Coins Books

My son started to collect coins, and if you have no idea what it is about, this book teach the kids in an easy way, not only for states quarters it gives you a view of others coins too.

I do recommend.

This is a funny, thoughtful, poetic and deeply engaging book. If you don't get it the first read, like me, read it again, and you will realize what the author is trying to evoke and how well he succeeds. I have read this book at least a couple of hundred times. Like Betteredge had his Robinson Crusoe, I have The Last Coin.

Un saint homme de casuiste - Bertrand Beaulieu - reçoit par la poste, d'un prêtre défroqué, Martin Mauduit, six feuillets qui prouvent de manière irréfutable l'existence de Dieu. Transporté de joie, Beaulieu transmet cette preuve à un collègue, Hervé Montgaroult qui, à son tour, reconnaît qu'il y a bien là une Seconde Révélation. Assurément, à leurs yeux, «la jubilation de la connaissance va se propager à la terre entière». Ils confient d'abord le texte à leur provincial, Hubert Le Dangeolet. Devant l'effet produit, celui-ci croit d'abord à une farce, refuse de lire le document mais accepte de mettre sur pied une commission d'examen du document. Les deux éminents théologiens consultés concluent à la même éblouissante évidence. Le Dangeolet, prudent, place les six feuillets dans un coffre-fort, document qu'il n'a toujours pas lus. Des indiscrétions mettent vite le gouvernement dans le coup. Le Premier ministre vient lire incognito la liasse révélatrice et s'en trouve secoué au point d'abandonner illico ses fonctions.
C'est le début d'une trame hilarante qui tourne à la course-poursuite, avec avion bloqué, espionnage, filatures, et entraîne ses protagonistes jusqu'au Vatican. Thriller théologique, «Le coin du voile» est une belle réussite, avec ses multiples rebondissements, ses clés, ses clins d'aeil, ses piques et son humour constant. L'auteur y montre que ne reste vital que ce dont on n'est pas tout à fait sûr: l'amour, l'amitié, et la foi.

Alexander the Great has been a constant theme in art and history; there has been a recent big-budget movie by Oliver Stone, and there are always new, sometimes revisionist, biographies coming out. The historic figure was remarkable enough with conquests that no one has ever matched. The legendary Alexander was coming into being even in the real Alexander's lifetime, and afterward his image was borrowed to define or proclaim political power. He was frequently depicted upon ancient coins, and in _The Legend of Alexander the Great on Greek and Roman Coins_ (Routledge), Karsten Dahmen has reviewed the coins produced from about 320 BCE to 400 CE which carry images of Alexander. This is a remarkably full review of a very specific sphere of numismatics. Dahmen is a classical archeologist and a numismatist in the Berlin Coin Cabinet, and his book offers insight not only into coinage of the time, but also into the esteem in which Alexander was held and how his image was employed by rulers and cities all over the lands he had conquered. Each coin mentioned here is illustrated by photograph, and the history described will make the volume interesting to more readers than just those interested in ancient coins.

Alexander died in 323 BCE, so that the coins here are almost all tributes to Alexander after his death. The coins here of the Hellenistic age were struck not only by the absolute monarchs of the different lands, but also by cities whose coins would be used in only a limited region. It was Ptolemy in Egypt (ruling 322 - 283 BCE) that first borrowed some of Alexander's glory by putting him on coins, and he made the most elaborate use in this way of any of Alexander's lieutenants. Ptolemy had continued the Alexander cult principally by hijacking the dead king's body for eventual burial in Alexandria itself a few years after his death. One of the images he used of Alexander recalled the image of Heracles with a lion scalp, but shows Alexander wearing instead an even more improbable scalp of an elephant, complete with tusks and trunk. Ptolemy recalled Heracles, but the chapeau was specifically from Alexander's history. Alexander had defeated King Poros and conquered the war-elephants of India in 326 BCE. This portrait also has another animal part, one that is in many of Alexander's pictures here. Above Alexander's ear is a ram's horn, reminding the coin's possessor that Alexander had been a welcomed liberator in Egypt, where the priests had pronounced him the son of Zeus Ammon, whose symbol was the ram's horn. Thus Ptolemy was drawing on a local part of Alexander's legend as well as his divinity. Significantly, gold coins were issued with this sort of image at the beginning of Ptolemy's reign; Ptolemy was eventually fully appointed king himself, and his own image took Alexander's place, with Alexander moving on to bronze coins, as if to indicate Ptolemy's increasing self-confidence. When Seleukos I of Syria used Alexander's image, he included the elephant scalp but left out the ram's horn since he had no need to draw upon an Egyptian connotation. Just as kings found Alexander's image useful, so did cities, especially those that Alexander had founded or to which his name had been given. A coin from Smyrna in Ionia shows Alexander on the reverse snoozing under a plane-tree. This is a reference to the legendary founding of Smyrna; Alexander after a hunt took a nap under the tree near the Sanctuary of the Nemeses, and the Nemeses came to him in his dream and bade him to found the city there.

