This is a 1853 US half dime minted in 1853 in New Orleans. It's 168 years old and super cool!
First published in November of 1946 this book is seeing it's 75th anniversary edition being printed soon and available for preorder now.
That's my (older) copy on the bottom but I must say I don't refer to it often. Do you own a copy of this book? Is there really a market for a book like this? I guess there is and it does have some good information on US coins but with all the info available on the web this book does not seem like a great way to value a particular coin in your collection.
I do like the thorough write-up for each denomination as seen below. The overview gives the timeline of each coins evolution then there is a section that talks about collecting a set of said denomination and what difficulties a collector might encounter as far as rarity and availability.
Within each denomination the book breaks down each iteration that denomination as seen below.
This is also the page with all the specs and market value for each grade. The thing about these pages is they don't separate the coins by year and mint and I guess that is where the internet come in. USA Coinbook is the goto for specific, current value of all US coins.
Here is the breakdown of this iteration of the half dime.
This is also where we can see the value of the specific coin pictured at the top of this post.
So, while I did get excited when I got the email for the 2022 edition of this guide I think I will stick with my copy.
makes cool things☝️