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Message:: [QUOTE="swhuck, post: 844404, member: 21044"]The Red Book has the grades they have because those are what will physically fit on the page. It took forever for them to add AU grades in many series. The Professional edition takes care of some of this problem. In any event, I wholeheartedly recommend the Red Book as a *general* price guide. Sure, it's not up to date and the prices are high retail, but you can take a look at it and tell that your 1909 cent isn't worth anywhere near as much as a 1909-S, for example. Most importantly, as others in this thread have mentioned, the rest of the information in the book is absolutely invaluable. Grading, variety attribution, specifications, numismatic history, mintage figures, where to find mintmarks -- where else are you going to find all of that info as easily and as cheaply? In case you're wondering, Heritage catalogers all have a copy of the Red Book at their desk, and they use it constantly. They have a lot of other info at their fingertips, to be sure, but the Red Book is great as a quick source of good info.[/QUOTE]