Cherrypickers’ Guide to Rare Die Varieties
|
|
Publisher’s Column
by Dennis Tucker
What the Other Guy Doesn’t Know Can Cost Him
Pity the poor “other guy” who doesn’t know his doubled dies from his normal coins. He just doesn’t stand a chance against the educated cherrypicker.
Few books have taken the numismatic community by storm like the Cherrypickers’ Guide to Rare Die Varieties. The first edition burst onto the scene in 1990, and since then thousands of coin collectors have been bitten by the Die Varieties Bug.
 As its title implies, this handy book tells you how to cherrypick rare coins—that is, how to examine a collection of otherwise normal coins, looking for unusual characteristics: doubled and tripled dies, overdates, repunched mintmarks, and other factors that can reveal a common $1 coin to be a rare $500 variety.
Not only does the Cherrypickers’ Guide tell you what to look for, it also shows you, with enlarged, high-resolution photographs of each coin’s PUPs, or Pick Up Points. You’ll know exactly what you’re looking for. That kind of knowledge truly is power!
Since 1990, four editions of the Cherrypickers’ Guide have come out, to popular acclaim, with thousands of copies sold. Seems once you get bitten by the Die Varieties Bug, the ailment is pretty serious (but thankfully enjoyable, and often quite profitable). Think of the coins you’ve got sitting in your safe or Whitman folders or albums. Who wouldn’t have fun going through them, looking for rare doublings and repunchings—especially when that “common” Washington quarter is actually worth 100 times what you paid for it! And imagine going to the next local coin show armed with insider knowledge on what to search for... those little details can mean big profits for a savvy cherrypicker.
By the time you read this, Whitman Publishing will be in the final stages of typesetting and proofreading the Fourth Edition, Volume Two, of the Cherrypickers’ Guide, covering U.S. coins from half dimes through modern dollars, gold dollars to double eagles, and classic commemoratives.
The book will debut at the American Numismatic Association’s World’s Fair of Money in Denver this August. In the meantime, here are some exclusive sneak peeks at the Cherrypickers’ Guide. (Shhh... don’t tell the other guy...)
Cherrypickers’ Guide to Rare Die Varieties
|
|
|