February 23, 2012 – Whitman Publishing has released the first edition of a brand-new work on Canadian numismatics. The “Guide Book of Canadian Coins and Tokens”, by Dr. James A. Haxby, is available now from booksellers and hobby shops, and online. The 464-page hardcover book is illustrated with more than 1,600 full-color photographs. It retails for $19.95 in the United States ($22.95 in Canada).
James A. Haxby, Guide Book on Canadian Coins and Tokens, Whitman Publishing, Atlanta (GE) 2012. Hardcover, more than 1,600 full-color photographs. ISBN: 0794822517. $19.95 (USA) resp. $22.95 (Canada).
The “Guide Book of Canadian Coins and Tokens” is an illustrated price guide, history, and reference book on provincial and colonial Canadian issues and coinage of the Dominion of Canada, ranging from the 1500s to the present day.
Educational features include a history of early money among the First Nations, in Nouvelle France, and in British North America; a study of the manufacture of coinage dies; information on mints, mintmarks, privy marks, test marks, composition marks, and mintage figures; a glossary of numismatic terms; essays on toning, third-party grading, authenticity, and other hobby topics; sections on hobby organizations and periodicals; and essays on the British monarchy as related to Canadian numismatics.
Collector information includes studies of Victorian coin die varieties; detailed grading instructions; a history of each coin type; technical specifications for each; more than 1,600 full-color photographs and enlargements; mintages; and retail values in up to 12 grades (including circulation strikes, plus Specimen coins, Proofs, Brilliant Uncirculated, and other special-finish formats).
The “Guide Book of Canadian Coins and Tokens” covers all of the Canadian colonies and provinces, as well as modern (1867 to date) coinage of the Dominion of Canada. It includes bullion coins, popular die varieties, commemoratives, misstruck coins and mint errors, coin sets, patterns, and test tokens.
The 140-page section on early Canadian coins and tokens includes extensive full-color coverage of French regime coinage, fur trade tokens, Nova Scotia, Magdalen Island, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland, Lower Canada, Upper Canada, the Province of Canada, and British colonial items (including special-use tokens, various bank tokens, concoctions made for collectors, borderline and questionable tokens, and others).
The new book’s layout and informational design are patterned after Whitman’s popular “Guide Book of United States Coins”, known to collectors as the “Red Book.” It includes Canadian versions of Red Book staples including bullion-value charts for silver and gold coins, and a list of the top 250 Canadian coin prices realized at auction. A detailed table of contents and a full index make it easy to find content within the book.
Award-winning researcher James Haxby is well known in the numismatic community. He pioneered the modern study of Canadian coins in the early 1970s with Western Publishing, then the parent company of Whitman’s coin guides. Haxby has been active in Canadian numismatics since, and the new “Guide Book of Canadian Coins and Tokens” marks his return as a Whitman author.
More information on this and other Whitman books are available on the publisher’s website.