Good Money
Birmingham Button Makers, the Royal Mint, and the Beginnings of Modern Coinage, 1775-1821
Will be published approx. on 1. August 2008
Book
Hardback
400 pages
978-0-472-11631-7 (ISBN)
Description
This book looks at private enterprise and the foundation of modern coinage."Good Money" tells the fascinating story of British manufacturers' challenge to the Crown's monopoly on coinage. In the 1780s, when the Industrial Revolution was gathering momentum, the Royal Mint failed to produce enough small-denomination coinage for factory owners to pay their workers. As the currency shortage threatened to derail industrial progress, manufacturers began to mint custom-made coins, called 'tradesman's tokens'. Rapidly gaining wide acceptance, these tokens served as the nation's most popular currency for wages and retail sales until 1821, when the Crown outlawed all moneys except its own.Historian George Selgin presents a lively tale of enterprising manufacturers, technological innovations, and struggles over the right to coin legal money.
Reviews / Votes
"In lucid, enjoyable, often humorous language, Selgin takes us from the 'dark satanic mills' to the backstreet haunts of the eighteenth-century counterfeiter and the private, legitimate mints, set up to address a problem the Royal Mint could or would not - the production of safe small change for the people. His cast of characters is large and auspicious: Thomas, Williams, James Watt, John Westwood, and Matthew Boulton. And Selgin's understanding of eighteenth-century economic theory and practice is absolute, allowing him to write with verve and clarity." - Richard Doty, Curator of Numismatics, Smithsonian Institution"More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Ann Arbor
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Laminated cover
Illustrations
16 page colour gallery
Dimensions
Height: 231 mm
Width: 160 mm
Thickness: 36 mm
Weight
680 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-472-11631-7 (9780472116317)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
George Selgin is Professor of Economics in the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia.