The Official Red Book®—A Guide Book of United States Coins—enters its 63rd year with no sign of slowing down! Americans nation-wide look to this “one-volume library” to tell them how rare their coins are and how much they’re worth. Collectors rely on it for its full-color photographs and detailed technical data.

The Red Book covers the history and values of colonial and early American coins, half cents through silver dollars and gold, commemoratives, Proof and Mint sets, errors, Civil War tokens, territorial gold, state quarters, presidential dollars, and other U.S. coins, with essays on Counterfeits, grading, investing, auctions, and more.

Pricing for more than 6,000 individual coins More than 700 full–color photographs Updated values, mintages, and auction records Expanded coverage of commemoratives, sets, and other coins New state quarters and Presidential dollars First Spouses gold bullion coins 24k gold American Buffalo bullion coins.

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The only book devoted entirely to matte proof Lincoln Cents. Over 250 color and black and white photos provide die diagnostics descriptions to identify and authenticate matte proof Lincoln Cents. Included are die state diagnostics and photographs of previously unpublished diagnostics and die combinations.

The book also presents an analysis of the striking characteristics of Lincoln Cent matte proofs. Lincoln Cent matte proofs were struck on a hydrolic press at much greater pressure than that used for ordinary business strikes. Side-by-side comparison photographs of matte proofs and early die state business strikes show the details of primary design elements, rims, edges and corners. Different striking characteristics were found for each year on the design elements while the rims and edges were similar in width, flatness and general appearance for most years. The primary difference on most years was the sharpness of the corners on matte proofs. For other years, the corners on the business strikes were also sharp. This book helps the reader understand what to expect on a matte proof cent on a year-by-year basis.

The date-by-date analysis presented for the series includes an analysis of striking characteristics, surface characteristics, scarcity, general comments, Heritage auction prices realized, current values and certified population counts. (more…)

The primary objective of this book is to present a detailed historical account surrounding the images used on commemorative coins struck between 1892 and 1954. These images are history frozen in time; a story told through the hands of a sculptor. They represent an important and powerful part of their lure. Understanding the background and symbolism increases the enjoyment in collecting them.

Included for each commemorative coin is a description of the design, historical facts related to the images, origin of the coin, the striking characteristics and wear points, distribution, any information regarding proofs, general comments, values, Heritage auction prices realized, certified population from PCGS and NGC. Also included from the Annual Mint Reports for many of the commemoratives is a general description of the designs used, number of coins struck during the calendar year and fiscal years, and for some series the number of dies used is given. Also included are detailed photographs for many doubled dies and RPMs, some of which have never been presented before.

The secondary objective was to present all Mint and National Archive documents related to commemorative coins. These documents represent the facts presented by those who created our history and were responsible for making the decisions. For commemorative coins, National Archives records are primarily up through 1904 with some records up through 1920. Some of these letters found present detailed accounts of the decisions made.
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