BOOK REVIEW: AMERICAN GOLD AND SILVER

As modern U.S. coins grew in popularity and became an important segment of the coin market over the last several decades, there was no real concomitant emergence of a significant numismatic literature about this burgeoning field.

There are a few key works, like Eric Jordan’s Modern Commemorative Coins (2010), and the short volume he coauthored with John Maben, Top 50 Most Popular Modern Coins – as well as books on specific series from Whitman’s Official Red Book series of Guide Books.

But collectors of modern U.S. coins, especially those who focus on the major gold and silver bullion and collector coins issued by the United States Mint in recent decades, have tended to rely almost exclusively on numismatic periodicals and web sites and have not had much in the way of reference books to help make them more educated collectors.

In 2012 that began to change with the publication of John Mercanti and Miles Standish’s American Silver Eagles: A Guide to the U.S. Bullion Coin Program, by Whitman Publishing, best known as the company that created the “Red Book”. The third edition of American Silver Eagles was released last week on March 17.

The second volume in Whitman’s bullion coin series is Edmund Moy’s 2014 book, American Gold and Platinum Eagles: A Guide to the U.S. Bullion Coin Programs, which, like the Mercanti and Standish volume, provides a detailed overview of the subject at hand, with useful background on how the series came about and detailed reference information on each coin.

Dennis Tucker, Whitman’s publisher and an award-winning author, has now completed the trio with the publication of his book, American Gold and Silver: U.S. Mint Collector and Investor Coins and Medals, Bicentennial to Date.

Tucker’s book is a tour de force, covering U.S. coins and medals issued since 1976 apart from American Eagles (though a brief chapter summarizing those programs is included). He began working on the book in 2009, as the author explained in personal correspondence to me, though most of the research and writing was done over the two years preceding its release.

The author visited every current U.S. Mint facility in operation plus two that are no longer functioning (New Orleans and Dahlonega), and interviewed numerous experts on modern U.S. coins*. He worked closely with numerous staff from the U.S. Mint, especially its sculptor-engravers and medallic sculptors, for whom the author clearly has a lot of admiration and respect.

After providing the reader with a fascinating overview of the role of gold and silver in human and U.S. history, he moves on to detailed, systematic, and gorgeously illustrated chapters about the most important modern gold and silver coin series, especially the American Buffalo Gold, First Spouse Gold, America the Beautiful Silver, and other special modern coin series – as well as on what he sees as the most important medals issued since the bicentennial.

To read the complete article, see:
Coin Books – First Read: American Gold and Silver by Dennis Tucker (www.coinweek.com/education/numismatic-books/first-read/coin-books-first-read-american-gold-silver-dennis-tucker/)

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