Q. David Bowers
Before going on to other books, let me say a few words about the third edition of the Van Allen Mallis book, Comprehensive Catalog and Encyclopedia of Morgan & Peace Dollars, one of the finest numismatic references in any specialized field. I heartily recommend it as a key item in your numismatic library-as a valuable source of information on die engraving, assaying, and minting techniques-in addition to its main thrust, which is an in-depth detailing of every minute die variety of Morgan dollar known to exist, plus an excellent discussion of Peace dollars.
Beyond these texts, Don Taxay's invaluable Counterfeit, Mis-struck and Unofficial Coins, 1963, and United States Mint and Coinage, 1966, provide data on how the Philadelphia Mint operated both openly and, especially during the middle to late nineteenth century, clandestinely as well, becoming at one point, in Taxay's words, a workshop for the private gain of Mint officers and employees.
The GobrechtJournal, the official publication of the Liberty Seated Collectors Club, has printed many superb articles on silver .dollars and trade dollars over the, years, information in print which is especially useful for the theories and ideas proposed concerning the rarity and availability of certain issues. For example, how rare is an 1871-CC dollar? This question has been debated several times. How rare is the Proof-only 1858 dollar? The John Reich Journal and the Journal of the Silver Dollar Collectors Society are likewise valuable for the many informative articles they contain.
In American numismatics there are only a few instances in which an entire book has been devoted to a single United States federal coin issue. Among these are three about silver dollars. The first and perhaps the best known is Eric P. Newman's and Kenneth E. Bressett's The Fantastic 1804 Dollar, published in 1962. This dandy volume serves up a delightful mixture of technical and scientific data, historical information, theories, and irreverent (to numismatic icons and traditions, that is) commentary, and is, in my opinion, a "must read" book for everyone; never mind the fact that only a few of us will ever be able to handle or own a precious 1804. l owe a large debt of gratitude to this hook for much of the information appearing in Chapter 6. The second is Mike Carter's study of the 1921 Morgan dollar. The third is Jack Collins' book (in preparation), 1794:
The History and Genealogy of the First United States Dollar.
There are 200 volumes, one for each year, of the Annual Report of the Director of the Mint, a set of pamphlets and books which, to me, has always been a veritable gold mine of information. However, data in Mint reports must be taken with many thousands of grains of salt. Although Walter H. Breen, Don Taxay, and others have used delivery dates of certain early coins (1795 dollars are but one example) and have broken them down to create precise mintages by type within a certain year, in most instances Mint reports do not support such accuracy. Among Mint reports can be found production figures for such non-existent coins as 1810 dimes, 1816 half dollars, 1799 and 1803 quarter eagles, 1801 half eagles, and 1802 eagles, while figures for certain known coins are omitted, as in the instances of 1832 half cents, 1823 cents, 1824 quarter dollars, 1870-S half dimes and silver dollars, and 1841 quarter eagles.
Further, it was the practice of the Mint to keep earlier-dated dies on hand and to use them in subsequent calendar years for coinage. Thus, dollars reported to have been coined in calendar year 1804 were almost surely all dated 1803 Or before. There is no consistency in this regard, for, in. some instances, such as the 1802/l dollar obverses, the Mint corrected dates used for coinage later than the date first placed on the dies. Although precise numbers furnished by the Mint, numbers created by interpolation by Walter H. Breen, and figures gained from other sources are used, the reader should not take these (nor mine) as the final word, especially for coins dated prior to 1840, and for proofs and restrikes of all years. The true, accurate figures may never be known (In the course of doing research for another book, Commemorative Coins of the United States: A Complete Encyclopedia, I learned from the Mint staff that Mint sales figures of Proof coins, commemoratives, etc., of our own time, while announced with precision, are really not precise. In all instances, a "final figure" has been given to the public, but some additional coins or sets have been set aside for future contingencies, mail losses, etc.).
By now, I have mentioned more books and other printed sources than anyone can comfortably carry at one time, but there are still more to come:
Periodicals such as the American Journal of Numismatics, published quarterly from 1866 through the early twentieth century, contain much worthwhile information on the silver dollar series, but not as much as do The Numismatist, the official journal of the American Numismatic Association, a compact periodical published monthly (with some exceptions) from 1888 to date; and The Numismatic Scrapbook Magazine issued from 1935 through February 1976. In more modern times there have been Numismatic News, Coin World, Coins magazine, and COINage, to mention some of the main weekly and monthly publications.
Beyond all of these, which by now amount to a multi-shelf library of things to read, consult, and contemplate, there are thousands of auction catalogues, not only modern ones put out by my company, New Netherlands Coin Co., Kagin's, Lester Merkin, Pine Tree Auctions, Stack's, Heritage Galleries, Superior Stamp & Coin Co., Mid-American Rare Coin Auctions, Pacific Coast Auction Galleries, Christie's, James Kelly, Sotheby's, Spink & Son, Ltd., and others, but also nineteenth and early twentieth century offerings by Edward Cogan, S.K. Harzfeld, J.W. Scott, Ben G. Green, S. Hudson and Henry Chapman, Capt. John W. Haseltine, W. Elliot Woodward, Thomas L. Elder, Ed. Frossard, B. Max Mehl, and many more.