Cherrypickers’ Guide in New Edition

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November 3, 2011 – Whitman Publishing is releasing a new, expanded, and updated volume of the award-winning Cherrypickers’ Guide to Rare Die Varieties of United States Coins. The fifth edition, volume II, covers half dimes to silver and modern dollars, plus gold dollars through double eagles, commemoratives, and bullion. It will be available in November 2011, online and from booksellers, hobby shops, and coin dealers nationwide, for $39.95.

Longtime die-variety specialist Ken Potter has joined the Cherrypickers’ team as editor of the new volume, working with the book’s original creators, Bill Fivaz and J. T. Stanton.
“Cherrypicking” involves examining coins that look normal at first glance, but have unusual characteristics (like doubled and tripled dies, overdates, and repunched mintmarks) that can reveal a common coin to be a rare and valuable variety. The Cherrypickers’ Guide includes close-up photographs and descriptions to guide the reader, plus market information and values in multiple grades, for more than 780 varieties. Appendices include essays on types of doubling, how to examine your coins, Proof set varieties, collector clubs, recommended reading, and other beginner and advanced topics.

Accurate pricing was an important goal for editor Ken Potter. “We coordinated our pricing with input from dealers, collectors, and other hobby experts and specialists,” said Potter. “For each variety we studied retail prices, coin-show activity, and real-world auction results, in detail, in order to report the most accurate values possible.”

The new volume is 32 pages longer than the fourth edition, with more than 100 new varieties. “Most of the additions are within the popular modern series,” said Whitman publisher Dennis Tucker. “We have new Mercury dimes, more than a dozen each of new Roosevelt dimes and Kennedy half dollars, two dozen new Washington quarters, including State and National Park varieties, and new modern dollars. The entire bullion section is new, covering silver, gold, and platinum coins. And we’ve included additional varieties in the older coinage series, as well.”

Bill Fivaz, J.T. Stanton, Ken Potter (ed.), The Cherrypickers’ Guide to Rare Die Varieties of United States Coins, 5th edition, volume II, 512 pages. ISBN 079483239-3. Spiralbound hardcover. $39.95.

To order the Cherrypicker’s Guide, visit Whitman’s site.