Whitman Publishing is sending out notices that the 2009 Red Book will be available April 8, 2008. They are really stuck on issuing a book that is almost a year in advance. I really can not see any purpose in what they are doing. Considering it takes months to accumulate all the info, that would indicate they probably started this edition aabout September of 2007. Are they from the future? I really think they are attempting to distroy the intigrity of that book by having it out so early. Why not just have a 2008A or 2008-A or something like that? I'm just irritated. I collect those or I'd just stop buying them as useless.
What I see when i read that is it means that the coin values in the 2009 book from the 2008 book are not going to be changed very much. Or Because there has been a large amout of change in prices some up and some down. More then likly its up because of Silver and gold Prices. But Maybe I Just read into things to much.
Car makers will be selling their 2009 models in May. Will you also refuse to buy their 2009 cars in 2008?
Good point. Besides, how many collectors actually buy the Red Book for it's price lists? Most buy for the reference in regards to mintage numbers, which do change all the time even among older series as new info is gathered about how many are actually still out there to be had. It's a valuable book if you know what and what not to use it for, regardless of when it's debuted. Guy~
I get the red book every year, but I usually manage to get a free copy from someone. 2007 was from a dealer after I spent $30, 2008 I received from Teletrade for signing up with a free account. I'm still trying to figure out how to get 2009 now...
I use it as a price guide, but not in the way you are probably thinking. I use it more for historical trend analysis to see if any particular coins appear to be expensive or bargain priced compared to other coins and other series across years. Specific buy and sell prices require current auction and offer info. Maybe I'll wait and just get the 2010 Redbook which should be out by Memorial Day.
I use mine the same as Cloudsweeper. I like to keep track of trends in prices/values throughout the years and just general info such as mintages. Dont ever expect to pay the prices published in the Red Book, the book is outdated before it hits the shelves.
There is no better reference for tracking trends, even if the prices are out of date for values. The most important part of the book is the listing of mintages. I use that very frequently.
I too use the Red book as a sort of price guide. What I mean is while evaluating my coins I use the Red Book's prices and then reduce by about 20%. I've found over the years that that is about right. I go to lots of coin shows and what I do is make a list of coins I'd like to buy. I put several columns on that sheet. The coin type and date in column one and the rest all prices from the Red Book, the PCGS web site, possible ebay prices, Millers Mint web site prices and if available the grey sheet. I now have several ideas of the possible prices of each coin from lowest to highest. In reality usually means not to much since the real prices are based on price and demand and the dealers at coin shows all know about what the others are pricing at.
