting hobby in 1946 and 2006. Except for the dust jacket and color section, it was an exact replica of the first printing (with the phrase "scarcity of this date" on page 135).
The two-cent piece was produced by the Mint of the United States for circulation from 1864 to 1872 and for collectors in 1873. Designed by James B. Longacre, there were decreasing mintages each year, as other minor coins such as the nickel proved more popular. It was abolished by the Mint Act of 1873.
Below are the mintage figures for the United States cent.
The Seated Liberty portrait designs appeared on most regular-issue silver United States coinage from 1836 through 1891. The denominations which featured the Goddess of Liberty in a Seated Liberty design included the half dime, the dime, the quarter, the half dollar, and until 1873 the silver dollar. Another coin that appeared exclusively in the Seated Liberty design was the twenty cent piece. This coin was produced from 1875 to 1878, and was discontinued because it looked very similar to the quarter. Seated Liberty coinage was minted at the main United States Mint in Philadelphia, as well as the branch mints in New Orleans, San Francisco, and Carson City.
The Indian Head cent, also known as an Indian Head penny, was a one-cent coin ($0.01) produced by the United States Bureau of the Mint from 1859 to 1909. It was designed by James Barton Longacre, the Chief Engraver at the Philadelphia Mint.
The United States large cent was a coin with a face value of 1/100 of a United States dollar. Its nominal diameter was 11⁄8 inch (28.57 mm). The first official mintage of the large cent was in 1793, and its production continued until 1857, when it was officially replaced by the modern-size one-cent coin.
The Manila Mint was a coinage mint that briefly served as a branch of the United States Mint, located in Manila, now the capital city of the Philippines.
Richard Sperry Yeoman was an American commercial artist and coin collector. Yeoman was the original author of the popular reference books A Guide Book of United States Coins and A Handbook of United States Coins, commonly known as the "Red Book" and "Blue Book". He also marketed coin display boards for Whitman Publishing. Hired by that company in 1932, he redesigned the boards in 1940 to the fold-out model that is currently sold.
The Shield nickel was the first United States five-cent piece to be made out of copper-nickel, the same alloy of which American nickels are struck today. Designed by James B. Longacre, the coin was issued from 1866 until 1883, when it was replaced by the Liberty Head nickel. The coin takes its name from the motif on its obverse, and was the first five-cent coin referred to as a "nickel"—silver pieces of that denomination had been known as half dimes.
The Charlton Press is a book publishing company that produces pricing guides as well as other books on related topics, including collectibles and porcelain figures. The company's first title was Catalogue of Canadian Coins, Tokens & Fractional Currency, published in 1952, and contained all coins used as circulating tender in Canada from 1858 until present.
This table represents the mintage figures of circulating coins produced by the United States Mint since 1887. This list does not include formerly-circulating gold coins, commemorative coins, or bullion coins. This list also does not include the three-cent nickel, which was largely winding down production by 1887 and has no modern equivalent.
The Fugio cent, also known as the Franklin cent, is the first official circulation coin of the United States. Consisting of 0.36 oz (10 g) of copper and minted dated 1787, by some accounts it was designed by Benjamin Franklin. Its design is very similar to Franklin's 1776 Continental Currency dollar coin that was produced in pattern pieces as potential Continental currency but was never circulated.
Kenneth Edward Bressett is an American numismatist. He has actively promoted the study and hobby of numismatics for over 75 years. His published works on the subject cover a wide range of topics and extend from short articles to standard reference books on such diverse areas as ancient coins, paper money, British coins and United States coins.
The Sheldon Coin Grading Scale is a 70-point coin grading scale used in the numismatic assessment of a coin's quality. The American Numismatic Association based its Official ANA Grading Standards in large part on the Sheldon scale. The scale was created by William Herbert Sheldon.
The Turban Head eagle, also known as the Capped Bust eagle, was a ten-dollar gold piece, or eagle, struck by the United States Mint from 1795 to 1804. The piece was designed by Robert Scot, and was the first in the eagle series, which continued until the Mint ceased striking gold coins for circulation in 1933. The common name is a misnomer; Liberty does not wear a turban but a cap, believed by some to be a pileus or Phrygian cap : her hair twisting around the headgear makes it resemble a turban.
Flowing Hair coinage was issued in the United States between 1793 and 1795. The design was used for the first half dime, half dollar, dollar, and the first two large cents.
The 1804 dollar or Bowed Liberty Dollar was a dollar coin struck by the United States Mint, of which fifteen specimens are currently known to exist. Though dated 1804, none were struck in that year; all were minted in the 1830s or later. They were first created for use in special proof coin sets used as diplomatic gifts during Edmund Roberts' trips to Siam and Muscat.
The California Pacific International Exposition half dollar, sometimes called the California Pacific half dollar or the San Diego half dollar, is a commemorative fifty-cent piece struck by the United States Bureau of the Mint in 1935 and 1936. Robert Ingersoll Aitken designed the coin. Its obverse depicts Minerva and other elements of the Seal of California; the reverse shows buildings from the California Pacific International Exposition, which the coin was issued to honor.
Coin cleaning is the controversial process of removing undesirable substances from a coin's surface in order to make it more attractive to potential buyers. The subject is disputed among the numismatic community whether cleaning coins is necessary. Those that argue in favor of cleaning are also in dispute on which methods work best. It was once common practice to clean coins as the method was recommended by experts in the field. Solutions from pencil erasers to wire brushes and potassium cyanide were all used as cleaning agents with the goal to make the coin look brilliant again. When certified grading came into use in the mid 1980s though, the practice of cleaning coins diminished over time. Most coin experts have since come out against cleaning coins, as doing so can negatively affect them both in grade and value. If a potentially valuable coin must be cleaned then professional work is recommended. Commonly found coins are mentioned as ideal candidates for any attempted cleaning experiments.
The United States has several coins and banknotes which were proposed at one time but never adopted.
The American Silver Eagle is a United States bullion coin that has been minted since 1986. Each coin is .999 fine silver. Circulating coins have been minted at the Philadelphia Mint, San Francisco Mint, and West Point Mint, though do not bear a mint mark. Proof and uncirculated coins do have mint marks. The reverse design was changed in 2021.