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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;kaparthy, post: 659120, member: 57463&quot;]<b>The coins that might have been</b></p><p><br /></p><p>Patterns are the coins that never were.&nbsp; In truth, some patterns did become circulating issues, as the money in your pocket has a long gestation.&nbsp; Online, of course, is the outstanding work <a href="http://www.uspatterns.com" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.uspatterns.com" rel="nofollow">www.uspatterns.com</a>.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>Three books compete for the bibliophile&#039;s attention</p><p><br /></p><p><i>The Official Red Book United States Pattern Coins </i>(10th Edition) by J. Hewitt Judd, MD, edited by Q. David Bowers.&nbsp; For over 40 years, Dr. Judd&#039;s work on patterns was the standard work.&nbsp; This is a continuation and update.&nbsp; J. Hewitt Judd first published an article about patterns in 1940. The book <b><i> United States Pattern, Experimental and Trial Pieces </i></b> appeared in 1959.&nbsp; The publisher was Whitman, then in Racine, Wisconsin.&nbsp; Successive editions folloed: 2nd ed. (1962); 3rd ed. (1965); 4th ed. (1970);5th ed. (1974); 6th ed. (1977).&nbsp; Walter Breen and Abe Kosoff joined in that earler effort.</p><p><br /></p><p>Before Judd, the standard work was &quot;Adams and Woodin&quot; <b><i>United States Pattern, Trial, and Experimental Pieces...Issued by the United States Mint from 1792 up to the present time </i> </b> by Edgar H. Adams and William H. Woodin (1913).&nbsp; (William H. Woodin later served as Secretary of the Treasury under Franklin D. Roosevelt, likely the reason why items of numismatic interest were exempted from Executive Order 6102.)&nbsp; This book was reprinted in 1959 by Numismatique of Dayton, Ohio.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p><b><i>United States Pattern and Related Issues</i> by Andrew W. Pollock III</b> was published by Bowers and Merena in 1994.&nbsp; It stood to be the new reference and still stands as an excellent resource, better in many ways than its competitors.&nbsp; Certainly the large format (510 pages 9x12 inches approx) gives the printer room to display the images.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>(Someone who knows the history can correct this, but as I recall Bowers and Merena sold out to Collectors Universe in 1999.&nbsp; In 2000, they fired Dave Bowers who then formed his own new firm.&nbsp; The point is that while publishing was important to the old firm, the new owners found less profit in it.&nbsp; In truth, rumor was always strong that QDB subsidized the press via the auctions.&nbsp; His own books, of course, were a product.&nbsp; However, fine books like Pollock&#039;s also graced the shelves of empassioned collectors as a result of QDB&#039;s generous support for books.)[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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