(Pelham, Alabama) — An updated and revised sixth edition of the Guide Book of United States Paper Money is available now, in January 2019. The new book is a history and price guide of the paper currency of the United States dating from Civil War federal issues to present-day cash, plus related issues. Written by award-winning numismatists Arthur L. and Ira S. Friedberg, the 416-page guide is printed in full color with hundreds of high-resolution images. It retails for $24.95 and is available online (including at Whitman.com) and from booksellers and hobby retailers nationwide.

The Guide Book of United States Paper Money describes in detail thousands of federally issued notes—not just valuable rarities like the Demand Notes of 1861, but also currency found in our wallets today. An introduction by David L. Ganz explores topics such as the $2 bill, star notes, and World War II notes; American money in the Civil War; the Bureau of Engraving and Printing; how cash is designed, printed, and distributed; how to collect, store, and care for paper money; grading standards; and the many kinds of federal paper money printed from the 1860s to today’s Series of 2017 Federal Reserve Notes with signatures of U.S. Treasurer Jovita Carranza and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. The authors cover recent developments in the hobby. They discuss the Treasury Department’s changing approach to redesign of the $20 bill using a portrait of abolitionist Harriet Tubman (as well as recently postponed plans to include images of women on the $5 and $10 bills).

On the market side, the book combines the standard Friedberg cataloging system with retail values in multiple grades for each note.

Remarking on today’s marketplace, Arthur Friedberg said, “Great rarities know no price limits on the few occasions that such specimens appear for sale. When they sell, the resulting publicity offers a boost to the entire market. Meanwhile, small-size type notes (non–Federal Reserve notes) are approaching a level of interest formerly held by their large-size counterparts.” He described star notes (replacement notes) as being underappreciated, noting that “The market for Federal Reserve $1 notes affords collectors an opportunity to build their collections at face value by searching though what they receive in circulation.”

The first edition of the Guide Book of United States Paper Money was published in 2005, with updated editions released in 2007, 2010, 2014, and 2016.

Authors Arthur and Ira Friedberg are well known in the numismatic world. They have been professional numismatists for more than 30 years. Both joined their father’s family firm, The Coin & Currency Institute, after college. Since then they have established themselves as award-winning authors, coin dealers, researchers, and numismatic consultants to numerous governments and organizations.

The Guide Book of United States Paper Money covers notes from $1 to $10,000 face value; Fractional Currency; Treasury notes of the War of 1812; encased postage stamps; error notes; signatures on U.S. currency; uncut sheets; and other hobby topics. It includes a glossary and a bibliography for further research.

The book may be borrowed for free as a benefit of membership in the American Numismatic Association, through the Dwight N. Manley Numismatic Library. ANA members receive a 10% discount on copies purchased from Whitman Publishing, the Association’s Official Supplier.

(Pelham, Alabama) — Whitman Publishing announces the release of a revised and updated third edition of the award-winning Guide Book of Civil War Tokens, by Q. David Bowers. The 512-page book debuted during the 2018 holiday season, and is now available online (including at Whitman.com) and from bookstores and hobby shops nationwide. Its retail price is $39.95.

Civil War tokens are metal “coins” (actually not legal tender) privately issued by American tradesmen and others during the conflict. These tokens were used to advertise businesses and also to grease the wheels of commerce during the coin shortages caused by the war. By the summer of 1862, nervous citizens had hoarded all of the nation’s gold and silver coins and even its small copper-nickel Flying Eagle and Indian Head one-cent coins. This caused a financial emergency as it became nearly impossible to make change for everyday transactions. Millions of private tokens became substitutes for official U.S. coins, spent and accepted as 1¢ each by the public. Today these tokens are highly collectible. Values generally range from $15 for common, circulated pieces to more than $15,000 for rarities including unique tokens. In recent years, with eBay offerings, professional auction listings, and other opportunities to buy and sell, Civil War tokens have emerged as a dynamic part of the hobby marketplace.

The Guide Book of Civil War Tokens is a complete history and price guide. The third edition features new resources including an index of more than 20 die-maker ascriptions, organized by maker and Fuld number. This covers the nation’s most productive die-makers such as John Stanton and Emil Sigel, as well as more obscure sources including John D. Lovett and Mossin & Marr.

It also has a new index of tokens organized by the occupation or service of the issuer. This includes more than three dozen types of merchants—bakers, brewers and distillers, hoteliers, jewelers, pharmacists, doctors, saloonkeepers, and others who issued so-called store cards.

The first and second editions of the Guide Book of Civil War Tokens, released in August 2013 and December 2014, won national awards including the Token and Medal Society’s Mishler Exonumia Cataloguing Award and an Extraordinary Merit Award from the Numismatic Literary Guild.

Features include an illustrated appendix on sutler tokens (private issues of government-licensed contractors who typically operated camp stores in connection with traveling military regiments); biographies of selected Civil War token engravers and coiners; information on non-contemporary issues; and an appendix on encased postage stamps (another form of emergency currency issued in 1862).

Among the third edition’s features are hundreds of individually updated values based on today’s market, coordinated by valuations editor Steve Hayden; and numerous edits capturing the latest research in this active field. “The vast majority of Civil War tokens are very affordable in grades of Extremely Fine or higher and range in price from a few tens of dollars to a few hundred,” said Bowers. “There are so many possibilities, anyone can with care assemble a notable collection at modest expense.”

Bowers, widely regarded as the “Dean of American Numismatics,” wrote A Guide Book of Civil War Tokens with the cooperation of leading organizations, museums, libraries, collectors, dealers, and researchers. Also instrumental were the Civil War Token Society (in particular), the American Numismatic Society, the Token and Medal Society, and the American Numismatic Association. The book includes more than 2,000 full-color images, plus values in multiple grades, rarity ratings, detailed historical background, a study of how Civil War tokens were manufactured, ways to collect them, identification of unusual varieties, and information on the potential for valuable new discoveries. It covers both patriotic tokens and “store cards” (merchant advertising tokens), as well as sutler tokens (some of which used Civil War token dies) and encased postage stamps of the era. Nearly every known Civil War token die is described in both pictures and text.

Award-winning researcher John Ostendorf calls it “a must-have book for Civil War token collectors, who will benefit from Dave Bowers’s decades of research, presented in a very readable format.”

“There is no other reference like the Guide Book of Civil War Tokens,” said Whitman publisher Dennis Tucker. “It is the only full-color illustrated price guide to these collectible pieces of Americana. With a small investment of $39.95—about the price of a common copper token in Extremely Fine condition—a collector, dealer, or appraiser can become an expert on Civil War tokens and sutler tokens.”

“No book on how to collect Civil War tokens has ever been as thorough,” said Dr. George Fuld, a well-known expert in the field. “I expect that it will be a standard reference for years to come.” Fred Reed, another specialist in Civil War money and past editor of the Token and Medal Society Journal, said, “Every collector of this series will esteem this volume, and every historian or serious writer on the Civil War should consult its colorful pages in the future.”

In addition to being available at bookstores and online, A Guide Book of Civil War Tokens can be borrowed for free as a benefit of membership in the American Numismatic Association, through the Dwight N. Manley Numismatic Library (money.org/library). ANA members receive 10% off copies ordered through Whitman Publishing, the Official Supplier of the Association.