Coin Identification Book

I'm looking for advice on Coin Identification Books. I like what I've read about, "The Whitman Encyclopedia of Colonial and Early American Coins" book and have seen two used copies up for sale(book seems hard to find at the moment).. My question is, is this book the best in terms of Colonial history or can I get away with one of the Red Mega books, which seem to be in surplus? or is there other books that can be recommended?.. My main purpose for this book, is to be able to sit with my kids and learn about the different coinage that can be found in our ground(New England) and to be used as a reference guide, when/if we find old coins.

in my opinion, the Whitman encyclopedia is very technical and more a study of all the pairs of dies used to make the early colonial coins. It is quite thorough, but might not be the best choice for browsing with your kids. There are literally pages and pages of the different pairs of the old coins, and it is not inclusive of most early coins minted by the U.S as they would not be considered colonial. The last part of your question.."that can be found in our ground(New England"....you are way more likely to find US coins and British and Spanish coins in your ground than colonial coins, even in New England.

Don't get me wrong. I own the Whitman encyclopedia, and enjoy it but I have never found any coins that are in it. Ozzie has found a couple of them in our area. I own probably 40 other books about coins, and specific series, like Barbers, bust halves, etc and all are pretty technical.

You might be better off starting with a general book like the Red, and supplement that with websites when you or your kids want a deeper dive on something specific, like King George 1/2 pennies or period counterfeits, etc.

I had a mint copy of it for sale a week or two ago for way cheaper than you can find them for online. I swear I had never done more than flip through it once. I shipped it today to its new owner.

Rod, thanks for taking the time to write up your thoughts. I’ll probably skip the whitman and grab a cheap reds for now.