Fun with Yeoman's Guide; The "Red Book"
deefree49
Posts: 282 ✭✭✭
Ah, Yeoman's ever present coin books...probably the first book a coin collector owns.
Since PCGS began pricing online, Yeoman's Red Book has clearly slid downward in importance, influence and most importantly; accuracy.
Another thing about price lists is their ability to discourage you. How many people have NOT had the experience of great expectations being crushed by a price list? I can remember vividly the first lessons about a coin's condition. Example:
Young collector going through penny rolls from the local bank:
"Oo, Ooo! Look! It's a 1910-S!" I can just make out the date. It's gotta be worth big American dollars!" (He excitedly fumbles through his new copy of The Guidebook to U.S. Coins) "See! It says $100.00. Wow!"
His uncle, a wise old collector takes a look at the coin and the book and says in a deep, resonating voice; "Son, it's true; This coin would be worth $100 if uncirculated. Your coin, I'm sad to say is about a 2 or 3, AG2 or AG3. In that condition it might be worth $5. A dealer probably wouldn't even take it."
(Kid is crushed. It's only temporary but a hard lesson's been learned)
So fast forward: Today Red Books list the price of...(wait for it...)...OTHER Red Books! Listed just like a coin by date and condition. Got a 1st edition in mint condition? Why that's worth over $1,000.00! Got the rare 5th edition 1952/53? That is worth about $500 in VF.
I'm not even sure where this post is going. Hmmm...I know! Questions, I'll ask questions!
SO;
1) Do you still have a copy, any copy of one of the 70 editions? Which is your oldest?
2) Do you have an actual collection of Red Books? (like 2 or more?)
3) Do you have a rare edition? (including a 1st, 3rd, 5th ed.?)
4) Do you have any of the semi-rare ones? (a 2nd, 4th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th ed.?)
5) Do you still look up coins in your Red Books when buying or selling?
Finally, one last thing. I promise. "FUN with Red Books"
What I find fun to do is look up rare coins in an early edition. Then, I laugh at how crazy low the prices are! I have a ratty, worn copy of the 8th ed. The price of a 1909 VDB Matte Proof is $9. NINE DOLLARS! Is that not funny?!
This is where old Red Books really come in handy. I'll show that to my wife and say, "See how much coins have appreciated over the years? Look how smart I am! The $10,000 I spent on that coin yesterday? Surely it will double in value again and again just as it has in the past." I know deep down she doesn't believe me and I really can't blame her. The beat up old book in my hand just doesn't look very official or important enough to bolster my case. We're both standing there thinking to ourselves in quiet desperation, "Hope we can get at least some of that 10K back someday..."
Since PCGS began pricing online, Yeoman's Red Book has clearly slid downward in importance, influence and most importantly; accuracy.
Another thing about price lists is their ability to discourage you. How many people have NOT had the experience of great expectations being crushed by a price list? I can remember vividly the first lessons about a coin's condition. Example:
Young collector going through penny rolls from the local bank:
"Oo, Ooo! Look! It's a 1910-S!" I can just make out the date. It's gotta be worth big American dollars!" (He excitedly fumbles through his new copy of The Guidebook to U.S. Coins) "See! It says $100.00. Wow!"
His uncle, a wise old collector takes a look at the coin and the book and says in a deep, resonating voice; "Son, it's true; This coin would be worth $100 if uncirculated. Your coin, I'm sad to say is about a 2 or 3, AG2 or AG3. In that condition it might be worth $5. A dealer probably wouldn't even take it."
(Kid is crushed. It's only temporary but a hard lesson's been learned)
So fast forward: Today Red Books list the price of...(wait for it...)...OTHER Red Books! Listed just like a coin by date and condition. Got a 1st edition in mint condition? Why that's worth over $1,000.00! Got the rare 5th edition 1952/53? That is worth about $500 in VF.
I'm not even sure where this post is going. Hmmm...I know! Questions, I'll ask questions!
SO;
1) Do you still have a copy, any copy of one of the 70 editions? Which is your oldest?
2) Do you have an actual collection of Red Books? (like 2 or more?)
