Coins and Currency

Providing more than 250 alphabetical entries, this encyclopedia provides historical commentary on the role of coins and currency in human events, politics, and the arts, and following the developments of money through such varied forms as beaver skins and sea salt blocks. The cross-referenced entries include stories of particular coins, engravers, biblical references, counterfeiters, assay and mintmarks, shipwrecks, monetary slang, and essays on the creation of the U.S. monetary system by famous historical figures. For readers interested in sociological aspects of monetary exchange, the book touches on blood money, gold rushes, Wells Fargo, the gold standard, hoarding, and Fibonacci's democratization of the number system.