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V13 2010 INDEX       E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 13, Number 26, June 27, 2010, Article 10

PUBLICATIONS OF THE COIN AND CURRENCY INSTITUTE

Last week I asked about the books published by the Coin & Currency Institute. Several readers chimed in with various pieces of the puzzle. Thanks, everyone! -Editor

One E-Sylum reader writes:

Friedberg Paper Money of the US 17th ed I couldn't resist answering the query you posed. The Coin and Currency Institute was the publishing arm of Capital Coin Co., the department store coin firm founded by Robert Friedberg, and run for many years after Robert's death by his brother Jack and widow Goldie. I believe the firm is currently owned by Robert's sons Arthur and Ira, and managed by Arthur.

As you probably know, the most familiar titles bearing C&C's imprint are 'Paper Money of the United States', and 'Gold Coins of the World', both of which have had many editions over the years.

David Gladfelter writes:

Hibbler-Kappen, So-Called Dollars Most will get Robert Friedberg's series on U. S. paper money and gold coins of the world. Token and medal collectors will get Hibler and Kappen. Colonial collectors will get Schilke and Solomon. And if you look on the back of the first book you will see advertised the title Appraising and Selling Your Coins. They also published Friedberg's book on British Commonwealth coins. Which two am I missing?

Pete Smith writes:

The Coin and Currency Institute has a website where they offer eight books for sale. That is too easy to justify as the answer to an E-Sylum quiz answer.

The answer I had in mind was inspired by the list of "Other books published by the Coin & Currency Institute" in the 15th edition of Friedberg's "Paper Money of the United States" (the latest edition in my library). Adding that title to the list, the eight books are:

  • Paper Money of the United States
  • Gold Coins of the World
  • Coins of the British World
  • Appraising and Selling Your Coins
  • So-Called Dollars
  • America's Foreign Coins
  • Current Coins of the World


Levinson Early Dated Coins of Europe 1234-1500 But this list of eight does not match the eight on the web site (see www.coin-currency.com/book.html ) Also listed are:
  • The Investor's Guide to United States Coins by Neil S. Berman & Silvano DiGenova
  • The Early Dated Coins of Europe, 1234-1500 by Robert A Levinson
  • De Nederlandse Munten van 1795 to Heden (Dutch Coins from 1795 to Date). By Johan Mevius
  • The South African Coin and Banknote Catalog 1998-1999. By Cliff van Rensburg.


The first two were published by the Coin & Currency Institute. The web site doesn't say who published the last two. -Editor

American Numismatic Society Librarian Elizabeth Hahn writes:

I was reading through The E-Sylum and was intrigued by your quiz asking for the names of at least 8 numismatic books published by the Coin & Currency Institute, Inc. As a short promotion for the ANS Library, I'd like to say that the answer can be found through a quick search of the new library catalog, Donum!

donum.numismatics.org

We are still doing some technical maintenance to the new catalog, and some design changes will be appearing in the next 2-4 weeks, but otherwise I would encourage readers to take advantage of this ANS Library resource and this quiz is a great way to see the improved searching (and sorting) capabilities of the new catalog.

Here's the list that I came up with after a 2 minute search for "coin and currency institute":

Publisher: Coin and Currency Institute, Inc.

Pollack Coinage and Conflict

  • Paper money of the United States : a complete illustrated guide with valuations (various editions).
  • Appraising and selling your coins. A complete, illustrated catalogue of U.S. coins and bills and their cash premium values from 1652 to the present (various editions)
  • Coinage & conflict
  • International coin catalogue and price list
  • Gold coins of the world, complete from 600 A.D. to the present : an illustrated standard catalogue with valuations (various editions)
  • A catalog of modern world coins, 1850-1964
  • The investor's guide to United States coins
  • Current coins of the world
  • So-called dollars : an illustrated standard catalog with valuations
  • America's foreign coins : an illustrated standard catalogue with valuations of foreign coins with legal tender status in the United States, 1793-1857.
  • The Early dated coins of Europe, 1234-1500 : an illustrated catalogue and guide to dated medieval coinage

How did I do? Or rather, how did the catalog do?

The catalog did very well, listing eleven works published by C&CI. Two titles we haven't listed so far are:
  • Coinage & conflict
  • International coin catalogue and price list

This is a relatively small number of titles for such a long history of publishing, but several of these are landmarks in the hobby. The Friedberg Paper Money book was the classic reference for decades and is still popular. The So-Called Dollars book was probably a commercial flop at first, with many unsold copies. Yet over the years it became the standard reference in that field, with the price of the book rising greatly once out of print.

America's Foreign Coins is one of my favorite books, and it was one of the first on my shelf of colonial coin references. My copy was inscribed to Lee Hewitt by coauthor Oscar Schilke. This book was probably no blockbuster either, but again, very important to the hobby. Kudos to C&CI for making so many great references available. -Editor

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see: THE LIBRARY OF COINS ALBUMS AND THE COIN AND CURRENCY INSTITUTE (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v13n25a18.html)

Wayne Homren, Editor

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To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor at this address: whomren@gmail.com

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