Not all the coins shown here go back to the ancient world. There is a 1990 hundred-drachma coin from Greece with Alexander's head (with ram's horn) that would have been easily recognized two thousand years ago. It is interesting to know, too, that the Alexander coinage promoted Renaissance scholars to investigate portraits of the conqueror on coins. The renewed interest in classical history and in Alexander's legends thus were a driving force in making the academic field of numismatics. And Alexander continued to be borrowed for power plays even in the sixteenth century. The engraver Alessandro Cesati, in honor of Pope Paul III, made bronze medallions to commemorate the encounter of Alexander with the Jewish High Priest when he visited Jerusalem. It shows Alexander in armor bowing down "as every king should do" to the religious authority. It never happened; the depicted meeting is entirely fiction, a story dreamed up to please the hearers, and in this case the pope. One of the chapters in Dahmen's strongly academic yet non-fusty book, is "Making Good Use of a Legend", and his whole book shows comprehensively that this is what happened to Alexander on coins, repeatedly through the centuries.

This is a great book for introducing the concept of money. It addresses kids natural curiousity for where things come from. The actual pictures inside the mint create the feeling of being inside the actual building on a tour. The wording of the book is easy and understandable for young children. The recap illustration at the end of the book is perfect for reviewing.

The nice, lock-in feature prevents your coins from falling out of the folder, while holding them in a nice layout. The only drawback is you cannot see the reverse of the coins when they're in the folder.

As Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenze says the foreword to `The Lost Coin: Parables of Women, Work and Wisdom' begins, `Thirty years ago nobody had ever heard or dreamt of feminist biblical studies. Today the articles and books offering ever more sophisticated feminist biblical interpretations abound.' This book is part of that growing tradition, and represents the first such work to look specifically at parables through this particular lens. This is somewhat surprising, given the importance of parables in the teaching of Jesus. However, the traditional view of parables finds that most of the actors and characters in the parables are men. This book will challenge the reader's view.

The title itself, `The Lost Coin' signifies the search for the lost in the parables themselves. Where are women? Where are women's voices and women's concerns? As Beavis states in her introductory chapter, `Even a parable that seems solely occupied with the relations between men may imply female characters.' Looking at the peripheral characters and how they might be affected (the mother of the prodigal son is held up as an example) gives new insight in interpretation and analysis of the parable.

There are five primary sections to the book. The first section looks at parables with easily identifiable and prominent female characters. The parables of the woman searching for the lost coin, the persistent widow, and the wise and foolish virgins are prominently featured (the persistent widow is represented in three different essays each exploring different aspects). The section concludes with an essay recasting the parable of the prodigal son, looking at it from a perspective of possible family abuse - what would make the son want to run away? Why do we assume the failing on the part of the son?

The second section deals with parables of women's work. Looking at sociological and historical data outside the bible to illustrate `typical' patterns of women's work, and aspects of women's labouring that in some regards has not changed through the ages (Schottroff presents evidence that `female labourers earned half as much as men in antiquity'; Wire and Hearon's look at women as cooks and bakers continues a familiar pattern through much of the world today).

The third section looks at particularly Johannine images of the bride and the mother/birthgiver. These images from John's gospel are often overlooked given the difference between the synoptic gospels and their narrative styles and the content and style of John. The parables are in some ways given short shrift in John, but as Rushton states, `Although "John" may well have done a particular disservice in obscuring this tradition, by a stroke of brilliance the shapers of the text recorded its core in the tope of a metaphor.' The strand of images we have in John as mother and bride are obscured and open to interpretation on several levels, but certainly allow for new feminist ideas to illuminate the text.

The fourth section looks at parables of wisdom/Sophia. The idea of wisdom being a feminine image is prominent in the Hebrew scriptures, and carries over into much of Jesus' own speech. Jesus personifies Jerusalem and Wisdom as feminine, mothering figures who weep for and protect their children; however, Wisdom is also vindicated by her children. Reid likens this to the current climate in the church.

