Hi y’all, I was wondering if you fine people know of any books specifically on early US currency? I’m mostly looking for info on early colonial coinage up until they started minting official US coins, stopping at flowing hair varieties. Basically, anything between the 1760s to 1793. There seems to be very little compiled info on this era of coinage. I would love a concise book to describe values, composition and even why these coins were minted. Any story behind them is super interesting to me. Thanks for your help, Larry
Off the top of my head, Fractional Money by Neil Carothers may be of some interest to you. It is a Ph.D. thesis about earlier US coins and some of the legislation behind them. You can find it on the Newman Numismatic Portal here: https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/book/521068?page=332
No offense , but you do realize that currency and coins are two different things? Are you looking for help with both , or just one or the other?
I don't have anything on currency at all but here's a couple of titles that might help you with coins, idk.
The Whitman Encyclopedia of Colonial and Early American Coins is pretty good. The Redbook also has some pretty good basic information. If you want to get in depth information you would probably have to look into books on particular series of coins. There are individual books on the various state coinages as well as Fugios and other colonial issues.
It won't cover values, but if you are wanting the history and reasons for the coins the book you want is The Early Coins of America by Sylvester Crosby. (full title is The early coins of America and the laws governing their issue. Comprising also descriptions of the Washington pieces, the Anglo-American tokens, many pieces of unknown origin of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and the first patterns of the United States mint) Fortunately it isn't expensive. First published in 1875 and has been reprinted many many times. It is STILL the standard go to reference for the backstory behind most of the colonials and it does try to cover the different varieties as well. It is available for about $30 or so There is a 1974 reprint on ebay right now for $24 including shipping. https://www.ebay.com/itm/The-Early-...153508974588?_trksid=p2385738.m4383.l4275.c10 A print on demand copy can be had on abebooks for $16 with free shipping. https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=22897456915&searchurl=sortby=17&tn=the+early+coins+of+america&cm_sp=snippet-_-srp1-_-title19 The print on demand would be cheaper but I would probably go with the ebay one, it's a hardcover and should also arrive faster. There are several available on amazon in the low $30's. I would also recommend the book I.cuter mentioned The Whitman Encyclopedia of Colonial and Early American Coins
I think this thread would be better served in the actual coin forum Most guys that visit here are in to currency ( i think theres a bit of Confusion in your post "Book on early American currency" Should actually say "Book on early American coinage"
My book was published in 1890 but some were published in later dates. All I can say is I believe it's the oldest book about the US Mint ever and probably the only book which covers the inner workings of US Mint, idk. There's a couple on pebay, here's one below. https://www.ebay.com/itm/History-US...937431?hash=item487bc1b417:g:8e8AAOxyOalTYXHz
I like the book but that is a little pricey for me. I'm gonna watch it and others like it and see if I can't get a deal on one. Thanks for your reply.
I’m sorry for the confusion. I am looking for coin info. Not currency. And I want it to focus on pre1793 coins. Thanks for your responses. I’ll check out some of these titles.