Should a newly revised and updated version of The History of US Coinage be the capstone of QDB’s car
Longacre
Posts: 16,717 ✭✭✭
Don’t misinterpret the title of this thread. I am not implying that QDB is at the end of his numismatic career. I hope that he has a long, long time left writing quality numismatic books (and I think that will be the case, especially since he frequently writes that he has not “worked” a day in his life because he loves his job so much; we should all be so lucky).
I have been slowly reading QDB’s History of United States Coinage (Garrett Collection) book, and it is a one-volume authoritative treatise on US numismatics. The book is incredible, but it is at least 20 years old. Given the recent popularity of numismatic books, I think it is time that this book got updated, and became more widely distributed, because it is the seminal reference on this topic. I was hoping that QDB could re-write and update this book, expand it in sections, and bring it up to date to consider new information, numismatic discoveries, and the dismissal of numismatic myths. I can see that this work could be expanded to two volumes, and really be “the” book for all of US numismatics. Personally, I don’t think this book gets the recognition that it deserves.
The book could also become even more authoritative with its updates. For example, footnotes should be freely incorporated into the book because the book will be seen as the standard reference work for US numismatics. Footnotes and citations are key to really make this book the US standard. I distinctly remember a law school class where the professor asked a question about a case and no one knew the answer. He then pounded his fist on the lectern, and flew into a rage, because the answer was in the footnotes to the case, and no one in the class bothered to read them. From that day forward, I always read the footnotes to everything.
The updated History book should also be BIG, and there should be no concerns about “keeping it to 178 pages because that is all Whitman’s Chinese printer can handle”. Lastly, I think a combination of this updated History of US Coinage book, the Numismatic Art in America book by Vermeule (updated by Whitman), along with the Redbook Series books on the individual coin series by QDB, should make for a basically complete US library on the federal issues. In fact, Whitman can also package these books as a “boxed set” with matching covers, etc.
What do you think? Is the numismatic world ready for a greatly expanded History of US Coinage book as the capstone of QDB’s career, or are we more concerned with updated pop reports, cracking slabs, and dipping and stripping coins to max out grades?
I have been slowly reading QDB’s History of United States Coinage (Garrett Collection) book, and it is a one-volume authoritative treatise on US numismatics. The book is incredible, but it is at least 20 years old. Given the recent popularity of numismatic books, I think it is time that this book got updated, and became more widely distributed, because it is the seminal reference on this topic. I was hoping that QDB could re-write and update this book, expand it in sections, and bring it up to date to consider new information, numismatic discoveries, and the dismissal of numismatic myths. I can see that this work could be expanded to two volumes, and really be “the” book for all of US numismatics. Personally, I don’t think this book gets the recognition that it deserves.
The book could also become even more authoritative with its updates. For example, footnotes should be freely incorporated into the book because the book will be seen as the standard reference work for US numismatics. Footnotes and citations are key to really make this book the US standard. I distinctly remember a law school class where the professor asked a question about a case and no one knew the answer. He then pounded his fist on the lectern, and flew into a rage, because the answer was in the footnotes to the case, and no one in the class bothered to read them. From that day forward, I always read the footnotes to everything.
The updated History book should also be BIG, and there should be no concerns about “keeping it to 178 pages because that is all Whitman’s Chinese printer can handle”. Lastly, I think a combination of this updated History of US Coinage book, the Numismatic Art in America book by Vermeule (updated by Whitman), along with the Redbook Series books on the individual coin series by QDB, should make for a basically complete US library on the federal issues. In fact, Whitman can also package these books as a “boxed set” with matching covers, etc.
What do you think? Is the numismatic world ready for a greatly expanded History of US Coinage book as the capstone of QDB’s career, or are we more concerned with updated pop reports, cracking slabs, and dipping and stripping coins to max out grades?
Always took candy from strangers
Didn't wanna get me no trade
Never want to be like papa
Working for the boss every night and day
--"Happy", by the Rolling Stones (1972)
Didn't wanna get me no trade
Never want to be like papa
Working for the boss every night and day
--"Happy", by the Rolling Stones (1972)
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Comments
and i'm sure that after he's gone his myths will be identified, his sources will be questioned and the real discoverers will step out into the light. don't get me wrong, QDB has earned his respect, but i think he gets a bit too much credit for having stood on the shoulders of giants for some 40 years.