When teaching U.S. coin history to the new but scholarly collector.....
MGLICKER
Posts: 7,995 ✭✭✭
.....which date do you begin with?
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RMR: 'Wer, wenn ich schriee, hörte mich denn aus der Engel Ordnungen?'
CJ: 'No one!' [Ain't no angels in the coin biz]
Everything changed in the year 12
<< <i>1616. >>
Pre Mayflower, Dennis?
If there is no evidence for this, then axe blades, shells, wampum, clay pots, etc. might as well be it for anything without a date. Or perhaps Spanish Colonial coinage for dated coins, and they did widely circulate in the British colonies, practically from the very beginning.
RMR: 'Wer, wenn ich schriee, hörte mich denn aus der Engel Ordnungen?'
CJ: 'No one!' [Ain't no angels in the coin biz]
<< <i>Dateless Wampum. >>
Not really U.S. History, the Americas sure but that is analogous to hanging the family photos up of the family who owned your house before you.
Keeper of the VAM Catalog • Professional Coin Imaging • Prime Number Set • World Coins in Early America • British Trade Dollars • Variety Attribution
why not start from the Civil War !!!
<< <i>
<< <i>1616. >>
Pre Mayflower, Dennis? >>
Yez, because although the coins were struck for non - North American
British colonies in the New World, and even though they didn't circulate
as cash money in what later became the United States, U.S. coin
collectors have traditionally collected them as part of the "colonial"
(pre-federal) pantheon of American numismatics.
Teaching "new but scholarly" collectors about U.S. coin history should
involve not just the coins themselves, but also the history of organized
collecting in the United States.
Otherwise 1792 or 1793. Colonial issues as serious study are a separate field.
<< <i>2015 and work backwards?
Otherwise 1792 or 1793. Colonial issues as serious study are a separate field. >>
I like that answer though all have been thoughtful and valid.
<< <i>1492 >>
I'd choose 1492 as well because every scholarly person would know that date.
If I were giving an hour-long presentation, I'd get to 1792/3 in the first five minutes. I'd mention Roanoke (lost colony) and Jamestown (first permanent English colony), the Pine Tree shilling and a few of the other colonial issues. I'd also mention tobacco, wampum, and the dominance of Spanish silver. But all that would be done in five minutes or so. Because I am not a scholar I would use an easy familiar reference such as the Red Book to outline my presentation.
1492 is good because it also comes full circle in 1892 with the first commemorative coins for fund raising purposes (those CAL gold coins weren't made to raise money), and the coins were minted as souvenirs rather than for circulation and commerce.