At church, there are a few people that know I collect coins. One man came up to me and gave me this... Said he had been looking through some old books he had in storage and thought it would be perfect for me. And that is why you should go to church. Anyways, I was really happy to receive this gift. So I decided to compare the prices then with the prices now. I found a few interesting things in it. First thing I noticed is the half cents. Only around $5 - 6 for the common ones (in Good condition) compared to around $25 - 30 today. The large cents also went up a lot since this book was made. From around $20 to $125... Except for the "head of 1793" which is currently priced at over $300. I also noticed that the grades only went to "V. Fine" where as now they go up to AU in most coin books. Next up is dimes. I noticed that many Mercury dimes were around face value during the time this book was made. The 1916 - D went from $90 in Good condition to around $500 today. That's almost a 600% increase in value. The wheat cents also went up a lot in value. A 1909 could sell for less than a quarter. The 1909 s was only $24. And the 1909 - S V.D.B was only $125 compared to $400 today in Good condition. Another key date Wheatie I noticed had gone way up in price is the 1922 No D wheat cent. It appears it was around $40 in G - 4 then, but you won't find them for much less than $300 now in the same condition. If any of you want to see a coin not listed in the pictures, just ask I'd be happy to compare it for you. P.S. it looks like we have over 900,000 posts on the Coin Chat forum. Let's get 1,000,000!
I know your post was "Old Redbook", but I'm gonna riff on "cool people at church giving you stuff." When I was in high school, there was an old Cuban man who went to our church. His family fled political persecution in the 60's. When he found out I was into coins, he gave me this piece, and I've cherished it ever since. He died earlier this year, and I was very sad to hear it:
For your own enjoyment, look up the 1960-P Small Date Lincoln and the 1950-D Jefferson. Also, look for the early "key dates" in the Roosevelt series -- 1949-P, 1949-S, and 1950-S still carry a premium in MS, but nothing like they did then. In fact, I think the Numismedia FMV prices for those dates in MS60 are pretty much the same as the prices in my 1965 Red Book, in nominal dollars, not even inflation-adjusted.
Take another look at those headings,. That $5 - $6 listing is for Fair condition not Good. The Good Listing are $10 so from $10 then to $25 -30 today. Something else you have to consider is comparison to the rate of inflation (time value of money) That $125 in 1967 would have to be $598 today to have the same buying power. So $125 then to $400 today is actually a net loss.
Didnt realize inflation was that bad. I thought it might have doubled, maybe tripled, but not by that much. What is that, 500% almost?