Greetings folks, What book / reference guide would you recommend to a newbie for early US copper, specifically large cents? It would be nice if it included half cents, two cent copper, etc. I'm hoping to source something easily available, not decades out of print. Primary interest is in knowing what die combinations / varieties make a specific coin more desirable. If this information is available openly on a website, even better, but I am a fan of books over electronic look up sites. Thanks in advance. Zoid
I would also suggest the Mega Red First Edition for early half cents and large cents. It has most of the information in the book @paddyman98 posted plus the added bonus of all the other Redbook information. I don't have any suggestions on two cent copper.
If you want to be able to identify "die combinations / varieties" then you need the reference specific to the series you are interested in. For instance, Half Cent Die States/1793-1857 by Manley is probably the best for those series. I used it to complete my Classic Head half cent set (1809-1836) by Cohen Number. That is 23 varieties (actually there are 25 but two are proof-only which I don't collect; I only do business strikes). But there are also die states that I could (but won't) expand into. I also have two references for large cents, one for 1816 to 1839 and the other for 1840 to 1857. You'll notice that the full spread of large cents is not covered by those two books. These references and others that I have are NOT inexpensive. If you want to cover a series completely you're going to have to pay for the best.
@kanga is right, if you have the need to identify every variety and die combination. The books @paddyman98 and I posted are more a general reference book. There is still really good information in the Red Book series. QDB, puts some history with each date and does reference Newcomb and Cohen numbers. Just not in coin attribution detail. But, yes, if you want to get down to hard core early copper attribution, those references are not cheap. Not to mention sometimes hard to find.
Yeah, I just started another thread on what used to be my go to reference book. Now I am questioning it. Link to that other thread is below. https://www.cointalk.com/threads/wa...ncyclopedia-of-u-s-and-colonial-coins.366473/ Z
I saw this book looking on Amazon for the one that Paddyman recommended. I was going to ask about it as well, but I promised my question on the Breen book would be my last for the evening . . . Z
The first edition MegaRedbook is probably the best single volume but if you really want to go in depth Half cents Half Cent Die States/1793-1857 by Manley is very good possibly the best, but practically unobtainable Next best and easily obtainable is Walter Breens Encyclopedia of United States half cents 1793 - 1857. Truly a quality work and readily available for around $65. Outdated and without as much information would be American Half Cents the Little Half Sisters by Roger Cohen This was the book that gave us the Cohen numbers the half cents are collected by. Available in the $50 to $90 range, but I would recommend Breen over this. Early date large cents (1793 - 1814) Penny Whimsy by William Sheldon. An excellent book, well worth reading There have been several editions the first in 1958 and the last in 1990. The problem here is getting the right edition. My personal preference is either the 1958 or one of the 1965 printings, but the 1990 contains all the new varieties discovered between 1958 and 1990. BUT if you go for the 1990 you want the second printing, not the first. The plates in the first printing are HORRIBLE Not much better than black circles. The ones in the second printing are better, but not great. Readily available in the $45 to $60 range. Walter Breens Encyclopedia of Early United States Large Cents 1793 - 1814. An excellent book, tremendous amount of historical background information, large plates (whose photography could have been better). One serious drawback the plates for four of the varieties are wrong. They are duplicates of the plates for other varieties. Available for $125. US Large Cents 1793 - 1814 by William Noyes I can't say much about this as I don't have a copy, but it is the companion volume for his middle date book. And it IS a companion volume, in general you can't buy this separately and the two volume set is usually around $300. Only available from Charlie Davis and they may not be available anymore, they aren't listed on his inventory. Middle dates 1816 - 1839 US Large Cents 1816 - 1839 by William Noyes. Good book, large plates (which I think could be better) pretty good identification of the varieties. Not readily available but can sometimes be found by itself, around $150. The Cent Book by John Wright who is a member here. In my opinion this is the definitive book on the middle dates. Large plates well photographed, good descriptions and interesting historical information at the beginning of each year just makes the book a good read as well. Very readily available, from the author, and I believe he will even sign them for you if you like. $125. I hesitate to say this because it could take sales away from him, but it is also available on the Newman Numismatic Portal. And for completeness sake United States Copper Cents by Howard R Newcomb, the gentleman we can thank for the Newcomb numbers that the middle and late dates are collected by. Originally published in 1944 there have been several reprints of this book done but they all reproduce the printing of the original which was printed in Newcomb's own hand writing. It is really quite unusual. Because of the reprints it is readily available in the $30 to $50 range. But other than as a curiosity I don't recommend it. Unless you just like Numismatic literature. Late Dates 1840 - 1857 While the Newcomb book covers these as well the only real choice here is U. S. Cents 1840 - 1857 by John Grellman. Attributing these are NOT easy. This book has no plates because the tiny details needed to identify the different dies just do not reproduce well enough in photos so instead they are drawn in on enlarged representations of the obv and reverse. This book has gone through three editions and is currently sold out and basically is not available. But John has recently said that the fourth edition will be ready "soon". Only available from the author, the third edition was $100, don't know what the fourth will be. So a full set of the 4 standard references will set you back about $425
I read the other thread. If I understand this right, you inherited a collection. I thought you were just wanting to start out in early copper. In that case, go with what @Conder101 recommended above. You have to know how to attribute early copper in order to determine rarity. How much was a Mega Red First Edition going for on Amazon? I still recommend this book for reference. There is a ton of useful information in the appendices. Also, the bibliography allows you to explore the book's reference material. My copy definitely shows signs of wear.
It really depends on which section of large cents you are wanting to learn about and how in-depth you want to go. I’d start with the Red Book of Half Cents and Large Cents, and go more in depth from there
