The Miiniial liy Eckfcldt and Du liois, lurntioiied 

 aljove, found a parallt-l work in Montixnille W. 

 Dickcson's The Aiihiiran .\iimisnialh Mmimd (1S3')), 

 which, despite the criticism it nTei\ed, went throu'^^h 

 three editions ijy 1865. .As laul(\ as nnich ol' tiie 

 information was. the basic concept of the l)o(jk iielped 

 it to achiexe a standard which wa.s never ec|ualcd in 

 later pubUcations of this kind. 



The New \'ork group claimed as its Iradina; men 

 Charles I. Bushnell (1826-1883), a well-known col- 

 lector and author (jf a book on tokens. An Ainnis^ininil 

 of Tradi'imeti' s Cards. Puliliod 7ii/.r>i\, rli . (bSSS), and 

 John Howard Hickco.x, author of .!« /fisinma/ A:<oiiiil 

 of American Coinage (1858). 



But the classic work on American numismatics was 

 yet to come. In 1875 The Early Coins of Amen, a and 

 the Laws Goirrning Their hsue was published in Boston 

 by SyK'ester S. Clrosb>-, a jeweler from .\ew Hamp- 

 shire who had established his business in Boston. 

 This work can be regarded as the mosl outstanding 

 contribution of the United States to numism.iiic 

 research in general. 



In this book one of the thorniest problems in the 

 history of .American coinage, the issues of the C^olonies, 

 found an authoritatix e presentation whicli lias ni-\ er 

 been siu"passed. The basic concept of the work was 

 to consider coins as essentialh' an expression of tlieir 

 time. The\' were thorou<j;hl\ examined in tin liuht 

 of contemporary docmnents and their sef|uence was 

 established through detailed die studies. Ch'osbx's 

 system of suiimittins: the coin ima^e to a painstaking 

 examination, noting the minutest changes in the die 

 as a clue to assigning the sequence within a tjixen 

 group of coins not otherwise datable, |>ro\ed in- 

 valuable in many instances and frequcnth was used 

 by other mmiismatists. Unfortimately, from a means 

 his system has \ery often become an end in itself, its 

 use degenerating into a senseless pursuit, as can be 

 seen in recent publications which promote rcscaicli 

 into the progression of die cracks as an cxclusi\ e aim 

 of numismatics— an activity which entirel)- neglects 

 C;rosl.)y"s historical approach. 



A strong interest in medals toward I he end of llie 

 century emerged again; they were stutlied hom the 

 historical rather than the artistic point of \iew. None- 

 theless, Joseph F. Loubat's Mefhillii Hi\l(iry nf Ihr 

 United .Stales of .America. I776-I!i7<i (1878) camiot fail 

 to impress the reader with its artisticalK executed 

 plates. A few years later, William .S. Bakei- published 

 the results of his research on porliails of the fust 

 American president in his Medallic I'm trails oj 



Fig. 4^. — .Svi.vi;sTr.R S.vof. Croshv (cI. 1914), 

 .Amfrican nuinisinalisl (photo Injin Ike 



.\uriii\malisl). 



IVasliingliiii (1885). In the s.imc peiiod ('h.nles \V. 

 Betts (1845-1887) achieved a solid repul.ilion with his 

 Amenuui ('idnuial //i\linr Illii\l)iilcd hv (jirilcinfonny 

 Mrda/s (18')4). 



Large and hii^liK speci,ili/ed lollcclions weie 

 formed near the I'lose ol ihe (cnlniA. and ruan\' 

 rarities sold in Europe found ihi-ir \\,i\ lo ihis eounlix . 

 The colleclions of cl.issic.il coins ol I'l.ink S. Benson, 

 Clarence S. Benient. and J. I'irr|icinl Morgan were a 

 challena;e to tin- liesi inllerlions (ju (he continent. 

 Fmico C'aruso's c.ibinet ol L;old coins ,nul W.ildo (.'.. 

 .Xewcomer's (dllei lion of Sonlli .\meric.ni ^old and 

 siKcr coins were .inion^ llie ku'gest of iheir kind evei' 

 assemi )lefl. 



In the Held of .American coins the nnniber ol c.ibi- 

 nels grows to such an extent il would be impossible to 



PAPER 32: NUMISM.ATICS — AN ANCIENT SCIENCE 



63 



