Coins Books

This book is one of te only i have seen which includes a comprehensive price guide with Grading values from Good-4 to PF-70!!!! no other book i have seen has pf69 and 70 grading values for the new coins.. Very helpful and tells you about the reliable grading services.

THIS IS A SUPERB REFERENCE BOOK FOR THE STARTING COLLECTOR AS WELL AS THE MORE ADVANCED COLLECTOR - EASY TO USE - GOOD B/W PHOTOGRAPHS - FACTS AS WELL AS VALUES ARE LISTED - EASY TO USE AND UNDERSTAND - A WONDERFUL REFERENCE FOR ALL AGES

Haxby's "Coins Of Canada" provides detailed information and price guides on all Canadian coinage with additional information on Canadian tokens and paper currency.
I find the Haxby catalog far better organized and easier to use than the Charlton Catalog, although both volumes are a must for serious collectors of Canadian coinage.

For all of you coin collecters out there, here is aninexpensive coin folder that holds a good amount of coins. This is agood item for beginners or people that have been collecting for a while. These folders are very durable and attractive. I've bought a few of them and I am completely satisfied. END

This personal account of African nationhood strikes a lot nerves and leaves the reader with a lot to think about on a number of levels. Put together it provides a real roller-coaster ride of emotions and insights. The book builds up beautifully in the first chapters, providing the reader with a love for Africa - full of warmth, humour and joy. The author's level-headed account of British rule and the radicalisation of white politics juxtapositioned with the black struggle for independence is fabulous. By portraying the feelings of both sides at the time and without demonising either side, it argues a strong case for tolerance, understanding and humanity on a rock bed of libertarian values. The subsequent chapters describing the gradual changes of Zambia's UNIP government are thrilling as one gradually gets caught in the middle between one's loyalty for Kaunda's original Humanism and the realisation that the regime was not what it was supposed to be.

At the end, when it has all gone so horribly wrong, the reader is left with an understanding for how it went wrong. Uniquely, it is that understanding which may provide the reader with a respect for Africa and a feeling that for Africa there can indeed be a prosperous future in waiting. The book is a personal story of ideology versus reality, but it is also powerful background reading for any person about to move to or work with Africa.

Do we really need another book on American numismatics? In the case of Richard Doty's new book, the answer is an enthusiastic yes.

Unlike other important histories such as Q. David Bowers, The History of United States Coinage, based on the Garrett collection, this book is about America's money, not just coins. Doty examines early forms of money such as wampum and barter objects, the great influence of Spanish colonialism, and local monetary forms during our own colonial period. What may surprise some coin collectors is the importance of paper money in our history, especially non-Federal issues through the Civil War. Private bank note issues and merchant scrip-"obsolete notes"-were a vital part of circulating money during a long period when U.S. and other coins were scarce. Doty examines how vignettes used on many of these notes represented real or ideal views of our society, our relationship with Native Americans, enslaved people, women, and national heroes. One of the nine chapters examines early paper money in detail-"Rag Times: The Era of the Private Bank Note (1789-1865)." Paper is also a major part of the significant changes to our money during the Civil War era ("Civil War and Money's Change"), when private bank notes were essentially taxed out of existence and replaced with U.S. paper money.

Throughout the book, Doty places money and monetary change in historical and cultural context. Our money evolved as our experience as a nation grew--money changed and stabilized (some might say fossilized) as we developed from a struggling nation into our modern superpower status.

Richard Doty is perhaps the preeminent U.S. numismatic scholar of the 20th century. A historian with academic credentials, the book's special claim is his historian's view of the evolution of American money. His writing style is eminently readable-he has a way with words, an ability to use the language that to this reviewer is more appealing than that of any other numismatic writer.

Running 248 pages (8 1/2 inches by 11 inches, softcover), America's Money -- America's Story is extensively indexed and includes more than 250 large-size photographs of everything from items traded during the pre-European settlement days to the coins and bills that have changed with America.

Chapters cover The Thirteen Colonies and Their Monies; The War for Independence and Its Aftermath; "Hard Money" and the Young Republic; "Rag" Times: The Era of the Private Bank Note; Gold!; Civil War and Money's Change; The Gilded Age; Isolation, Depression, Intervention; and Cold War and Beyond.

Rounding out America's Money -- America's Story is a section featuring an in-depth list of suggested reading material to help enthusiasts acquire even more knowledge of the history of America and its money.

"Regardless of time or place, any exchange medium must satisfy a number of requirements," the book says." If it does so, it is viable money, likely to remain in fashion; if it does not, it will soon be replaced by something else. To be money, an object must be durable. It must be practical, either directly or indirectly. It must be easily quantifiable. It must be of moderate scarcity, rare enough to carry an aura of desirability, plentiful enough so that everyone can see it and have a minimal chance of obtaining it. Finally, attractiveness, either for display or for other reasons, gives some potential trading objects an advantage over others--without being an absolute requirement for any of them.

Doty is curator of numismatics for the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History, where he is responsible for the national collections of U.S., Latin American, and medieval coinage, as well as U.S. and foreign paper money and foreign tokens. A former professor of U.S., Latin American, and world history, Doty is a numismatic scholar who has written five books and more than 100 articles concerning numismatics.

Contains fascinating stories of coin hoards found and single coin finds. Most of the historical stories behind a particular hoard are fascinating. If you like stories about shipwrecks and the old west in connection with coins then this book is for you. It also list locations of possible future coin finds.

