Curious Currency - a brief review
Mr. Jaggers
interest for an entire evening for $12.95, and under hard cover to boot?
A.: Whitman has just released Curious Currency, the Story of Money from the
Stone Age to the Internet Age, by Bob Leonard, a collector of odd and
curious money, as well as occasional poster to rcc.
The very attractive front cover shows various items that have been used as
media of exchange in many places and at many times, all in color. Inside
the book are very nice color illustrations on virtually every page that show
additional objects, accompanied by discussions of their history and use.
After a short chapter titled What Is Money?, Bob takes us through five more
chapters: Raw Materials, Useful Articles, Ornaments, Customary Objects, and
Money Substitutes. His enlightening tour of curious currency includes farm
animals, slaves, tools, weapons, textiles, foodstuffs (including Hershey
bars and hard liquor!), tobacco, wampum, jewelry, the Katanga cross, the
obligatory Yap stone money, coins (imagine!), playing cards, bills and
tokens, wooden nickels, credit cards, and even PayPal.
It can be hard for
us to imagine how people could have attached monetary value to some of these
things, to say nothing of the logistics of their actual use, but Bob does a
superb job of explaining the economic mindsets behind them, and he does it
in a very concise, engaging manner. A slim volume that can be browsed
comfortably in a single evening and then explored in detail in a couple
more, its one hundred twenty-four pages of text are followed by several
pages of notes, a bibliography, and a very detailed index.
Many of the objects pictured are from the collection of Charles J. Opitz,
who has himself written several excellent volumes on this same general
topic. But for novice and seasoned collectors alike who wish to painlessly
broaden their numismatic horizons, this book can't be beat.
James
Bob
Thank you very much for the nice review, James. I'm glad you enjoyed
it!
Jud
> Many of the objects pictured are from the collection of Charles J. Opitz,
> who has himself written several excellent volumes on this same general
> topic. But for novice and seasoned collectors alike who wish to painlessly
> broaden their numismatic horizons, this book can't be beat.
>
> James
Q: Former ANA President John Wilson's wife Nancy, a noted numismatist
on her own merits, maiden name was Opitz. Wondering if there is a
connection here!
Bob
John Wilson and Charles J. Opitz are brothers-in-law. They both live
in Ocala now also,k though not in the same gated community.