Book review--America's Gold Coinage

Longacre

I recently read the book, America's Gold Coinage (edited by William Metcalf). It is actually a compilation of 8 papers that were presented at the Coinage of the Americas Conference at the American Numismatic Society in November, 1989. The book is only about 130 pages, but the papers are very interesting. They are:

1. A Study of Classic Half Eagles (1834-1838) by John McCloskey
2. US Gold Bullion Coins: A 19th Century Proposal by Cory Gillilland
3. Metallic Panaceas: Gold bugs, Silver Crusaders, and the Wizard of Oz, by Walter Breen
4. In Search of the Imperfect Coin: A Cautionary Tale, by Charles Hoskins
5. An Onerous and Delicate Task: Franklin Peale's Mission South, 1837, by Richard Doty
6. Collecting US Gold Coins: A Numismatic History, by Q. David Bowers
7. The Politics of Coinage as Illustrated by Recent Commemmorative Issues, by James Hayes
8. Reflections on the Gold Coinage of the 20th Century, by Elizabeth Jones

All of the papers are very good, and I particularly liked the story about Franklin Peale and the problems he had overseeing the bulding of the Charolette and Dahlonega mints. The Politics of Coinage article was excellent as well, and it told of how coinage legislation is debated and moved through the Congress. There was also a great "inside" story of how Senator Byrd used his knowlege of parliamentary procedure to have the proceeds of the Congressional commemorative coin go to the Capitol Preservation Commission (rather than be used to reduce the national debt), and also how President Reagan signed the commemorative coin bill and the bill that actually created the Capitol Preservation Commission in reverse order so the Commission could be properly funded! Lastly, the article by Elizabeth Jones is great as well, and she gives a perspective on gold coins that only an artist can give.

I bought the book used through Amazon for about $5.

MrEureka

Good value at $5! I was at that conference. Harry Bass exhibited his early gold and $3 gold pieces there. It was a fun day or two.

RYK

Thanks for the book review. I wish there were more of these in the forum.

MrEureka

The ANS still runs regular COAC's. For example, here's the agenda for their most recent one.

Mark

Longacre:

Some years back I read an article in a professional economics journal arguing that the Wizard of Oz was actually an allegory about the gold standard. Was that also Breen's thesis?

BTW, I totally agree with Andy's point that the books resulting from the COAC's are outstanding. I have several but I don't have this particular book. Andy mentioned that it was a good deal for $5--is this book available somewhere for $5?

Thanks.

Mark

BillJones

<< <i>Longacre:

Some years back I read an article in a professional economics journal arguing that the Wizard of Oz was actually an allegory about the gold standard. Was that also Breen's thesis?

BTW, I totally agree with Andy's point that the books resulting from the COAC's are outstanding. I have several but I don't have this particular book. Andy mentioned that it was a good deal for $5--is this book available somewhere for $5?

Thanks.

Mark >>



The Wizard of Oz was definitely a piece of political satire. The book was actually a pro-silver tract satirized the conditions of the day. Here are a few examples:

· In the book Dorothy walked down the yellow brick road in silver slippers, which symbolized Bryan’s idea of a 16 to 1 silver to gold ratio.
· The scarecrow stood for the farmers who had no brains.
· The tin man stood for the industrial revolution, which had no heart. He said that he had been cursed by the Wicked Witch of the East (Eastern financial interests).
· The cowardly lion was stand-in for William Jennings Bryan, who according L. Frank Baum, the author, lacked courage.
· The entire group who were walking to the Emerald City represented Coxey’s Army which was demanding that $500 million in green backs be placed in circulation.

In the end they all arrive at the Emerald City and become impowered.

There’s more, but you get the idea. Like the kid’s cartoon series “Rocky and His Friends.” It’s kid’s book on one level and an adult’s book on another.

As for the price of the COCA books, $5 was a great bargain. I've paid $12.50 to $20 for them depending upon the year. Don't expect to find them for $5 on regular basis.

Conder101

I have most of the Coinage of the Americas Conference books and I highly recommend them. The papers are well writen and usually VERY interesting. Sometimes the research that goes into them is astounding. In Americas Silver Coinage two researchers had made a study of all of the different EDGE dies used on bust halves and by combining their research with that of Overton they were able to establish an emission sequence for all of the bust halves plus identifying remarriages etc. It was some stunning work and I've never seen it or even really heard it discussed anywhere else.

Longacre

Mark:

The Breen article speaks of the Wizard of Oz/Gold standard allegory. Bill Jones above presents a good overview of the article (Breen goes into more detail and it is very interesting).

As for the price of the book, it was actually $6.87 on Amazon.com (you need to go into the used book section). I bought it from a place called Smokymtnbooks (I don't have the address, but if you do a search on Amazon, you should find it). I just checked Amazon, and it seems the cheapest used copy is now $15 (but still worth it, in my opinion).

mrearlygold

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