3) Do you have a rare edition? (including a 1st, 3rd, 5th ed.?)
4) Do you have any of the semi-rare ones? (a 2nd, 4th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th ed.?)
5) Do you still look up coins in your Red Books when buying or selling?
Finally, one last thing. I promise. "FUN with Red Books"
What I find fun to do is look up rare coins in an early edition. Then, I laugh at how crazy low the prices are! I have a ratty, worn copy of the 8th ed. The price of a 1909 VDB Matte Proof is $9. NINE DOLLARS! Is that not funny?!
This is where old Red Books really come in handy. I'll show that to my wife and say, "See how much coins have appreciated over the years? Look how smart I am! The $10,000 I spent on that coin yesterday? Surely it will double in value again and again just as it has in the past." I know deep down she doesn't believe me and I really can't blame her. The beat up old book in my hand just doesn't look very official or important enough to bolster my case. We're both standing there thinking to ourselves in quiet desperation, "Hope we can get at least some of that 10K back someday..."
Lincoln coin lover, especially Matte Proofs
0
Comments
I have a complete set of Red Books and the 1st edition is a first printing.
Wow!
I've been tossing mine every year when I get a new one.
I guess that's why some of the older ones are rare. That's what my mother did with my comic books. You'd think I would have learned....
Here's a warning parable for coin collectors...
My Adolph A. Weinman signature
And yes, a Mint State example of the first edition is worth $1,000 or more because it's rare. I wouldn't pay that for one, but I have bought and sold a worn first edition for just south of $200 many years ago.
As for the low prices shown in early editions, those numbers are accurate. Collectors used to look for each new edition of the book with great anticipation. Back in the early 1960s, a job that paid $100 a week was good one, and in the mid '60s, $10,000 a year was a "big income." You have to put things into perspective.
Does the average collector need to buy a new Red Book every year? No. But buying one every five or six years is not a bad idea. It's hard to find a U.S. coin numismatic reference book with that much information information in it for the price.
I have a complete set of Red Books and the 1st edition is a first printing.
Awesome! Someone was selling a whole set on eBay for about $1300. I thought that was a pretty good price actually since someone else wanted that much for just the 1st edition. The set was in pretty nice shape while that single first edition didn't strike me as being that nice.
The rarest issues are the 1st and 5th, both pretty expensive when and if you see them offered.
Did you get them every year or buy them as a set?
I have 8 of them, (2nd 1948) (5th 1952/53) (8th, 11th, 16th, 51st, 69th). I also got the 1947 tribute edition which came out in 2007. I really enjoy looking through the older ones.
I have a complete collection of Red Books, but my first edition is from the second printing. I am more interested in the pricing information and the historical data provided in those books than worrying about what is in the footnote on the Morgan dollar page, which distinguishes the two sub varieties. I am very happy with my "reference quality" set of Red Books. I can thumb through them without having to worry about "circulating" them.
And yes, a Mint State example of the first edition is worth $1,000 or more because it's rare. I wouldn't pay that for one, but I have bought and sold a worn first edition for just south of $200 many years ago.
As for the low prices shown in early editions, those numbers are accurate. Collectors used to look for each new edition of the book with great anticipation. Back in the early 1960s, a job that paid $100 a week was good one, and in the mid '60s, $10,000 a year was a "big income." You have to put things into perspective.
Does the average collector need to buy a new Red Book every year? No. But buying one every five or six years is not a bad idea. It's hard to find a U.S. coin numismatic reference book with that much information information in it for the price.
Bill, I agree with you on every point. Nice that you have the whole set. I envy you! As mentioned in reply earlier, there is a set on eBay right now and I was tempted. My wife kind of put the brakes on it by saying, "Where are you going to put them?" Well, I don't think they take up too much room but I think she was saying essentially, "You are nuts." I can't help it if I like to collect stuff!
Some of the books in the 1970s are sleepers if they are in one piece. Whitman really got bad with bindings during that period, and a lot of them, including the ones I had, fell apart. All of the books in my set are whole, you had better believe that I am careful with any of those '70s editions when open them!
