The E-Sylum:  Volume 3, Number 24, June 11, 2000, Article 8

MORE FAVORITES 

   Doug Owens writes: "I enjoyed your recommendations, and will 
   begin an effort to obtain the three books you mentioned.  I 
   wonder if you can recommend any books on the paper money of 
   the colonial and revolutionary war era?  Thanks."  Well, here are 
   three favorites in that area: 

      McKay, George L, "Early American Currency", 1944. 
      This short, 85-page, illustrated book is a great one-stop 
      starting point for information on colonial currency and 
      economics, and particularly on the printing of the bills. 
      It was also produced as an ANS Monograph. 

      Brock, Leslie V., "The Currency of the American Colonies 
      1700-1764: A Study in Colonial Finance and Imperial 
      Relations."   Like Carothers, this work was written as a 
      PhD thesis in economics (University of Michigan, 1941). 
      It took me years to find my copy, but it's not necessarily 
      a scarce book, just scarce in numismatic circles.  My 
      copy is a 1975 reprint in book form.   Professor Brock 
      has a web page at the University of Virginia with links to 
      many online documents relating to Colonial money: 
      http://www.virginia.edu/~econ/brock.html 

      Scott, Kenneth, "Counterfeiting in Colonial America", 
      Oxford University Press, 1957.  I agree with the Preface 
      that "This book might have been a dull and pedantic 
      recital of counterfeiting in Colonial America.  Instead, 
      it is a lively combination of true detective and adventure 
      stories told in terms of real people of the past ..." 

   One unfortunate real person was Willet Larabe, who was 
   convicted in November 1751 "at the superior court of King's 
   County, Rhode Island, for passing several counterfeit 
   twenty shilling new tenor bills of New Hampshire.  He was 
   sentenced to stand in the pillory for half an hour, to have 
   both ears cropped, to be branded with R on each cheek 
   with a hot iron, to be imprisoned for one month, to pay 
   double damages to the persons injured by his counterfeit 
   bills and the costs of prosecution, and to forfeit the remainder 
   of his estate, both real and personal, for the use of the colony." 
   (p178).   And sent to bed without his supper, too, no doubt. 
   So what was the penalty for selling overgraded coins? 

   While on the subject of favorite books, we should note the 
   column by longtime NBS member and E-Sylum subscriber 
   Brad Karoleff in the June 19th issue of COIN World.  In 
   addition to Carothers' book (and several others), he mentions 
   one book on U.S. coinage that I regretted not including in last 
   week's list:  Don Taxay's "The U. S. Mint and Coinage", 1966. 
   I like this one so much that last week I bought two copies on 
   behalf of a local numismatic organization; the books will be 
   given to local school and community libraries. 

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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