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Featured Current Books
“Dealer members of the Professional Numismatists Guild consider the ‘Blue Book’ a necessary part of what we do—a convenient source of buying prices for all American coin series.” |
--Robert Brueggeman, Executive Director, Professional Numismatists Guild
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"Am I Blue?"
The Handbook of United States Coins Tells How Much Your Coins Are Worth
Of all the numismatic books Whitman Publishing has created over the years, including many recent titles that are already shaping up to be classics, the Guide Book of United States Coins—the “Red Book”—is by far the most popular. It’s hard to argue when coin collectors have bought more than 21 million copies over the years!
The hobby has another long-running annual price guide, though: one that deserves at least a tiara if not the record-holder’s crown. The Handbook of United States Coins—the wholesale-price guide known in the hobby as the “Blue Book”—has actually been on the numismatic scene longer than its retail-pricing counterpart. Famed researcher R.S.
Yeoman started the book in 1942 as a groundbreaking resource for coin collectors. (It wasn’t until 1946 that the Red Book came into being.) With the Blue Book, hobbyists finally had an annual guide to tell them how much the typical dealer would pay for their coins, and dealers had a handy guide for buying.
The cover of the 65th edition of the Blue Book features three coins that depict Miss Liberty in various forms. The Barber quarter shows her in a profile portrait, wearing a Phrygian cap and laurels. The silver trade dollar depicts her seated on a bale of American merchandise, surrounded by the products of the nation’s agriculture. The Presidential dollar shows her as the Statue of Liberty, in a dramatic view from below. These coins are from the 1800s, 1900s, and early 2000s; the Blue Book’s coverage goes back to 1616. |
Today, longtime editor Kenneth Bressett continues the Yeoman tradition, and collectors and dealers alike find the Blue Book to be a valuable indicator for coin values. More than 50 leading coin dealers, researchers, and organizations contributed to the 65th edition, which is available now from bookstores and numismatic dealers around the nation.
From time to time, we hear the question, “What’s the difference between the Blue Book and the Red Book?” The main answer is simple: the Blue Book lists wholesale prices many coin dealers will pay for collector coins; the Red Book lists retail prices that a collector can expect to pay for the same coins.
For the past 65 years, the Blue Book has aided thousands of people who have coins to sell or are actively engaged in collecting United States coins. The popular coin-folder method of collecting by date and mintmark has created ever-changing premium values for coins, based on the supply and demand of each. Through its panel of contributors, the Blue Book has, over the years, reported these changing values. It also serves as a source of general numismatic information to all levels of interest in the hobby.
Many Blue Book readers are longtime numismatists who appreciate the quality of the book’s photographs and historical/technical data. Other readers might not actively collect coins, but found some old “pennies” and nickels in Uncle Jim’s fishing-tackle box in the attic and want to know how much they’re worth. In addition to more than 24,000 listed dealer buy prices, the Blue Book contains a wealth of numismatic information—photographs that can be used to identify coins, instructions on grading, specific features to look for, mintages and other data, historical background, and more. The book has sections on colonial and early American pieces, all regular federal coins from the 1790s onward, classic and modern commemoratives, Proof and Mint sets, certain die varieties, private and territorial gold, bullion, state quarters, Presidential dollars, and selected American tokens and medals dating from the 1600s onward.
The values shown inside the Blue Book are average prices paid by dealers for various United States coins. They represent a cross-section of prices being paid around the country, compiled from many widely separated sources, from coast to coast and North to South. On some issues slight differences in price among dealers may result from proximity to the various mints or heavily populated metropolitan centers. Other factors, such as local supply and demand or dealers’ inventory conditions, may also cause differences from the prices listed. While many coins bring no premium in circulated grades (e.g., common pocket change), they usually bring premium prices in Mint State and Proof. Extremely rare and valuable coins are usually sold at public auction, and prices vary according to current demand.
The 65th edition of the Blue Book (with its 2008 cover date) features the modern, updated layout of recent years, improved black-and-white photographs, new commemorative coins, state quarters, Presidential dollars, and other coins, and data provided by dozens of noted numismatic researchers and dealers.
All of this combines to make the Blue Book a handy educational reference—and explains why, like the Red Book, it remains one of the longest-selling publications in the hobby. |