Are the mintage figures in the Red Book reliable?

The reason I ask is I have an older Red Book and I noticed a lot of the mintage figures (on the 19th Century coins, in particular) are different from those in my 2007 Book. As a matter of fact, some of the "revisions" are pretty substantial (like some 50%).

 

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great question!

 

Probably "better information" enabled revisions.

Regardless of the mintage figures, though, I think the really unknown question is "how many are left?"

 

In the last 3 or 4 years my wife has been picking up old RED BOOKS and BLUE BOOKS at one of the local library used book fairs for like 0.50 a book
I'm going to have to see if I find some of them mintage errors.

What I like most about the old books you never know what you will find in the pages. So far I have found old postage stamps Carson City GSA order forms from the 70's

 

Wow, Phil, we can all take lessons from you. How did you ever train your wife to do this?

OK, enough of that. On the more cognitive side, my oldie is a '65 RB, and I'll say this, you won't be disappointed. There's more to these than just finding the inserts of the day (mine, BTW, is for Whittman folders...something like that). Tell you just one other neat thing I found. They list a small cent, there, a wheat, in G and F, for more than they list it for in the 2007 Book!

I forget which one it is, off-hand, but it's there. Enjoy!

 

Are you saying the older editions are more accurate? They were written by The Man, himself, now, unlike these newer ones. I'm just trying to understand.

 

I don't really pay attention to the red book that much, I buy one every couple of years so that I can go back and see how much certain coins have appreciated.

 

Just one of the jillions of things I learned here in these forums. It's not a bad benchmark price guide, however, if you don't have an Internet connection to see what's going on in the auction sites, or don't subscribe to the greysheet or dealer newsletters (...as I see it).

Or depreciated. Check this out...

SMALL CENTS 1919-D

RB (1965): G-0.30; VG-0.65; F-1.25; VF-3.00

RB (2007): G-0.25; VG-0.30; F-0.45; VF-1.30

 

And that's not counting inflation... monetary, not grading, I should say!

 

I collect old Red Books. I always found them fairly accurate with information. When the 2006 Edition came out I really blew my top due to all the errors I found. So I started to accumulate a list of all the errors and eventually sent a letter to Whitman detailing all of them. I received a thank you letter and a free copy of one of their books on Silver Dollars. This inspired me to start really looking over the 2007 Edition to see if they had incorporated my findings. Some were and many were not. In the process I found many more so started to document them again. Finally just gave up figuring this book is now just becoming a joke since they are producing editioins almost a year in advance. What good is a 2007 in March of 2006 and now the 2008 is being released in April of 2007. Nuts. That would indicate they started to write the 2008 about a year ago in order to finally publish it now. What good is anything in a book like that now.

 

mintage figures don't mean that much, anyway,esp. from the 1800's.

You don't really know if it means with that year's dies or not, or what got made and melted before release.

 

Old Red Books

Just Carl, Since you collect old Red Books, what should one pay for a 1959 or 1960 edition? That was the year I first started collecting coins and our family had that book and it was a hard back. I am unsure which of these two years it was but it was brand new. I would like to have one for "old times sakes".

 

I have one ( Blue) from that era, I doubt it is valuable. I might be willing to sell it for a nominal sum, if that's allowed here, it is probably AG-3,were it a coin. It has little value to me, forgot where I even got it. Haven't looked at it in years. I could dig it up, if needed.

 

Keep hitting flea markets, yard/garage sales. Also, try used book stores if you can find any. They are listed as from $10 to $40 in various conditions. However, at a flea market I've seen many different year ones selling for $1. It is usually common to find them from about the 12th edition to a few years old but prior to that they can be found but are usually beat up. The reason is that way, way back there was only the Red Book, basically speaking, so they got used a lot. After that other coin books began to appear so many Red Books are in better condition. Also, back then they were all hard covers. Now you can get them in soft cover, soft cover with a spiral ring, hard cover, leather covered and who knows what is next. I'm waiting for the Red Book CD next.
As to what GDJMSP said. Basically true. In order to find anything accurate in the Red Book you would have to compare numerous editions, total the amounts, divide by how many sources you used and pretend the answer is usable.

 

Thanks Just Carl and Doug21. Flea markets are not an option for me due to my work load and a blue book would not have the same meaning. Thanks anyway and I will search the internet and hopefully find one at a reasonable price.

 

The 1959 (12th edition) lists at $35 in new, and $15 in fine condition.
The 1960 ((13th edition) lists at $18 in new and $$6 in fine condition.

You may be able to do better on eBay they are not scarce and are offered regularly.
However, be warned, collecting the Guide Books is addicting! I have two complete sets, along with one set of the blue book, and also collect signed edition (Yeoman & Bressett) and error prinings, and special editions.

My wife is going crazy, since I have them everywhere.

Good luck.

 

It's amazing that a book published annually with most of the mintage information unchanged can develop errors in the database. One would think it should get more accurate over time, not less.

 

Unfortunately whatever they are doing at Whitman, it is not only the mintage info that gets messed up. Prices are sometimes missing, in wrong columns, headings of columns wrong, missing page numbers and on and on and on. Might make an interesting post sometime to try listing all the errors in the new edition.