SUGGESTED NUMISMATIC REFERENCES

Identifying and Appraising Coins and Paper Money by Library Staff

Library personnel at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are pleased to assist anyone who seeks to identify old coins, paper money, and other money-related objects and to gather historical information about such material. University regulations, however, prohibit staff from grading privately owned specimens or providing either verbal or written personal appraisals pertaining to the current market value of any numismatic specimen. For the convenience of those people who possess colonial-era coinage and bills, old bank notes, Civil War currencies, tokens, scrip, or modern United States or foreign issues, a list of popular references and price guides is provided on this site to assist their investigations. Researchers, however, should keep in mind when consulting older references that price ranges given in those guides are dated and are reliable only for determining approximate values. In the field of numismatics, as in other areas of collecting, the market values of most currencies rise appreciably and often substantially over the years; and the actual physical condition of any specimen in question dramatically affects its value to collectors. For that reason it is prudent to refer to the most recent titles when seeking to determine the potential sales price or purchase price of any piece of currency.

Most of the references cited herein can be obtained at local bookstores or through local libraries. This list is a basic one, and many additional references for identifying and pricing currencies can be found in on-line searches and by consulting with staff at the locations already mentioned. It should be noted, too, that each reference on this site’s list includes the publication’s International Standard Book Number (ISBN). By providing that number to employees at bookstores or libraries, they can confirm the title and specific edition of any publication and can often locate it elsewhere if that facility does not have the needed reference. It should be noted as well that books published before the 1970s do not carry an ISBN.

Early American Paper Money and Coinage

Breen, Walter. Complete Encyclopedia of U.S. and Colonial Coins. New York:
Doubleday, 1988. (ISBN: 0-385-14207-2)

Gilboy, Frank F. The Milled Columnarios of Central and South America: Spanish
American Pillar Coinage, 1732 to 1772. Regina, Canada: Prairie Wind Publishing,
1999. (ISBN 0-96852-060-X)

Newman, Eric P. The Early Paper Money of America. Fifth edition. Iola, Wisconsin:
Krause Publications, 2007. (ISBN 0-89689-326-X)

Yeoman, R. S. The Official Red Book: A Guide Book of United States Coins 2008.
Sixty-first edition. Atlanta, Georgia: Whitman Publishing, 2007. This reference
is not just a price guide for modern coinage; it also lists American colonial coins
and tokens, including the 1694 Carolina Elephant Token, as well as gold
coinage struck in the 1800s by the Bechtler family and at the branch of the United
States Mint in Charlotte, North Carolina. (ISBN 0-79482-267-3)

Bechtler and Charlotte Mint Gold Coins

Barfield, Rodney and Keith Strawn. The Bechtlers and Their Coinage. Raleigh, North
Carolina: North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, 1980.
(ISBN 0-86526-175-X)

Birdsall, Clair M. United States Branch Mint at Charlotte, North Carolina: Its History
and Coinage. Greenville, South Carolina: Southern Historical Press, 1988.
(ISBN 0-89308-629-0)

Winter, Douglas. Charlotte Mint Gold Coins, 1838-1861: A Numismatic History and Analysis. Irvine, California: Bowers and Merena Galleries, Inc., 1987.

Antebellum or “Obsolete” Issues

Horner, Paul and Jerry R. Roughton. North Carolina Numismatic Scrapbook. Quarterly
publication available by subscription and that often carries articles relating to antebellum and Civil War issues. Kenansville, North Carolina: Horton and
Roughton, 2001-present. (No ISBN)

Haxby, James A. Standard Catalog of United States Obsolete Bank Notes. Third volume
(New York, North Carolina, Ohio). Iola, Wisconsin: Krause Publications, 1988.
(ISBN 0-87241-043-2)

Pennell, Jr., J. Roy. Obsolete Banknotes of North Carolina. New York: Sanford J.
Durst, 1986. (ISBN 0-94266-629-1) Additional references relating to obsolete
currencies in many other states can be found by conducting on-line searches.

