Anybody have this book? Under the coin description what does y# and kn# represent? Its not described in the book.
In various coin catalogs, including the Krause series: "C#" = "Craig Number", referring to the designation made by W.D. Craig in his Coins of the World 1750-1850 "KM#" = "Krause Number", referring to the designation originally made by Chester L. Krause and Clifford Mishler (and their successors) in the Standard Catalog of World Coins series "P#" = "Pick Number", referring to the designation made by Pick, in the Standard Catalog of Paper Currency series (published by Krause). "Y#" = "Yeomans Number", referring to the designation originally made by Richard Yeomans in his various catalogs, including Modern World Coins and Current Coins of the World. Many other numbers are in relatively common use within specialized numismatic areas, including Sears Numbers for many ancient coins, Schjoth Numbers for certain Asian cash coins, "Charlton Numbers" for Canadian coins, and "JNDA Numbers" used in the Japanese Numismatic Dealers Association annual catalogs. "Schon Numbers" designated in The Simon & Schuster World Coin Catalogue are used both in German and English versions. The "Red Book", "Blue Book" and "Black Book" all deal strictly with coins which have circulated in the U.S. or the Colonies from which it was formed. The first two are "Official" because Whitman Publishing says they are, with no governmental or numismatic organization backing them up. Personally, I've never heard of a book precisely matching your thread title inquiry, nor have I ever heard of the "KN" numbers you inquire about.
Interesting. I didn't realize that Whitman had begun applying its self aggrandizing "Official" label to that publication. Your 14th Ed. is listed in Whitman's list of current publications. My 13th Ed. (1984) doesn't mention "Red Book" or "Official" on its cover, so I guess the book was promoted in time for the new edition. The companion work Current Coins of the World covers the period commencing in 1965. My 8th Ed. (1988) doesn't have the "Red Book" or "Official" labels either. That work is not on Whitman's current list, but I'm not sure if it has been permanently dropped, or is just between editions. I suspect the latter. Yeoman retired in 1970, and died at age 84 in 1988. These and other coin reference books which have been edited and updated by others still retain his name as author; an honor sadly not accorded to Chester L. Krause or Clifford Mishler, whose names have been dropped from the covers of the most recent Standard Catalog of World Coin editions even though those volumes are popularly referred to as "Krause".
Hehe, Gietl-Battenberg does something very similar. Gerhard Schön's Weltmünzkatalog says "Official World Coin catalogue" at the bottom, and his Euro-Münzkatalog (both catalogs made by that publishing house) says "Official Coin Catalogue". Sounds quite ... official. Christian
