THE ART OF MONEY Book Review: THE ART OF MONEY by David Standish. (Chronicle Books, San Francisco, 2000. $19.95). This is a delightful book, richly illustrated in full color and organized with an intuitive appreciation for money and especially for paper money. Standish confesses to being at first unable to take foreign money seriously. You hear this a lot from Americans who think that anything other than a Federal Reserve Note is "Monopoly Money." In truth, of course, it is our own currency that looks like it came from Parker Brothers. the book starts off with the "Sunflower" 50 Gulden and gets even better. Standish's narrative is concise, correct, well-researched, a good presentation for the novice and nice re-telling for the expert. His introduction, his history of money and the chapter discussions are all written with the controlled passion of a new collector. Standish is enthralled with his subject. From Queen Liz to Topless Money, from the International Zoo to Inflation and the Euro, the pictorial presentation is breathtaking. The second half does for US paper money what the first does for the world scene. "Happily, most countries recognize that there are areas of significant human endeavor beyond politics and government ... Artists, writers, scientists, explorers, inventors, musicians, architects -- in short a great range of people whose achievements have been considered positive contributions to what passes for the human condition..." The illustrations here include James Joyce, Alophe Saxe, Le Corbusier, Gustaphe Eiffel, and (my favorite) Antoine de Saint-Exupery, with Kirsten Flagstad, Selma Lagerlof, and Maria Montessori in "the women's division." Planes, trains and automobiles, folks, folk art, and birds, the book delivers a nice spectrum of modern world banknotes in all their glory. "What must people from other countries think when they see that enigmatic, glowing eye, balanced on a pyramid on the $1 bill? That the United States traces its origins back to visitors from outer space who purportedly founded Egypt?" However, Standish does present the pride and glory of US Paper: the colonials, the wildcats, and those big horseblankets with their immense vignettes of Americana. If you like looking at paper money in full color, if you like reading about it, you will find this little book to be the gift you deserve. You might even buy another and give it to someone. I found mine on Amazon used for about half of retail including shipping. (In fact, I bought three: one used for me and two new for gifts.) Interesting, it has already been remaindered and one copy I found was already deacquisitioned from the Denver Public Library. So your local Half Price Books or similar retailer might have some in a table or on a shelf. (C) Copyright 2002 by Michael E. Marotta
THE MONEY MAKERS (INTERNATIONAL) BOOK REVIEW The Money Makers international by Willibald Kranister (Black Bear Publishing, 1989). This book is not new, but was new to me when I bought a damaged copy from store stock with an employee discount. (Today, it is listed on Amazon three copies, three sellers, for $35, $45, and $50. Whatever you pay for the book, your money will be well invested.) Any collector of paper money needs this book. Catalogs do not show how notes are designed and printed. Catalogs do not provide insightful and incisive commentary on the processes and histories. The lavishly illustrated 326 page hardcover book is printed on heavy paper. Kranister was the Executive Director of the Austrian National Bank and Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Securities Printing Works. He knows paper money. Kranister calls himself only the "editor" of this book. He acknowledges the "friends" who helped him write it. Among them were the General Manager of the Reserve Bank of Australia, a retired director of the Deutsche Bundesbank, the chief cashier of the Banco de Espan~a, and two US Secret Service agents, and Gene Hessler. The chapters begin with "Birth of a Banknote" which shows the rough sketches, computerized graphics, plate making, printing, and finishing. Three chapters cover innovations, counterfeiters, and frustating counterfeiters. The bulk of the book is a close look at the national currencies of Australia, Austria, China, England, Germany, Spain, Sweden, and the United States. Kranister writes in clear detail about every aspect of the arts and sciences that deliver the forms and uses of paper money. Guilloches, intaglios, lithography, copper plates, multicolor backgrounds, portrait watermarks, and all the rest are here, carefully explained in their technical and historical contexts, with the names of people who brought them to the national monies. (When was the first security thread used on a German note?) (C) Copyright 2002 by Michael E. Marotta
I am currently reading Breen’s Encyclopedia. Not far enough through it to ‘review’ it but it is good; easy reading also. Prior to that I read Alan Herbert’s Official Price Guide to Mint Errors. Do not be fooled into thinking it is just another price guide. It is actually the most comprehensive book on varieties I have ever seen. It goes into detail on how hundreds of varieties/errors are made and their categories and classifications. I would bet that a seasoned error collector could not name all of the hundreds of different varieties and errors that are detailed in this book. Even if you are not an error/variety collector, this book is worthwhile. It will give you a much deeper understanding of the minting process and that is worthwhile knowledge for any collector. I also bought Taxay’s US Mint and Coinage a week ago. I haven’t started it yet. It will come after Breen.
Originally posted to Rec.Collecting.Coins 2000-12-16 10:31:37 PST (1) Walter Breen's "Complete Encyclopedia of U.S. and Colonial Coins" The Breen Encyclopedia came out in 1988. In the last 12 years, some new facts have surfaced. For instance, we now believe that among the Shield Nickels, Judd 417 and 419 are back-dated fantasies and Breen 2466 may be a mule fantasy. These little amendments cannot detract from the overpowering value in the Breen Encyclopedia, but instead, prove that all numismatists must continually search for truth rather than relying on authority. That is the one lesson Breen would have liked us all to learn. (2) "The History of United States Coinage as Illustrated by the Garrett Collection" by Q. David Bowers. Q. David Bowers' book about the Garrett Collection is every bit as correct as Breen's Encyclopedia. However, the presentation is totally different. The Garrett Collection looks like a coffee table book. It has pretty color pictures and the prose is totally non-threatening. Once you look beneath the patina, you realize that you are are reading a gem of a book. Two appendices present the 19th and 20th century correspondences of the Garrett family collectors with dealers and other collectors. This book is as much about the history of American coin collecting as it is the history of American coinage. (3) "The U.S. Mint and Coinage" by Don Taxay. America's coins come from America's Mints. Donald Taxay lays out the history of the Mint. The subject matter is complex and the temptation to editorialize is easy to see. However, Taxay sticks to supportable facts. This book has become a primary reference because of Taxay's careful and deliberate investigations. For all of that, the writing is lively.
I checked at the local book store and neither of these books were there. The selection was sad to say the least. Where is everyone picking up these books?
Sellers of numismatic books advertise in numismatic periodicals. I got my Breen Encyclopedia from Brooklyn Galleries, a Coin World advertiser. George Frederick Kolbe and Remy Bourne are two auction dealers you need to know. Basically, they have the rare and common books. You pay for them, of course. I always scour the old, used bookstores. In Columbus, Ohio, it was pretty bad, but here in Albuquerque it is even worse. Detroit was the best. But, if you seek, you will find. I just found Breens "Proof Encyclopedia" for more than I would have liked to pay for it ($25) but I have had used bookstore owners tell me that they never buy "coin books" because "no one wants the red ones when they get old." From there, the discussion requires tact and fortitude. At the CSNS in Columbus, I shelled out something like $65 for Taxay's US Mint and Coinage, a book that I know I could have found in Detroit for half that -- but I was not in Detroit and not likely to be... I am 2000 miles from there, now. So, you bite the bullet and ignore the pain because it is not the "book" you are buying but the KNOWLEDGE inside -- and that is priceless.
