He. Harris buying Whitman

[chrisfuccione]

As many of you know He. Harris is buying up Whitman. The publishers of of Whitman folders and the Redbook. IMHO I think this will be bad for the hobby for two reasons.

 

1) Harris already sells thier own coin folders with thier company name on it. Do you realy think that they will continue to offer two brands of the same thing to compeat with each other in the market? That does not make good buisness sense. They would only carry one product. What one do you think they would carry. am afraid that they will continue with thier board and drop the Witman Board. Because of the tradition of the Witman board it would be a major blow to the soul of the hobby if we lose them. How many of us used Witman as our first introduction to collecting? People that used to collect coins as kids when they talk to me about my collection always bring them up in the conversation.

 

2) He Harris is manly a stamp Company and they deal with coin supplys. I am afraid that they will try and put thier hand print on it and take control away from Kenneth Bressett the current editor. It has been a tradition for 56 years. I am afraid that it may become a totaly diffrent publication because of this.

 

 

CHRIS

[EVillageProwler]

First CU buys B&M, now H.E. Harris buys Whitman. What next? Maybe the U.S. will officially annex Canada!

 

EVP

 

[SarasotaFrank]

What next? Maybe the U.S. will officially annex Canada!

 

I'm thinking Iraq!

[keithdagen]

In my recent experience, I found that the Harris boards for state quarters and Sac dollars were of better quality and easier to use than the Whitman folders.

 

I don't think that it will be bad for the hobby. The Harris folders tend to be flashier than the dark blue Whitmans, and might catch the eye of more potential collectors.

[Hoot]

I guess I'd be mostly concerned with the Red Book. It is truly a representation of a lineage of singular thought. If this were to be disrupted, it could become a less worthy publication in a hurry.

 

Hoot

[Oldtrader3]

The Red Book has been back and forth in ownership. Back when I worked for Mattel Toy, Whitman was part of Western Book Publishing which in turn was owned by Mattel. Mattel did not mess with it. They just left it alone, as it was profitable at that time (early 1980's).

[paigow_johnny]

With the popularity of the Grey/Blue sheets, on line price guides, trends, pictures and information, etc....does the Red Book really carry the "importance" it used to ?? I'd be interested to hear opinions...I rarely look at mine any more...

[Oldtrader3]

I use it to keep track of my inventory and as a general reference. I use a yellow highlighter and mark each date and mintmark that I have in inventory. The way, if I go to a show or something, I have a handy listing of my inventory. The pricing in it is a year old and certainly not very relevent.

[DWLange]

The value of the Red Book is not in its pricing. This book is the central source book for United States and early American numismatics. While it may lack the more obscure or specialized varieties, it serves as a common ground for which items are considered "mainstream" by the hobby as a whole and provides us with a common language.