Lavishly illustrated in full color, A Guide Book of Shield and Liberty Head Nickels features enlargements for important overdates and other varieties, plus actual-size photographs of every coin in the Shield and Liberty Head series. These popular coins are given the famous Bowers treatment: insightful study, lots of fascinating historical background, and good storytelling. Certified and field populations, historical and current market values, and auction records add to the book's reference value. The chapter on five-cent pattern pieces, with brand-new research from experts in the field, is alone worth the "price of admission"! Four special illustrated galleries round out the text with a rollicking ride through the history of America's favorite coin-from nickelodeons to "a good five-cent cigar"; from ice cream cones at Coney Island to silent movies "Down at the Bijou Dream." Full color throughout; illustrated.