PENNY WHIMSY
From NBSwiki
The One Hundred Greatest Items Of United States Numismatic Literature Rank: Number 5
Clain-Stefanelli 12341, Davis 929, Grierson 221
The only work on our list which essentially appears twice, Penny Whimsy represents an incremental update to Sheldon’s groundbreaking Early American Cents (#16), which covered large cent coinage of the years 1793 to 1814. In this edition Sheldon added few varieties, but reworked valuations and condition consensus. Early American Cents introduced the seventy point grading scale, a “scientific” approach to pricing in which valuations were assumed to adhere to a fixed multiple (set according to condition) of a basal value. Though updated by Sheldon in Penny Whimsy, the modern market has rendered such a concept useless. Still, this is far superceded by the strength of Sheldon’s variety attributions, which half a century later remain the standard.
First Edition
SHELDON, William H, PASCHAL, Dorothy & BREEN Walter. PENNY WHIMSY: A REVISION OF EARLY AMERICAN CENTS, 1793-1814: AN EXERCISE IN DESCRIPTIVE CLASSIFICATION WITH TABLES OF RARITY AND VALUE.
New York, NY: 1958
340pp, 51 plates
Octavo
Hardbound: Tan cloth, lettered in gilt, dust jacket
1965 Reprint 1
Photo courtesy of Jim Bowling.
New York, NY: Issued for the John J. Ford, Jr. Numisco Series, 1965
340pp, 51 plates
Octavo
Hardbound: Tan cloth, lettered in gilt, dust jacket
Photo courtesy of NBS Member.
1965 Reprint 2
Photo courtesy of Mark Borckardt Numismatic Library.
Iola, WI: Krause Publishing, 1965
340pp, 51 plates
Octavo
Hardbound: Tan cloth, lettered in gilt, dust jacket
Photo courtesy of Mark Borckardt Numismatic Library.
1976 Reprint
Lawrence, MA: Quarterman, 1976
340pp, 51 plates
Octavo
Hardbound: Cream cloth, lettered in copper, dust jacket
Publisher Alfred Hoch states on the copyright page: “This Quarterman edition contains a reproduction of the text of the original with the correction of typographical and factual errors present in the 1958 edition from notations supplied by the author. The plates have been reproduced from photographs rather than the printed plates of earlier editions.”
1990 Reprint
Photo courtesy of Steve Shupe Numismatic Library.
New York, NY: Sanford J. Durst, 1965
340pp, 51 plates
Octavo
Hardbound: Tan leatherette, lettered in gilt, dust jacket
Contains a new introduction and appendices by Denis Loring.