Has anyone put together a compendium of coin history?
TurtleCat
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Each specialty book I’ve read typically has a section about the history of the items covered. Maybe it’s the history of the particular mint, the designers, the manufacturing methods, the public reception, etc. before going into the die varieties, dates, etc.
What I’m curious about is whether anyone has collected the summary history from these books and compiled just the histories from each into a narrative without going into dates, varieties, pricing, etc.
I have not found it but perhaps the easiest would be the red book extended series books. There’s some really interesting history in front of each but I haven’t seen a compendium of the histories. That’s what would interest me most.
So... anyone have any recommendations for coin history books (US coins, I have ancient ones) that focus on everything but the date, variety, etc?
Comments
The short answer is no. There are books about individual mints (and booklets about proposed ones), collectors, coin series, individual rarities (e.g., 1804 dollars), historical periods in U. S. numismatics, etc. The closest you will come is found in some of Dave Bowers' books, so I would start with those and Don Taxay's 'The U. S. Mint and Coinage' (but this is out of print, and more than 50 years old). I also strongly recommend '1792: Birth of a Nation's Coinage, by Smith, Orosz, and Augsburger (all Forum members). If you are interested in the early 20th century, get Roger Burdette's 'The Renaissance of American Coinage' (trilogy).
RMR: 'Wer, wenn ich schriee, hörte mich denn aus der Engel Ordnungen?'
CJ: 'No one!' [Ain't no angels in the coin biz]
It's a shame, then. All of the information seems to be there but separated among many different books. And a lot of them are under the Red Book label so you'd think they would recycle the information and collate it into its own book. Maybe they haven't thought about it yet?
Best history of grading I have ever read!
"GRADING COINS: A COLLECTION OF READINGS"
BY : RICHARD BAGG & J. JELINSKI. (1977)
Definetly worth a read!
I may read it again as I just dug it out from the shelf.
Krueger
A history of grading seems an interesting idea. I hadn’t thought of that avenue.
@krueger thanks for the recommendation. I just ordered a copy on Amazon, sounds like a good read.
I have not.