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When did color photos first appear in the Red Book?
Dentuck
Posts: 3,820 ✭✭✭
It's interesting the questions we get from collectors here at Whitman HQ. A chap called
in yesterday and wanted to know when color photographs were first used in the Red Book.
I have to admit I had to look it up!
Frank Colletti says this, in his Guide Book of the Official Red Book of United States Coins
(which we affectionately call the GBGB (pronounced jeeby jeeby) in-house, for "Guide
Book of the Guide Book"):
"Many collectors were excited to see what Whitman would do with the 50th anniversary edition of the
Guide Book [the 1997 ed., issued in 1996], and they were not disappointed. . . . Inside, color illustrations
had been added to many of the different series of coins. As Kenneth Bressett explained in a press release,
'adding color this year was a feasibility experiment. The results, however, are so exciting that a decision has
been made to continue in the future and expand color coverage throughout the book. Locating thousands of
illustrations needed for such a project may take several years, but the end results will be well worth the effort.'
It would in fact take a number of years before all of the black-and-white images were replaced with color ones."
I recall when I came on board (the 58th edition was the first under my tenure as Whitman's publisher),
there were maybe two black-and-white photos remaining in the pre-federal section, and a dozen in the
early half dollars (closeups of Bust half die varieties). By that time everything else had been updated
to full color.
in yesterday and wanted to know when color photographs were first used in the Red Book.
I have to admit I had to look it up!
Frank Colletti says this, in his Guide Book of the Official Red Book of United States Coins
(which we affectionately call the GBGB (pronounced jeeby jeeby) in-house, for "Guide
Book of the Guide Book"):
"Many collectors were excited to see what Whitman would do with the 50th anniversary edition of the
Guide Book [the 1997 ed., issued in 1996], and they were not disappointed. . . . Inside, color illustrations
had been added to many of the different series of coins. As Kenneth Bressett explained in a press release,
'adding color this year was a feasibility experiment. The results, however, are so exciting that a decision has
been made to continue in the future and expand color coverage throughout the book. Locating thousands of
illustrations needed for such a project may take several years, but the end results will be well worth the effort.'
It would in fact take a number of years before all of the black-and-white images were replaced with color ones."
I recall when I came on board (the 58th edition was the first under my tenure as Whitman's publisher),
there were maybe two black-and-white photos remaining in the pre-federal section, and a dozen in the
early half dollars (closeups of Bust half die varieties). By that time everything else had been updated
to full color.
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Comments
<< <i>You answered your own question. The last Red Book that had all black and white pictures was the 49th edition, 1996. By this time the book was really getting dull, and it needed to be spruced up if it was going to viable in the market place. The addition of color pictures, which were phased in over time, were a welcome addition. >>
I think the Redbooks reputation will allow it to always be viable as the 1st book for any budding numismatist. Everybody needs a first book
<< <i>Now we need 3-d photos and photos that can be shifted/turned so as to see luster and design elements better. >>
THAT, sir, would be very cool! Somehow capture the cartwheel luster on a Morgan dollar. . . . the subtle textures of a Mint State Buffalo nickel. . . .
<< <i>Now we need 3-d photos and photos that can be shifted/turned so as to see luster and design elements better. >>
That will be like the song says "In the year 2525 if man is still alive"
<< <i>That will be like the song says "In the year 2525 if man is still alive" >>
By that time, the Red Book will be automagically downloaded to our brainpans. Coins will be obsolete (put away some pocket change in a time capsule!). Every National Park quarter will be a super-rarity. . . . wait a minute, they already are. . . .
<< <i>
<< <i>That will be like the song says "In the year 2525 if man is still alive" >>
By that time, the Red Book will be automagically downloaded to our brainpans. Coins will be obsolete (put away some pocket change in a time capsule!). Every National Park quarter will be a super-rarity. . . . wait a minute, they already are. . . . >>
...
ON the the Red Book (not IN,
as the OP Title) the Bicentennial
Quarter/Half/Dollar on the cover
of the 1976 Redbook?