by Kabir Sehgal
19. Noles, A Pocketful of History, pp. 1–6.
20. Frank Meyer, “The Coins of the U.S.: Symbols of a People,” Clearing House 29, no. 2 (1954): 100–104.
21. “Dinh Bo Linh,” Encyclopaedia Britannica, retrieved February 11, 2014, from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/163870/Dinh-Bo-Linh.
22. Howard Daniel also said that the 1948 Viet coin is noteworthy. They were made from gold and came in three denominations. But they didn’t circulate among the public. They were made for President Ho Chi Minh to present to high-ranking officials in Moscow and Beijing, a token of his gratitude for their help during the Indochina War. Ho gave the leftover coins to Vietnamese who acted valiantly during the war. Howard says these coins are special because they are a gift from the nation’s hero and father. In his decades of collecting, Howard has seen only one, and that was in a museum. He would pay at least $10,000 for one.
23. R. Allan Barker, “The Historical Cash Coins of Viet Nam,” 2004, http://vietnam.sudokuone.com/d1_dinh.htm.
24. Howard Daniel, email correspondence, May 28, 2014 (K. Sehgal, interviewer).
25. Ronachai Krisadaolarn and Vasilijs Milhailovs, Siamese Coins: From Funan to the Fifth Reign (Bangkok: River Books Press, 2010), pp. 12–13.
26. Manote Tripathi, “Coins of the Realm,” Nation, October 22, 2012, http://www.nationmultimedia.com/life/Coins-of-the-realm-30192703.html.
27. “Mongkut,” Encyclopaedia Britannica, retrieved February 14, 2014, from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/389268/Mongkut.
28. I think there is more to it than that. This was my second meeting with a Vietnam veteran who had stayed well past his tour of duty and become a numismatist. It’s more than a coincidence. Clinical psychologist Rachel Feller thinks that collecting is a type of therapy to help people cope with difficult experiences. She interviewed many collectors and wrote her dissertation on the topic. One theme that emerged from her research may sound familiar—symbols. Collectors considered their collections to be symbols of their trauma, or symbols of the societies they once tried to destroy. These coin collections were shaping the lives of the veterans by turning them into numismatists. Building a coin collection was a way of remembering the trauma and realizing that it wouldn’t destroy them. One of the veterans-turned-collectors told Feller: “There are pieces in my collection that can be tied to the traumatic experiences of my comrades. When I look at them, I often remember those men.” Collectors also saw their collections as symbols of themselves, a part of their identity. Building a collection is a type of self-discovery. Some collectors preferred to discuss their collections instead of themselves—as if it were an extension of them. Ronachai’s collection helped him learn about Thailand’s colorful history. It helped him discover Thailand’s welcoming and hospitable culture, which differs from what he calls the “rat race” found in the United States. Ronachai eventually became what he was studying all along—Thai. His collection was no longer just a symbol of Thailand. The money had also become a symbol of him.
29. Gilbert Perez, The “Dos Mundos” Pillar Coins, Philippine Numismatic Monographs (Manila: Philippines Numismatics and Antiquarian Society, 1948).
30. Michael Richardson, “Can the Pilar Be Found? And What’s in It? Deep in the Pacific a Plunge for Riches,” New York Times, June 14, 2001, http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/14/style/14iht-spang_ed3_.html.
31. Filipino Numismatist, http://www.filipinonumismatist.com/2011/10/revalidados-rare-holed-coins-of.html.
32. “Hubble Discovers New Class of Gravitational Lens for Probing the Structure of the Cosmos,” HubbelSite, October 18, 1995, http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/1995/1995/43.
33. “Sri Lanka” is the country’s modern name used since 1948. It was previously known as “Lanka.”
34. Kavan Ratnatunga, “Size & Weight Analysis of 100 Copper Massa Coins,” retrieved March 4, 2014, from http://coins.lakdiva.org/medievalindian/rajaraja/massa_100coins.html.
35. Kavan Ratnatunga, “Ruhuna—‘Punch Mark’ Silver,” retrieved March 2, 2014, from http://coins.lakdiva.org/punch/punch_marked_GH442.html.
