A Guide Book of United States Commemorative Coins: History-rarity-values-grading-varieties (The Official Red Book)

Review by The Creative Investor for A Guide Book of United States Commemorative Coins: History-rarity-values-grading-varieties (The Official Red Book)
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This is a great book on U.S. gold and silver commemorative coins. Anything by written by Q. David Bowers on coins is a fun read. The book covers both the classic era (1892-1954) and the modern era. Today, a type set of the classic 50 coin silver commemoratives would run approximately $30,000 in Mint State 64 condition, $60,000 in MS65, and $140,000 in MS66. Slightly less than double those figures would be needed if you wanted to have a complete classic 144 silver commemorative coin collection. If you aspire to collect classic U.S. commemorative coins, you must buy this book.

Dave Bowers discusses the statistics, background, and key to collecting each coin. Time and time again, Dave explains that coins laden with abrasions and bagmarks were the result of the original planchet surfaces not striking up fully at the mint or that the coins were simply mishandled at the mint. And he encourages you to keep looking for a finer specimen. Critical information for those looking for exceptional coins. Given that the book is published on glossy paper and the pictures are in color, the book would have benefited from having the pictures in 2X size to show the detailing in each coin.

Dave uses the Lafayette Dollar as an example of how the price increases as you go up the grade ladder. He also advises what grades he thinks are getting the best value for the money; he likes MS64 ($4,000) and MS65 ($12,000). A triple increase in the price of the Lafayette (or $8,000) for one step up in grade is a big difference! It would have been appreciated if Dave had gone a step further and explained what you actually get for the money, beyond the “label,” when you go from a MS63 to MS64 to MS65 to MS66. Perhaps it would be overkill to do it for every coin; but, an example could have been made using the 1928 Hawaiian. I was delighted to learn that undipped Hawaiians often have a yellowish tint; I thought the yellow was the result of overdipping or a bad bath!!! How many coin dealers know that the inner “circle” or “line” often found near the obverse rim of the Panama-Pacific half dollar is due to die characteristics?

Some readers may be disappointed that there isn’t more of an emphasis on investing; but, Q. David Bowers is above all, a smart coin dealer. He knows that emphasizing investment isn’t what sustains the coin collecting hobby; especially, with the roller coaster pricing of commemoratives. It’s the collector that sustains the hobby and Dave is always trying to encourage the collector side of us.

Review by trots for A Guide Book of United States Commemorative Coins: History-rarity-values-grading-varieties (The Official Red Book)
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I only give this three stars for a few reasons.

As a price guide, this book is lacking:

1) Someone else commented that the pictures are too small. Agreed, but unlike the same publisher’s (Whitman) ‘Red Book’ which also depicts the coins in actual size (which has its advantages), this Commemorative book has no magnified insets showing close-ups of interesting features, the presence or lack of which affect the coin’s value. Also, I think the picture quality is overall inferior to that of the ‘Red Book’, as if they were shot with a lower resolution or they’re copies of copies of copies or something

2) For the Modern Commemoratives, in the “Keys to Collecting” section he says the same thing over and over again: some variation of, “Superb gems are easily found in the marketplace.” C’mon, is that really the best you can do or were you just saving time?

3) There is *NO* information on the the myriad sets and special collector issues which the Mint has produced for nearly every Modern Commemorative. Really? The author *might* mention something like “there were 15 pre-ordering options” and then give you a low-to-high price range, but if you want to know the initial price and current value of your 2 or 3-coin Proof Set, you’re out of luck with this book. Even the ‘Red Book’ has a section for that, and unlike this book it is NOT a book solely on US Commemoratives

What it’s good at is giving you the pure history and – more often than not – politics that are behind every Commemorative. Very interesting reading.

BTW, there’s a just-released book on Modern (only) Commemoratives: Modern Commemorative Coins: Invest Today – Profit Tomorrow. I pre-ordered but don’t have it yet.

Review by Bruce H. Needham for A Guide Book of United States Commemorative Coins: History-rarity-values-grading-varieties (The Official Red Book)
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REDBOOK gave me information on Commemorative Coins, but this book is GREAT! Much more detailed information on the history behind all these coins……prices may be a little dated compared to the most recent REDBOOK, but a great add on! Well worth the price.

Review by Gerald F. Slack for A Guide Book of United States Commemorative Coins: History-rarity-values-grading-varieties (The Official Red Book)
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I received my copy the same day I did a Grant Commemorative. I turned to the photo example to see how the detail on the reverse around the house of my new acquisition compared. I couldn’t see any in the photo,the pictures are actual size and too small! Too bad, I consider this a serious shortcoming from what otherwise would have been a fine book.