Abraham Lincoln: The Image of His Greatness is a remarkable creation. Harold Holzer, of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (and cochairman of the United States Lincoln Bicentennial Commission), calls it “interesting and compelling,” saying that “Reed’s commentary and the arrangement and choice of imagery make Abraham Lincoln: The Image of His Greatness a very worthwhile and elegant project.”

Dr. Thomas Turner, longtime editor-in-chief of the Lincoln Herald (the oldest continuously published journal devoted to the life and career of Abraham Lincoln), calls it “a unique study” that “makes a significant contribution to the field.” Reed draws on his own unparalleled collection of Lincoln numismatic items, illustrating the book with hundreds of full-color images sure to delight the collector and historian. These are joined by engravings and daguerreotypes, old film stills, a never-before-published oil painting, magazine covers, political cartoons, and a host of other images. They are poignant, provocative, profound, sometimes puzzling; individually fascinating and collectively illuminating.

Dr. Turner, in the book’s foreword, muses on the potential for Abraham Lincoln: The Image of His Greatness to bridge the gap between mainstream historical study and numismatics:
(more…)

From Q. David Bowers comes a book so comprehensive and authoritative that only the “Dean of American Numismatics” could have created it! Drawing on the expertise of dozens of specialists from around the world, plus Bowers’s own vast knowledge of the subject, the Whitman Encyclopedia of Colonial and Early American Coins includes:

* Chapter 1: Money in Early America
* Chapter 2: Minting and Distribution
* Chapter 3: Collecting Colonial Coins
* Chapter 4: How to Use This Book
* Chapter 5: Silver Coins of Massachusetts
* Chapter 6: British Coins and Tokens for America, Early Issues
* Chapter 7: American Coins and Tokens from 1783 to 1788
* Chapter 8: Other Early American Pieces
* Chapter 9: European Coins and Tokens for America, Later Issues
* Chapter 10: Early Washington Coins and Tokens
* Chapter 11: Unrelated Foreign Coins
* Chapter 12: 19th Century Colonial Copies and Fantasies
* Selected Bibliography
* Index

This is the new definitive reference on colonial and early American coins and tokens, and related issues. Full color and fully illustrated with hundreds of detailed photographs.
Binding: Hardcover
Edition: 1st
Publication Date: February 24, 2009
Size: 8.5 x 11
Pages: 352

Purchase this Book Here

By Q. David Bowers with foreword by David Akers.

A Guide Book of United States Gold Dollars is the latest entry in Whitman’s Bowers Series.

It includes a chronicle of the nation’s smallest gold coin; an inside look at mints and the minting process; discussion of Proofs; advice on collecting gold dollars; tips on how to be a smart buyer.

• full-color illustrations
• a coin-by-coin study of Type I, Type II, and Type III gold dollars
• valuations and population data

Includes an appendix of record auction prices; a selected bibliography; and more – all written in an engaging and informative style.

Full Color, 6×9 Softcover, 288 Pages, Fully Indexed.

Available through Whitman Publishing Web Site - Price: $19.95

Will Nipper’s new book, In Yankee Doodle’s Pocket: The Myth, Magic and Politics of Money in Early America, offers fresh perspectives on America’s celebrated ascent from disparate colonial outposts to sovereign power. Through the day-to-day instruments of trade and commerce, this work reveals the myriad threads of culture and hidden history that together wove a new nation. Based on years of research, the associated facts, legends and theories are presented in a conversational narrative that all audiences can read and appreciate.

In Yankee Doodle’s Pocket links everyday objects with the larger-than-life people, events, societies and upheavals that brought them into existence. The tale begins with the earliest European forays into the wilderness and ends with the 1840 dawning of America’s industrial age. In the frontier beginning, barter monies sprang from fields, forests and oceans. In the end monotonously uniform coins and printed paper spewed from urban factories born of the Industrial Revolution. Until then, America’s coins and paper currency were works of art, as beautiful in their simplicity and hand-crafted variation as their European counterparts were in sophisticated perfection. These objects reveal an America that was surprisingly cosmopolitan and commercial from the start. They helped communicate ideas, foster expansion and enable transformation.

Available from Bowmanstone Press $58.95 + Shipping & Handling.

SBN 978-0-9816638-0-7
Size: 8.5 x 11 inches, 576 pages, 4 lbs. 6 ounces
Binding: Premium hardcover, sewn, copper foil stamping on front and spine

In this monumental new hardbound work, printed and bound in the U.S.A., you will find 448 pages covering each year and the known die marriages for those years, along with background of the early mint. Included are quick finding charts and pictorials, as well as, oversized color photos of every die marriage. Along with new rarity ratings and a new condition census, as an added bonus there are in-depth studies on the rare 1823s and 1827s.

The appendixes are chock full of interesting information on among other things, patterns, private re-strikes, error coins, and the mysterious E & L countermarks, along with several useful charts, die re-marriage listings, and much, much more!!

The finished book is slated to hopefully be back from the printer before the ANA show in Baltimore and is now on sale at an introductory pre-publication price of just $79.00 delivered. This price is only good until July 15th, at which time it will be raised to $89.00 plus postage. Get yours ordered today!

Please send all payments, comments and questions to:
Steve M. Tompkins
P.O. Box 1946
Sequim, WA 98382
Smt115@aol.com

Coin collectors and enthusiasts have long been familiar with the story of two boys who unearthed a fortune in gold coins while playing in a Baltimore basement in 1934.

But the rest of the story trailed off to a few odd details. One of the boys died young, the other ran into trouble with the law. No one seemed to know more.

A lifelong coin collector,  Author Leonard Augsburger was determined to uncover the rest of the story. What happened to the kids? The gold? Who buried it in the first place?

Meticulously researched, Treasure in the Cellar delves into the lives of the boys and their families, recreates the hours at the police station after the boys reported what they found, and describes months of courtroom drama as descendents of several former property owners came forward, each claiming the fortune for themselves.

Paperback copies can be ordered from Amazon.com while hardbound (priced at $30) and deluxe leather-bound editions can be ordered directly from Len at Amazon at leonard_augsburger@hotmail.com. (more…)