`Wisdom's female children in the church today continue to experience the frustration of having been schooled in her Word and in her ways, yet find resistance, rejection, and even vilification when they attempt to proclaim the Word or preside at the Eucharistic table. This gospel parable can offer hope to women today with its assurance of vindication for all of Wisdom's children.'

The fifth and final section is itself a new parable, written by Christin Lore Weber. It is more in the manner of a short story than a parable (most parables being relatively short). It is a mythic parable, and one that will perhaps not resonate well with those looking for a more traditional message. This parable is offered without commentary - Jesus frequently gave commentary to the disciples, but not to the crowds. This parable is meant for the crowds.

Overall, `The Lost Coin' offers a fascinating look at parables. Much material for reflection and for preaching in new and refreshing ways can be gathered from the pages of this text. The recovery of lost or obscured images and voices is a primary task for the authors; the presentation not only of new interpretations but also of new questions to be asked is also important here. What difference will this make? That is not an easy question; indeed, it is a question to be asked in each community separately.

Many of the essays introduce principles of exegesis and historical analysis, but some familiarity with hermeneutic approaches and biblical studies is assumed. However, this is not a text meant solely for an academic audience. It would be very useful for church-based bible studies and small community groups who wish to look at parables in a new way.

I would like to turn for a moment at the conclusion to one particular chapter, `Women's Work and the Realm of God', by Holly Hearon and Antoinette Clark Wire (because Holly Hearon is a friend of mine, I shall give pride of place to highlighting her chapter). This chapter looks at women's work, particularly baking and spinning, as these are traditional occupations for women in ancient times as well as in most of the world today. Hearon and Wire examine the issues following multiple strategies that look at historical, textual, linguistic, ideological, and current readership concerns. Finally, the authors invite the readers to take these things into consideration and `revision ourselves differently: not as exploited workers in the patriarchal household, but as the hands of God who promises a new economy for the household of God.'

THE LURE OF GOLD: AN ARTISTIC AND CULTURAL HISTORY tells how the search for gold has shaped mankind from prehistory to modern times. It's a long history and a long story: to best organize the information, THE LURE OF GOLD places each epoch in a different chapter, explaining where people of the era found gold, how they mined and worked it, and how it affected their lives. Nearly three hundred color photos of art objects and relics enhance a detailed, outstanding survey.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

My mom and I are reading all of Ruth Chew's books. I really like this one, it is about a boy and a girl that found a coin they called Juan Pablo. It has a man with a little bearded face that is magic. He took the boy and girl on an adventure with pirates!
I loved this book very much! I think all kids would love reading all of the Ruth Chew books!

A MATTER OF HONOR is the third of the miniseries, The Destiny Coin, by Gabriella Anderson. For generations, an ancient coin has passed from mother to daughter -- a symbol of luck and accepting that one special love. As each woman holds the coin in her hand, she accepts the passion for which they are destined.

Lorane St. John would rather be repotting ferns than standing in front of a seamstress with a mouth full of pins. Her third London season doesn't promise any better results than the first two for this botanist. She dreams one day of publishing a book on plants with her own drawings as illustrations -- hardly the kind of aspirations society men find acceptable. Eager to escape the season, the season, and her mother, Lorane stows away on an American bound ship.

When Captain Nicholas Grant offered a tour of his ship to his family, he scarcely guessed that not only would Lorane come along, but stow away aboard ship when it sailed. The third day at sea, Lorane finds herself caught by the cook when she tries to raid the kitchen. Nicholas is outraged, but after a healthy tongue lashing, gives up his cabin to Lorane. Her presence, as the sole woman aboard ship, gives Nicholas great concern. Her reputation is at stake, not to mention what his fiancée will think. As Lorane lays claim to the various men, and boy, aboard, her effect upon the ship cannot be missed. Though he claims to be eager to see his very proper fiancée, Isabelle, Lorane's presence disturbs him. As she enchants him more and more, perhaps he'll finally realize that Isabelle isn't the right woman for him after all.

A MATTER OF HONOR makes for a number of delightful hours of escapist reading. The characters are warm, spirited, and interesting. With a deft pen, Gabriella Anderson easily captures the love and passion that leads to questioning one's own values and dreams. After all, it's A MATTER OF HONOR. Very highly recommended.