5-year old thread---Has anyone seen the reprint of the 1947 Redbook?

Rampage

Maybe this has already been brought up, but I've been away for a couple of weeks. I was in the book store tonight and saw it. I thought it was pretty neat. It is a near exact replica of the 1947 issue.

OLD Post.

coirn

I would love to find the leather bound limited edition of this book. I guess has been long since sold out.

speety

Yup, kinda cool. I think I'll probably pick one up pretty soon for the fun factor.

On a side note, at the last local monthly show I went to I was able to pick up a First Edition, second printing for $80. It's in fairly good condition too, just a little loose on the binding.

BillJones

This reprint book as been available for quite a while. I have never bought one because I have a second printing of the original 1947 Red Book in my library.

coirn

I am looking for the scarce limited edition bound in leather. I believe only a few dozen were crafted. The Whitman website is still selling the cloth bound reprints for less than $15.00

shorecoll

Speety, that was a decent score, maybe not a You Suck!, but decent nonetheless. The market for 1st 1st and 1st 2nd is highly variable and very condition sensitive. I have a decent 1st 1st, around a fine that I paid about $700 for...a little bit better would be triple the cost. It is amazing to see a 60+ year-old book, printed on fairly cheap paper in pristine condition. You have to grade the paper, the cover and the gilt. Some people just have nothing better to do.

MFH

I had to buy the 1947 Reprint -
just to see what coins were selling
for in my birthyear !!

Hey, Dad !! You listening... why didn't you
buy an 1894-S Dime for $ 2,000 in "Unc"
when you had the chance ?

BillJones

<< <i>I had to buy the 1947 Reprint -
just to see what coins were selling
for in my birthyear !!

Hey, Dad !! You listening... why didn't you
buy an 1894-S Dime for $ 2,000 in "Unc"
when you had the chance ? >>



The trouble is quotes on the rarities were very theoretical. Yes, the coin market was much smaller back then, but the rarities were still tough to come by. The collectors who had them had to be convinced to sell them. Still if you were a guy a like Eliasberg with lots of money relative to your peers, you could collect everything. From what I’ve heard from the collectors who around when Eliasberg was very active (conversations with them back in the 1970s), he was like a vacuum cleaner. And since the leading dealers knew that he had cash and was a ready buyer, he often got first crack at the good stuff.

Just to put things in perspective, coins for which I’ve paid tens of thousands of dollars, were only listed for a few hundred dollars back then. For example an 1808 quarter eagle was listed at $250 in Unc. The “original” 1804 silver dollar had sold for $10,500, and a “restrike” was listed for $2,875.

And if you were in market of a top of line Cadillac limousine, the list price was $4,887. If you wanted a top of line Cadillac convertible, it was yours for about $2,800.

The dollar had a vastly different value then, and this was after the post World War II inflationary period.

TJM965

Some coin buyers still use the 1947 redbook as a price guide.

SaorAlba

Several years ago, actually about a decade ago - we were temporarily living in an apartment building of mostly older - like 80+ year old people. From time to time they would go into assisted living or whatever and have living estate sales. One of our downstairs neighbours was moving over to assisted living and had a sale. I almost didn't go but then our neighbour across from us badgered me into taking her stuff down to the sale to sell. I looked around and found the second printing of the '47 in mint condition - price $1. I told the seller it was worth far more, but she insisted on selling it at that price because she wanted to "be fair". So I got that and several 78rpm records that I still have but have no idea if I will ever play them.

A couple of years later the dear neighbour across from us - the one that badgered me into going to the sale - found out we were going to travel to Canada - she gave me a bunch of Canadian coins to take back and spend there - stuff like teens dated large cents, but incredibly also some American Indian cents. I told her there was no way I could spend them, but I would be happy to buy them later. Unfortunately she passed away shortly afterwards and who knows what happened to the coins. I remember that one of the USA cents was an 1884 in XF+.

johnny9434

ive seen some of them at some the coins shows. there a bit sparse but can be found