ZIELINSKI REPORTS ERRORS IN THE 2013 RED BOOK

Over the weekend, I picked up the 2013 copy of The Official Red Book: A Guide Book of United States Coins. I purchase the new edition of the book every year and refer to it several times per day. This single book puts an incredible amount of information on United States coins at my fingertips for quick and easy reference.

I recommend that all coin collectors have a new or recent edition of the Red Book within their numismatic library. It can also make a great gift for someone just starting out in coin collecting. When I first started collecting, I used my first copy of the Red Book until the binding broke. Now, I always purchase the spiral bound version.

When flipping through the newest edition, I did notice a few errors, some of which have also appeared in previous editions. These are not typos or minor differences in figures, but more significant issues that could potentially have an impact on someone relying on the information presented. I also noted a few omissions which could be updated with available information.

Here are some issues that I hope the editors of the Red Book will look into before the release of the next edition:

2008-P and 2008-D Sacagawea Dollars
The Red Book lists mintages of 9,800,000 and 14,840,000 for the 2008-P and 2008-D Sacagawea Dollars. These coins were only issued by the United States Mint within numismatic rolls and bags, and the total mintages were significantly lower at 1,820,000 each.

The basis for the incorrect higher numbers seems to be the US Mint's 2008 circulating coin production figures, which include a large number of 2009 Native American Dollars that were struck during December 2008.

Correspondingly, the 2009 Native American Dollar mintages in the Red Book should be higher by the displaced amount.

1999 Yellowstone National Park Silver Dollar
The Red Book lists mintages for the 1999 Yellowstone Silver Dollar of 23,614 uncirculated coins and 128,646 proof coins. The figures that I have are 82,563 uncirculated coins and 187,595 proof coins. I believe that the mistake is the result of not including sales for coins included in the two coin set offered by the US Mint for the program.

The figure reported for the uncirculated version would place this issue amongst the lowest mintage modern commemorative silver dollars. The correct figure puts the coin back into the average mintage range.

Omissions
There is no mintage listed for the 1999 Proof Susan B. Anthony Dollar. The mintage figure that I have is 750,000, which makes it the lowest mintage proof issue of the series.

There are no mintages listed for the 2007 Jamestown Commemorative Coins, even though figures are included for subsequent commemorative issues. The mintages that I have based on last reported sales are 18,623 uncirculated and 47,123 proof for the $5 gold coins and 81,034 uncirculated and 260,363 proof for the silver dollars.

Dennis Tucker of Whitman publications adds:

To read the complete article, see: A Few Errors in the 2013 Red Book (news.coinupdate.com/a-few-errors-in-the-red-book-1317/)

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