Customer Reviews

Official Guide to US Commemorative Coins: Current Information That All Collectors Want and Need

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This is a useful book for both the advanced and beginning collector of U.S. commemorative coins. Particularly appealing is the historical information pertaining to the development of the series. The author, an attorney and former president of the American Numismatic Association, provides the reader with interesting first-hand accounts of the renaissance of U.S. Commemorative coins, drawing from not only his first-hand experience in providing testimony to Congress, but also his experience as a member and driving force on the Citizens Coin Advisory Committee. Ganz provides much detail, previously unpublished, of the events leading up to the Bicentennial coinage of 1975-76, the striking of the first noncirculating commemorative half dollar (Washington Birth 250th Anniversary) in 1982, as well as the current 50 state quarter program. The book also provides information relating to the designers and engravers, the mintages, mint marks,issue prices, and price history for each issue produced from the 1848 California Quarter Eagle (the author differs with others who credit the 1892 Columbian Half as the first commemorative U.S.coin)thru commemoratives produced in 1999. One weakness of this otherwise excellent book is that the photographs of many of the coins are of poor quality, some having been photographed through plastic, others having a spotty look commonly found on scanned photos. Errors, such as a photo of the 1925 Stone Mountain Half Dollar attributed as the 1926 Sesquicentennial Half Dollar, annoy the reader, as does the decision of the author to show the obverse of each coin separately, with photos of all the reverse designs shown in the appendix. While this book would never get this reader's vote as the best book ever published on U.S. commemorative coins, the modest list price still makes it a desirable addition to one's library.

This is a fine reference book to have, and it gives you the nuts and bolts about each of the various US commemorative coins. A little more information on how the various patterns came about and any interesting points to note would have made this much better, but it's still a book worth having on your shelf if US commemoratives are your thing.

Commemorative coins have long been a popular and profitable collectable. With David L. Ganz's The Official Guide To U.S. Commemorative Coins, even the most novice collector has a reliable, comprehensive, and informative guide that provides key grading and pricing details for United States commemorative coins, including mintage statistics not often found elsewhere. Ganz also includes insider information on how the new 50 State Commemorative Program was developed. This is the program circulating one commemorative coin at face value for each state. The Official Guide To U.S. Commemorative Coins is definitive, exhaustive, thoroughly "user friendly", and highly recommended.