Dennis Kroh has really made a contribution to numismatics with this work. As an experienced dealer in ancient coins, he knows that all reference books are not created equal.
Some are outstanding. Others are good. A few are poor and then there are the real disasters, filled with inaccurate and misleading information. Dennis gives us the insider's point of view in this well organized and indexed volume, which lists virtually all the reference works that you will find used by major auction houses and many that you would never have heard of without his book. He also tells you how much they should sell for based on his extensive experience in numismatic literature sales.


I personally have made a bible of this book in assembling my $30,000 numismatic library. Buy it first and read it before buying ANYTHING!


Dave Welsh


Professional Numismatist

Thorough coverage of ancient Greek and Roman coins, including sections on history, metals, coinage in general, monetary theory and practice, state vs. private coinage, monetary officials, methodology, coin types, inscriptions, the dating of coins, Appendices, and 16 Illustration Plates. Essential reference for historians and coin collectors.

The field of numismatics is one of the most specialized and isolated areas of historical scholarship, and as a result it is probably not used as much as it should be by historians. Coins have special problems associated with their interpretation, but this is true of every other kind of evidence we have (e.g., literary, epigraphic, archaeological). Christopher Howgego's book is intended to demystify the subject of ancient coins and narrow the unwelcome gap between numismatists and other kinds of historians. Howgego's approach is thematic and covers a 900-year period, and although he deals with a wide range of ancient civilizations, he does not intend for his study to be comprehensive. It differs from similar books in providing a useful summary of modern numismatic research and outlining the major problems of using coins as a historical source. Howgego's book is one of the most useful available on the subject of numismatics and ancient history.

The book is divided into six chapters that address various themes and problems associated with coins. The first ("Money") outlines the history of coinage and asks why having a system of coinage mattered to ancient societies. Chapter 2 ("Minting") addresses the production of coins and why they were used. Chapters 3 and 4 ("Empires" and "Politics") form the core of the book, showing how coinage related to broader ideas such as imperialism, power, and politics. Several case studies are used to illustrate the variety of coin use by different societies while developing the convincing central thesis that coins related very strongly to these themes in each of them. The final two chapters ("Circulation" and "Crisis") are fairly technical studies of specifically economic issues such as the devaluation and debasement of coins, inflation, and the problems involved in determining the circulation of coins in antiquity.

The overall structure of the book is generally well-defined and organized, though a concluding chapter would be useful in lessening the somewhat fragmentary presentation by summarizing the main ideas. The final two chapters in particular seem a bit out of place due to their more technical and statistical nature, but they might have been better tied into Howgego's main thesis with a general concluding section. Howgego's general presentation and thesis are admittedly difficult to criticize. He makes excellent use of other types of evidence against that of coins to show that no aspect of the surviving evidence should be considered in isolation. An immediately noticable aspect of his analysis, however, is the general weakness of the Greek side compared with the Roman, but there are possible explanations for this: Howgego is an expert on Roman coins in particular, and the evidence is fuller for Rome than for Greece. Still, this imbalance might have been avoided by allowing a Greek numismatic specialist to handle that part of the study to make it more complete and well-rounded. Still, his coverage of the Hellenistic kingdoms is much better than those in other general studies.

Most of the problems of the book are relatively minor and relate to specific points of interpretation or choice of terms. For example, Howgego uses the term "laissez-faire" repeatedly; he might have used a more appropriate definition to make his point without exposing himself to the danger of misleading readers with a modern economic concept. This is a very real danger, particularly in economic studies, and because this book is intended to be an introduction to numismatics he should have avoided it. Many studies of the so-called "ancient economy" depend on modern concepts (most of which cannot be applied to the ancient world), and scholars should strive to discuss them in terms more appropriate to the eras in question.

There is one area where I believe Howgego's analysis to be flawed. In Chapter 4 he writes, "the reduction in the numismatic repertoire [in the early 4th-century] was matched by a decline in sculptural reliefs and portraiture in general. Politics were now at court, there was no longer the same need to appeal to wider groups." The absence of greater quantities of portraiture and sculpture is not because there was no longer such a need to appeal to wider groups, but rather that such things were becoming increasingly expensive in the 3rd and 4th centuries, and money was not as readily available for use on these pieces of imperial propaganda as it once had been. It would be more accurate to say that the need to appeal to wider groups was still very much alive, particularly given the divide between the Christian and pagan aspects of late Roman society. This oversimplifies a very complicated issue, of course, but I think Howgego's analysis here is flawed nonetheless.

Such reservations having been mentioned (and there are a few others), it must be emphasized that the good points of this book far outweigh the bad. In presenting the major problems involved in the study of coins and the current state of numismatic research in the more difficult areas, Howgego raises very interesting, important, and difficult questions. This is perhaps the best impact any such book can have, as it opens up new possibilities and avenues for future inquiry. The book raises questions related to economic history, politics, power, autonomy, and so on. Howgego's excellent use of comparative evidence is an example of one of the more profitable modern trends of historical inquiry used in the best way possible, and in doing so he shows that the study of coins is relevant to every period of ancient history. He addresses the political, military, and social realities that are too often left out of studies relating to economic matters, showing that many of these self-contained modern theories, although useful in their own ways, cannot work when the ambiguities and difficulties presented by the ancient world are applied to them. Howgego's approach differs from most of the standard works on ancient numismatics in that he deals with broader historical questions. This book takes the study of numismatics to the next level by refocusing attention on some of the more important considerations that have been left behind as the field of numismatics has grown increasingly specialized. Howgego succeeds admirably in what he sets out to achieve, and his book will likely become one of the most important general studies relating to ancient coins.