Whitman Publishing announces the release of the expanded and updated third edition of A Guide Book of Flying Eagle and Indian Head Cents, by Richard Snow. The 304-page book will debut in September 2016, with a limited number of advance copies available at the Whitman Publishing booth at the American Numismatic Association World’s Fair of Money in Anaheim, August 10–13. The book is available online (including at www.Whitman.com) and from bookstores and hobby shops nationwide. Its retail price is $19.95.
Award-winning author Richard Snow examines the copper-nickel and bronze cents of 1856 to 1909, exploring mintages and surviving quantities, challenges and opportunities for the collector, and interesting die varieties. His date-by-date research is enhanced by historical essays as well as an engaging overview of Flying Eagle and Indian Head cents by the “Dean of American Numismatics,” Q. David Bowers.
High-quality, full-color photographs illustrate each coin. Snow’s detailed research includes yearly production notes; market values in multiple grades (including for Brown, Red/Brown, and full Red Mint State); tips on collecting circulated, Mint State, and Proof coins; and other insight for collectors and investors.
Other updated and returning features include a biography of coin designer James Longacre; an appendix on detecting counterfeits and genuine coins deceptively altered to appear to be more valuable pieces; a history of market prices going back to 1946; a bibliography for further research; and sections on pattern coins and toned Proofs.
The expanded third edition is 16 pages longer than the second. Its new content includes an illustrated guide to the top 100 Flying Eagle and Indian Head cent die varieties; an illustrated study of related exonumia, by Charmy Harker; a gallery of fascinating and valuable mint errors and misstruck coins; and Snow’s revolutionary new “PDS” grading system, which evaluates the quality of a coin’s planchet, die, strike, and color. “With the PDS grading system, pricing editors will recognize the overgraded coins in their data points,” said Snow. “They will eliminate them from their analysis, and present a much more accurate snapshot of the real-world coin market.” Whitman publisher Dennis Tucker called it “innovative” and “a set of guidelines with the potential to revolutionize the hobby.”
In his foreword, Chris Pilliod, president of the Flying Eagle and Indian Cent Collectors Society, said that Richard Snow “is ideally suited to author this seminal work.” ANA Numismatic Hall of Fame inductee Bill Fivaz in a second foreword praised the book’s “wealth of information” and Snow’s “attention to detail,” saying that “even the novice collector is able to see and understand what is being presented.”
Because Whitman Publishing is the Official Supplier of the American Numismatic Association, ANA members get a 10% discount when purchasing the book directly. ANA members may also borrow the book for free from the association’s Dwight N. Manley Numismatic Library.