Would you believe I still have my 1st coin price/grade reference guide. Whitman was the pinnacle of the hobby back in the 60's and had the attention of virtually every young collector in America. Here's my very first price guide, ah, the memories... You still have yours? Take Care B
Yup, I've still got the original littleton material my dad bought me right after I got interested in coins and the 1987 red book that was a gift from a coin dealer my very first trip to a coin store.
Bq, Might you be from the Bellveue area. My In-Laws live on Franklin st and I could drive there in my sleep, LOL. Have you ever been to that coin store (I know you have) on 13th st the one with the bars on the windows? My FIL is a detective on the Douglas County Sherrifs dept and he's been doin gthat for almost 40 years! Take Care B
Sure do, I have a 1993 Red Book Hardcover and a little "starter collection" where there was a wheat cent, steel cent, war nickel, silver dime, silver washington quarter, and Kennedy half. I thought it was neat when I was first starting. I have another book somewhere around here from 1990 that I also got.
yeah-but mine's not from too long ago 2005 RedBook-hopefully I'll still have many years from now Bill
My father found a copy of "Let's Collect Coins" at a show and sent it to me for Thalia. We tended to share books so I don't think I "owned" any while growing up.
I still have the 1982 Redbook that was my first reference. I shared it with my old man back when I first learned that the halves at the bank were worth looking through! I remember the first "rare coin" that I ever bought was a 1954D Franklin that my Dad pulled out of a roll one Saturday afternoon while he was sorting halves and I was sorting cents for my folder. I paid $5 for it (basically everything I had at that point) and a few months later I sold it back to him for the same price to buy some toy or other I thought I really needed (although I have no idea what it was now). Those are great memories! I remember that it was a day when I had swimming lessons in the morning so we picked up some rolls on the way home from the pool, what fun!
Isn't it funny how some memories just stick out in your mind-no matter how useless they seemed at the time. Now if I could only remember some of the really important stuff...
It is bad enough that we all collect coins, currency, guns, knives, pens, watches, etc. Many of us won't part with a silly book either. What is wrong with us? I've still got every Red Book from the 8th Edition to present. Worse yet is the fact that I used to alway buy 2 so that I could leave one unopened. Nowadays I still buy one hard bound and for actual usage I use the ringed binder version. What is wrong with me?
Bone, Interesting pics...did everyone see the price of a 1909S-vdb ?...$65...and wouldn't you know,my time machine is in the shop.
Thanks, there are several editions of this book. Mine is from 1971, but the prices reflected are much earlier. As you can see there is no listing for Kennedy halves or Memorial Lincolns so.... B
I finally parted with my 1963 RED BOOK a couple years ago. Gave it to a young man that was just starting out collecting coins. Still have all the others. 1970 PHOTOGRADE, 1977 ANA grading standards, and a bunch of red books. The other sixty or so books are all newer editions.
Thanks for the post. I ran into the bedroom to see if it was still there - been several months since I looked at/for it. Ah the memories. The only problem is that I didn't buy or sell any coins while that was my main (and only) reference....
GREAT Reference. This is exactly what I was posting about a couple of years ago. The (IMHO) Silver years of coin collecting are still relevant when it comes to the hobby... Take Care and Thanks for the Pic Ben
I have the 2008 red and blue book from when I first started collecting. they still look just like new!:goof: Wanted to learn how things have changed over the years so bought a lot of books for cheap before they went to the trash. Some go back to the 1950's. Favorite so far is the 4th edition Guide to the grading of US coins by Brown and Dunn 1964. Also, some old Numistic Scrapbooks with articles talking about silver and the economy. Sounds just like today.
