Page images
PDF
EPUB
[merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

Coins of the World.

CONTAINING A FULL ACCOUNT OF THE

EARLIEST KNOWN MEDIUMS OF EXCHANGE; DISCOVERY OF THE PRECIOUS
METALS; COINS OF THE BIBLE; ANCIENT GREEK, ROMAN AND JEWISH
COINAGE; EARLY AND MODERN COINS OF ASIA AND AFRICA;

ANGLO-AMERICAN, AMERICAN COLONIAL, AND CONTI-

NENTAL ISSUES; ANGLO-AMERICAN TOKENS, AND

THE PATTERN PIECES, EXPERIMENTAL ISSUES,

AND

COINS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

TOGETHER WITH A GENERAL HISTORY OF

MINES, MINING, MINTS, ASSAYS, ETC., ETC.

ILLUSTRATED WITH OVER FIFTEEN HUNDRED FAC-SIMILES.

BY JOHN S. DYE,

(Founder of Dye's Counterfeit Detector.)

TO WHICH IS ADDED AN APPENDIX,
BY E. MASON, JR., (NUMISMATIST,)

PRESENTING AN AUTHENTICATED STATEMENT OF THE COINAGE OF THE LATE
SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY, AT NEW ORLEANS, IN 1861, WITH COPIES

OF PAPERS ON FILE IN THE CONFEDERATE ARCHIVES AT
WASHINGTON, AND FAC-SIMILE OF THE COINS ISSUED.

PHILADELPHIA:

BRADLEY & COMPANY.
No. 66 NORTH FOURTH ST.

1883.

[blocks in formation]

PREFACE

A PARAMOUNT consideration in putting a book on the market is a demand. A demand, therefore, is essential to success. Strange to say, such a demand has remained unmet in this country since its inception in the publication, or the absence of a publication, of a universal history, accurately illustrated, of the coins of the world, precious metal resources, mintages, etc. This unoccupied field in the commercial and numismatic worlds, we trust, is intelligently and comprehensively filled in the work which this prefaces.

The author, John S. Dye, the founder and for thirty odd years the editor and publisher of "Dye's Counterfeit Detector," and for forty years a recognized authority on the paper and precious metal currencies of the world, devoted the best years of his life to compiling and formulating matter, corresponding with the "money centres" of the world, expending large sums of money in the procuration of fac similes of coins drawn from original and in many instances almost extinct specimens-all culminating in a work of which it is its own original; a work which will stand for all ages, a monument of the past, and a criterion for the present.

Shortly before the closing pages were given to the printer, the author, then in the eventide of a long and eventful life, was peacefully "gathered to his fathers," and the work on the book necessarily suspended.

(3)

When the merits of such an elaborate compilation of recondite facts and figures, on a subject of such vast importance, not only to the money-changer and antiquarian, but to the general reader, were made known to the undersigned publishers, they assumed the responsibility of completing the publication and giving it to the public at the advertised price, notwithstanding it contains some five hundred more pages than was originally intended.

To realize the difficulties encountered in the publication of so elaborate and comprehensive a work as the present one, both in the matter of text and illustration, it is necessary to state that true copies of the original coins are indispensable to the correctness of history in the matter of illustrating a nation's coinage; and the search among the various public and private cabinets is often laborious and sometimes fruitless in results. Again; the collation of material explanatory of the fac similes is a task of no ordinary sort, and would have discouraged many numismatic writers possessing less energy and ambition than the author who devoted so much of his valuable time to a work of which fate prevented the full accomplishment. In connection with the national and other coinages herein presented, full details are given of the various national mints, with an exhaustive résumé on mines, mining and assays of the precious metals; thus tracing the world's coinages from their origin to their completion as public circulating mediums of exchange. In the combination and condensation of numismatic matter, both in the text and illustrations, we fully believe this work has neither compeer nor rival, it being the only combined illustrated history of the world's coinage and precious metal resources extant.

The work has undergone a strict censorship at the hands of

the most accomplished and critical numismatists of this and other cities. We are especially indebted to Dr. Edward Maris and E. Mason, Jr., for laborious research and valuable addenda. This, together with the author's well-known discerning and analytical mind and scope of comprehension, warrant us in assuring the reader that the accuracy of the work can be relied upon with a maximum degree of certainty.

BRADLEY & COMPANY.

Philadelphia, 1883.

« PreviousContinue »