Spare Change for Your Brain: Must-Read Books for the Numismatist’s Library

If you are hard to shop for, you might want to show this article to those who shop for you at Christmas. Of course, you might decide to shop yourself. My first recommendation is an old favorite with which you are probably familiar. If not, you should undoubtedly add these to your library.

The first suggestion is an old favorite, Paper Money of the United States, by Robert Friedman. It comes in many editions going back to 1953. It covers Large Size notes, Demand Notes, Legal Tender Issues, Compound Interest Notes, Interest Bearing Notes, Refunding Certificates, Silver Certificates, Treasury of Coin Notes, National Currency Notes, Federal Reserve Bank Notes, Federal Reserve Notes, The National Gold Bank Notes of California, and Gold Certificates. All are illustrations. It also covers other paper money issues but with fewer illustrations. This publication covers prices well, so older editions offer all the large size illustrations. Current editions provide prices for the period of that issue, and they should be available at bookstores or at coin shows that have a book dealer present.

For Small Size, I recommend an out-of-print book. It is the 9th or 10th issue of the Standard Guide to Small Size U.S. Money from 1928 to 2009 by John Schwartz and Scott Lindquist. You should be able to find it on the Internet. It provides amazing detail on Small Size notes, explains how notes are numbered, and provides all kinds of other details pertaining to Small Size, such as Change-over pairs, etc.

Another out-of-print book pertaining specifically to National Bank notes is Standard Catalog of National Bank Notes by Dean Oakes and John Hickman. Another option is books by Don Kelly. Both books have several editions. They also must be sought out on the Internet. They both have more than one edition. They have outdated pricing but cover all issues of Nationals. The pricing on National Bank Notes varies wildly because of the rarity of individual banks.

Look at back auction issues on the Internet. Heritage Auctions has excellent coverage of past auctions. Check past records and current auction reports to see the latest movements.

Have you any interest in Encased postage stamps? These items were a substitute for small change during the Civil War. A book by Michael J. Hodder and Q. David Bowers, The Standard Catalogue of Encased Postage Stamps, was published in 1989 through Bowers and Marina. I purchased a copy recently through an internet bookstore, and several illustrations are provided at the end of this article.

A book that I had some involvement in KP (Krause Publications) Standard Catalog of United States Paper, 33rd edition, George S. Cuhaj, Editor, William Brandimore, Market Analyst. This book has a section on Postage Stamp Envelopes. At the same time, when Encased Postage was in use, a different system was being used, mainly on the East Coast, namely Postage Stamp Envelops. The merchants placed stamps valued at the change needed in the envelopes, some fairly plain, others beautifully decorated as advertising. There are probably no more than 500 examples in existence. And only 110 catalog numbers, as these are very rare. They were, after all, throw-away items. Why save an empty envelope?

Surviving examples with stamps see no additional value as it is impossible to know that the stamps were placed there originally. The only added value would be the value of the 1861 issue stamps that would have been used. This book also includes an illustrated version of all Fractional Currency examples.

You may not have seen copies of Postage Stamp Envelopes or Encased Postage. Here are several copies of each.

These examples are pricey but very interesting and pretty cool.