The eighth edition of MEGA RED (the Deluxe Edition of the Guide Book of United States Coins) made its coin-show debut at the 2022 American Numismatic Association World’s Fair of Money. The 1,504-page MEGA RED can now be ordered online and is available from booksellers and hobby shops nationwide.
Every U.S. coinage series has been updated and revised in the eighth edition. The book includes nearly 300 pages of expanded study of two-cent pieces, copper-nickel three-cent pieces, silver trimes, half dimes, twenty-cent pieces, and $1, $3, and $4 gold coins.
More than a dozen appendices explore specialized subjects such as patterns, error and misstruck coins, and counterstamped coins of the featured types. One 19-page appendix, based on the work of James A. Haxby and Harvey B. Richer, studies Canadian “half dimes” (five-cent silver coins) and twenty-cent pieces and their relation to United States coinage. William Bierly, author of In God We Trust: The American Civil War, Money, Banking, and Religion, contributed an appendix on pattern two-cent pieces.
Billed as the “biggest, most useful Red Book ever,” MEGA RED measures 7×10 inches and has 1,040 more pages than the regular edition. The larger size and increased page count combined make MEGA RED five times bigger than the regular-edition Red Book. It prices more than 9,000 items in up to 13 grades each, with 50,000 individual values and more than 15,000 auction records covering circulated, Mint State, and Proof coinage. The book is illustrated with thousands of full-color images, including hundreds that are new to this edition.
MEGA RED covers American coinage from New England colonial times to the modern day – half cents through $20 gold double eagles, plus bullion, commemoratives, Proof and Mint sets, error coins, significant tokens and medals, coins struck by the United States for the Philippines (1903–1945), and other numismatic collectibles. It follows the basic structure of the regular-edition Red Book, but each chapter is dramatically expanded with more historical information, more die varieties, detailed grading instructions with enlarged full-color illustrations, specialized advice on strike characteristics and other technical details, market analysis, auction data, and guidance on collecting and investing in rare coins.
Q. David Bowers is the book’s Senior Editor. Jeff Garrett is its Valuations Editor. Kenneth Bressett serves as Editor Emeritus. A richly illustrated 83-page introduction, “The History of Coins in America, 1607 to Date,” is the work of Bowers. More than 120 numismatists have contributed research, photographs, market analysis, and other valuable knowledge and resources. The eighth edition of MEGA RED includes a study of Chinese counterfeit coins by Beth Deisher, and a 2022 Coin Market Report by Jeff Garrett. Jeff Shevlin and Bill Hyder contributed an illustrated appendix on So-Called Dollars, with a focus on medals of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. An in-depth 24-page appendix on American Arts Gold Medallions is the work of Dennis Tucker.
Each year’s new MEGA RED features an expanded focus on one or more coin series. The first edition included a 364-page section on copper half cents and large cents, with images, history, diagnostics, and pricing for 832 die varieties, 1793–1857. The second edition featured 330 pages covering 607 varieties of Flying Eagle, Indian Head, and Lincoln cents, 1856 to date. The third edition’s feature was on nickel five-cent pieces – Shield nickels, Liberty Head nickels, Buffalo nickels, and Jefferson nickels – covering 545 varieties in 314 pages. Other editions have studied dimes, quarter dollars, half dollars, and silver and related dollars.
For federal coins, detailed charts show each mintage; a summary of certified population data; average national retail prices in grades ranging from About Good to high Mint State and Proof; and three or more recent auction records for most coins. Enlarged close-ups of die varieties provide visual guidance. Extensive chart notes give the backstories and additional details on significant coins.
You can order the MEGA RED book online on the Whitman Publishing website.