I buy a new, old fashioned bond edition of the Red Book every year and actually use it through out the year until I get a new one.
Yep! Me too. I do the same thing and look forward to getting each new edition. My first was in 1982. I still have it and most of the ones I've bought since then. Over time, I've given a few away to encourage a new collector here and there.
I like the Red Book because it provides a tangible archive of new issues as well as updates about relevant discoveries within older series, all in one place. I don't pay much attention to the pricing information but use it more as a reference when comparing pieces in terms of relative scarcity/demand within a series. Overall, for many reasons, I still find it to be my favorite coin book.
I was joking around a bit with the O.P. but really I do find the early editions fascinating. The huge price increases can be mind boggling. I made a little chart for myself of some of my better coins. They literally went from single dollars to multiple thousands and that is far beyond the effect of inflation!
I also have an early Blue Book (1948) and since those are supposed to be "dealer buy" prices, they are even more dramatic. Example; a 1921-S Buffalo in better condition was listed at 10 cents. Some of the early nickels were 6 cents!! That is a miniscule premium! Even completely rare issues today were listed in the low hundreds. I'm sorry not to have an example handy but I think it was a 1893-S Morgan. $200 uncirculated in 1948 (dealer buy price) Today you only see it for 6 figures in auction. Fascinating.
Girlfriend bought the super jumbo edition for me last year.
HH
1947-P & D; 1948-D; 1949-P & S; 1950-D & S; and 1952-S.
Any help locating any of these OBW rolls would be gratefully appreciated!
Back in the early 1960s, a job that paid $100 a week was good one, and in the mid '60s, $10,000 a year was a "big income." You have to put things into perspective.
In the 1977 movie Fun with Dick and Jane George Segal's character had a high paying executive job making $35,000 a year before he lost it and he and Jane Fonda went on a crime spree to keep their high lifestyle.
Back in the early 1960s, a job that paid $100 a week was good one, and in the mid '60s, $10,000 a year was a "big income." You have to put things into perspective.
In the 1977 movie Fun with Dick and Jane George Segal's character had a high paying executive job making $35,000 a year before he lost it and he and Jane Fonda went on a crime spree to keep their high lifestyle.
That $35,000 / year income was in the wake of a pretty nasty period of inflation during the Nixon and Ford administrations. Remember the "WIN" buttons? "Whip Inflation Now"
Probably have a few somewhere.
Using an inflation calculator, $35k in 1977 would have been $112k in 2005 and $137k today.
WIN sure was a LOSER
1948 2nd ed.
1949 3rd ed.
1951/52 5th ed.
1955 8th ed.
1956 9th ed.
1958 11th ed.
1963 16th ed.
1972 25th ed.
1979 32nd ed.
1989 42nd ed.
1998 51st ed.
2006 59th ed.
2010 63rd ed.
2013 66th ed.
2016 69th ed.
Plus I nabbed a 1947 1st ed. "Tribute" from 2007.
[URL=http://s918.photobucket.com/user/e1cnr/media/e1cnr005/DSCF24351_zpstwqpn9lt.jpg.html]
PS I have both printings of the 1at edition that I am selling in BST forum
If we were all the same, the world would be an incredibly boring place.
Tommy
I had a a full set of Redbooks including special editions and then wondered why I did. Still have the FUN 50th anniversary edition (58th edition for the Red Book) unopened in plastic seal bag I would love to sell. Make me an offer at bdodson138@gmail.com
WS
Thanks for the note on my book.
BHNC #203
I have several editions...not sure what years...none of the early one's though. @davewesen... I looked on the BST and did not see your listing for the books, at least not on the first two pages.... Now, I mostly use the big Deluxe Redbook.... makes a good quick reference for different things... Cheers, RickO
14 month old post, already sold
Here's "Coin Prices" from 1972...
Some fun issues:
BHNC #203
All signed by Ken Bressett:
Ken at the 2014 ANA when he signed my books.
BHNC #203
Red Book:
Exonumia:
Given out for the 50th anniversary of the Red Book, some with the coins.
BHNC #203
and early signed edition:
BHNC #203