Civil War Currencies and Bonds

Ball, Douglas B. Comprehensive Catalog and History of Confederate Bonds
Port Clinton, Ohio: BNR Press, 1998. (ISBN 0-93160-58-4)

Criswell, Grover C. (with Dr. Douglas B. Ball and Hugh Shull). Comprehensive Catalog
of Confederate Paper Money. Port Clinton, Ohio: BNR Press, 1996.
(ISBN 0-931960-45-2)

Fricke, Pierre. Collecting Confederate Paper Money: A Complete and Fully Illustrated
Guide to All Confederate Note Types and Varieties. New York: R. M. Smythe,
2005. (ISBN 0-97108-213-8)

Roughton, Jerry R. North Carolina County Scrip, 1861-1862. Carolina Series Number 2.
[Morehead City, N.C.]: Black Crow Press, 1986. (no ISBN)

Slabaugh, Arlie R. Confederate States Paper Money. Tenth edition. Iola, Wisconsin:
Krause Publications, 2000. (ISBN 0-87349-268-4)

Tremmel, George B. Counterfeit Currency of the Confederate States of America.
Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2003.
(ISBN 0-7864-1422-7)

United States Paper Money, Coinage, and Tokens

Bowers, David Q. 100 Greatest American Currency Notes. Atlanta, Georgia: Whitman
Publishing, 2005. (ISBN 0-79482-006-9)

Friedberg, Arthur L. and Ira S. Paper Money of the United States: A Complete Guide
with Valuations. Seventeenth edition. Clifton, New Jersey: The Coin &
Currency Institute, 2004. (ISBN 0-87184-517-2)

Kelly C. Don. National Bank Notes: A Guide with Prices. Third edition. Paper Money
Institute, 1997. (ISBN 0-96562-550-8)

Krause, Chester L. and Robert F. Lemke and edited by Robert E. Wilhite. Standard
Catalog of United States Paper Money. Twenty-third edition. Iola, Wisconsin:
Krause Publications, 2004. (ISBN 0-87349-795-3)

Lange, David W. History Of The United States Mint and Its Coinage. Atlanta, Georgia:
Whitman Publishing, 2005. (ISBN 0-79481-972-9)

Rulau, Russell. Standard Catalog Of United States Tokens, 1700-1900. Fourth edition.
Iola, Wisconsin: Krause Publications, 2004. (ISBN 0-87341-989-8)

Yeoman, R. S. The Official Red Book: A Guide Book of United States Coins 2008.
Sixty-first edition. Atlanta, Georgia: Whitman Publishing, 2007.
(ISBN 0-79482-267-3)

Foreign Paper Money and Coinage

Doty, Richard G. Paper Money of the World. New York: Bantam Books, 1977.
(ISBN 0-553-11568-5)

Krause, Chester. 2006 Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1901-Present. Iola Wisconsin:
Krause Publications, 2005. (ISBN 0-87349-987-5)

Pick, Albert. Catalogue of European Paper Money Since 1900. Second edition. New
York: Sterling Publishing Company, 1974. (ISBN 0-80696-031-0)

Shafer, Neil and George S. Cuhaj (editors). Standard Catalog of World Paper Money
General Issues, 1368-1960. Eleventh edition. Iola, Wisconsin: Krause
Publications, 2006. (ISBN 0-89689-412-6)

General References and Care of Collections

Bresset, Kenneth (ed.). The Official American Numismatic Association Grading
Standards of United States Coins. Whitman Publishing, 2005.
(ISBN 0-79481-993-1).

Carlton, R. Scott. The International Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Numismatics. Iola,
Wisconsin: Krause Publications, 1996. (ISBN 0-87341-443-8)

Professional Coin Grading Service. The Official Guide to Coin Grading and Counterfeit
Detection. Second edition. New York: House of Collectibles, 2004.
(ISBN 0-37572-050-2)

Travers, Scott A. The Coin Collectors Survival Manual. New York: Prentice Hall Press,
1988. (ISBN 0-13140-393-1)