36. Kavan Ratnatunga, “Maneless Lion Type Ancient Lanka—Mahasena: 277–304,” retrieved March 3, 2014, from http://lakdiva.com/coins/ancient/maneless_lion.html.
37. Kavan Ratnatunga, “Ancient Lanka—Bull and Fish Type: Pandya Influence 824–943,” retrieved March 2, 2014, from http://coins.lakdiva.org/medievalindian/pandya_bull_2lrfish.html.
38. “Etana Epic,” Encyclopaedia Britannica, retrieved March 6, 2014, from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/193803/Etana-Epic.
39. British Museum, “Cuneiform Tablet Telling the Legend of Etana,” retrieved May 6, 2014, from https://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/me/c/cuneiform_the_legend_of_etana.aspx.
40. Rudolf Wittkower, “Eagle and Serpent. A Study in the Migration of Symbols,” Journal of the Warburg Institute 2, no. 4 (April 1939): 293–325.
41. “Harvey and Larry Stack to Rejoin Stack’s Bowers Galleries,” CoinWeek, May 26, 2011, https://www.coinweek.com/featured-news/harvey-and-larry-stack-to-rejoin-stacks-bowers-galleries.
42. Harvey Stack, “The Phenomena of the 50-State Commemorative Quarters,” Stack’s Bowers, July 10, 2012, http://www.stacksbowers.com/NewsMedia/Blogs/TabId/780/ArtMID/2678/ArticleID/478/The-Phenomena-of-the-50-State-Commemorative-Quarters.aspx.
43. “Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919),” PBS, http://www.pbs.org/nationalparks/people/historical/roosevelt.
44. American Experience, PBS, March 5, 2014, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/whitman/more/e_literary.html.
45. Q. David Bowers, A Guide Book of Double Eagle Coins, Kindle ed. (Atlanta: Whitman, 2004), loc. 5552.
46. Ibid., loc. 838.
47. William E. Hagans, “Recreating a Masterpiece,” Coins, November 16, 2009, http://numismaster.com/ta/numis/Article.jsp?ad=article&ArticleId=8456.
48. Bowers, A Guide Book of Double Eagle Coins, loc. 789.
49. Ibid., loc. 5569.
50. Ibid., loc. 5604.
51. Ibid., loc. 5605.
52. Ibid., loc. 5606.
53. Ibid., loc. 5687.
54. Susan Berfield, “The Mystery of the Double Eagle Gold Coins,” Bloomberg Businessweek. August 29, 2011, http://www.today.com/id/44288821/ns/today-today_news/t/mystery-double-eagle-gold-coins.
Epilogue
1. Cited in Geoffrey Ingham, “ ‘Babylonian Madness’: On the Historical and Sociological Origins of Money,” in John N. Smithin, ed., What Is Money? (New York: Routledge, 2000). The original source is John Maynard Keynes, The Collected Writings of John Maynard Keynes, vol. 11 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983), pp. 1–2.
2. Cited in Ingham, “ ‘Babylonian Madness.’ ”
3. For further reading: “Money Talks,” Economist, September 29, 2012.
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Contents
Cover
Title Page
Welcome
Dedication
Foreword
Epigraph
Introduction
Part I MIND: The Roots of an Idea Chapter One: It’s a Jungle Out There
The biology of exchange
Chapter Two: A Piece of My Mind
The psychology of money
Chapter Three: So in Debt
The anthropology of debt
Part II BODY: The Material Forms of Money Chapter Four: Hard and Heavy
A brief history of hard money
Chapter Five: Some Like It Soft
A brief history of soft money
Chapter Six: Back to the Future
The future of money
Part III SOUL: A Symbol of Values Chapter Seven: Angel Investors
Religion and m
oney
Chapter Eight: Gilt Complex
The art on money
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Also by Kabir Sehgal
List of Illustrations
Selected Bibliography
Notes
Newsletters
Copyright
Copyright
A list of illustration credits appears here.
Copyright © 2015 by Kabir Sehgal
Cover design by Heads of State
Cover copyright © 2015 by Hachette Book Group, Inc.
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