Ted Schwartz is an author from a previous generation whose books you can find in libraries and used book stores. Among his works were three for Amos Press (publishers of Coin World, Linns and Scotts). In the Schwartz book "Coins as Living History" Coin World editor Bill Gibbs handwrote a warning that the work was poorly researched and was not to be used by the staff as background for articles. No such caveats were written into the other two books. In the thread here on which coin sites you like, I clicked up www.worldcoincatalog.com, which claims: "Coins might had facilitated a move from cumbersome barter system of trade to simple system based on the money. Others speculate that they were stuck as offerings to the Gods in their religious ceremonies. Lydian coins found in Ionian mainland temple of Greek goddess Artemis (Romans called her - Diana) during archeological excavation in 1951 gives credence to such speculation." This is wrong in every claim. The most commonly accepted theory is that coins were invented as bonus payments to mercenaries -- more like medals of honor than a medium of indirect barter. The Artemision at Ephesus was first excavated by researchers from Oxford and the British Museum in before 1903. The coins from that site come from eight separate deposits that are given one context for convenience and even today, not everything about them is known. Basically, you have to pick your way carefully through the facts in numismatics as with any other field. What you choose to believe depends on your standards. How you apply those standards is perhaps a tougher call. Yesterday, I interviewed for a magazine article a man who has a string of patents on machines to plate small objects such as those components inside your cellphone. He can gold plate a red blood cell. When he said "centrifugal force" I coughed, but did not correct him. It was not important. However, I would not let that go by in a science class. I have highly recommend TWISTED TAILS by Robert R. Van Ryzin (Krause, 1995) as a start for collectors of US Numismatics.
