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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;WingedLiberty, post: 1595562, member: 26030&quot;]Richard S. Yeoman or R. S. Yeoman (born Richard S. Yeo on August 15,&nbsp; 1904 in Racine, Wisconsin)&nbsp; was a commercial artist, publicist, avid&nbsp; coin collector, and creative genius who helped to revolutionize and&nbsp; promote the field of numismatics.</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://mindstar.com/cointalk_photos/yeoman1.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>During the Depression, Richard S. Yeo - who later used &quot;Yeoman&quot; as a professional and pen name, took a job in the marketing and advertising department of Whitman Publishing Company.&nbsp; At that time, the hobby attracted only a small number of professionals and academicians, who had no easy way to store or display their coins.&nbsp;&nbsp; Coins often were laid flat in a drawer or dumped into an envelope. Later in 1930&#039;s Richard Yeo was asked to promote a large coin board that Whitman had acquired from an inventor.</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://mindstar.com/cointalk_photos/yeoman2.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>The boards Whitman produced (and first sold in the Chicago area) were large enough for framing but difficult to store.&nbsp; That prompted Yeoman to work on a new design, and by 1940, had designed a 5.75 by 7.5 inch blue coin folder, which was convenient to use and also protected the coins.&nbsp; In an interview in 1978, Yeoman reminisced,&nbsp; &quot;Our product wasn&#039;t an instant success with everyone, some Chicago dealers in the early 1940s would snicker when I came in with the folder, saying people didn&#039;t learn anything by using it.&quot; But those dealers soon realized that folder sales helped to pay their rent.&nbsp;&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>This blue fold-out model (The Whitman Folder) continued to catch on during the 1950&#039;s and 1960&#039;s was sold in many neighborhood drug stores across the U.S.&nbsp; I believe that these inexpensive Whitman Folders provided a launching pad for many young collectors in the 1950&#039;s and 1960&#039;s.&nbsp; Variations of that folder are still used and sold today.</p><p><img src="https://mindstar.com/cointalk_photos/yeoman3.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>In late 1946,&nbsp; Yeoman wrote &quot;A Guide Book of United States Coins (1st Edition 1947)&quot; -- also known as the &quot;Red Book&quot; due to it&#039;s bright red cover.&nbsp;&nbsp; This book has become the most widely distributed coin book ever published, which has sold over 21 million copies since it was first published in 1946.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>Today, many coin historians acknowledge that the Whitman Folder and &quot;Red Book&quot; have done more than almost anything else to make coin collecting one of the country&#039;s more popular hobbies.</p><p><br /></p><p>Yeoman remained active until the end, serving as a consultant to Whitman and visiting selected coin conventions. He won all of the hobby&#039;s highest awards, and was praised for his sincerity, generosity and organizational ability.</p><p><br /></p><p>R. S. Yeoman retired in 1970, and his assistant, Kenneth Bressett, remains the editor of the Blue Book and Red Book. Yeoman (with Bressett) is still listed as the author of each edition of the books.</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://mindstar.com/cointalk_photos/yeoman4.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>R.S Yeoman died while driving a car near his retirement home in Tucson, Ariz on November 9, 1988.&nbsp; He was 84 years old.</p><p><br /></p><p>Early editions of the &quot;Red Book&quot; are collectible. Original copies of the first edition have commanded $1,500 or more on the open market.</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://mindstar.com/cointalk_photos/redbook.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>I recently bought a reprint of the original 1947 Redbook on Amazon for $17.95 -- and the first thing I noticed was there are no mintages given for any coin in this first edition, just market prices.&nbsp; It&#039;s&nbsp; interesting how we as collectors have come to rely on mintage numbers (at least I do) and&nbsp; their omission in this first edition seems very strange.&nbsp; &nbsp; The second amazing thing were the prices themselves.&nbsp; &nbsp; I was blown away by the incredibly low market prices of some numismatic rarities in the year 1947.&nbsp; Wow! </p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;Here are a few samples:</p><p><br /></p><p>1792 Half Disme&nbsp; (1947 Redbook $100 in Fine)&nbsp; (2012 Redbook $40,000 in Fine)</p><p><img src="https://mindstar.com/cointalk_photos/Redbook47_1792HD.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>1793 Chain Cent&nbsp; (1947 Redbook $125 in Fine)&nbsp;&nbsp; (2012 Redbook $28,000 in Fine)</p><p><img src="https://mindstar.com/cointalk_photos/Redbook47_1793Chain.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>1795 Flowing Hair Silver Dollar (1947 Redbook $35 in Very Fine) (2012 Redbook $5,500 in Very Fine)</p><p><img src="https://mindstar.com/cointalk_photos/Redbook47_1795FHD.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>1795 Ten Dollar Gold&nbsp;&nbsp; (1947 Redbook $200 in Uncirculated)&nbsp; (2012 Redbook $90,000 in Uncirculated)</p><p><img src="https://mindstar.com/cointalk_photos/Redbook47_1795Ten.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>1895 Morgan Proof&nbsp; (1947 Redbook $35 in Proof)&nbsp; (2012 Redbook $45,000 in Proof)</p><p><img src="https://mindstar.com/cointalk_photos/Redbook47_1895Morgan.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>1907 Ten Dollar Gold Rolled Edge with Periods&nbsp; (1947 Redbook $100 in Uncirculated)&nbsp; (2012 Redbook $72,500 in Uncirculated)</p><p><img src="https://mindstar.com/cointalk_photos/Redbook47_1907Ten.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>1909 VDB Matte Proof Lincoln&nbsp; (1947 Redbook $6 in Proof)&nbsp;&nbsp; (2012 Redbook $2,750 in Proof)</p><p><img src="https://mindstar.com/cointalk_photos/Redbook47_1909vdb.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" />[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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