BOOK REVIEW: COINS AND COLLECTORS GOLDEN EDITION

When all is said and done and Bowers puts away his typewriter, he will have set the bar so high that few in the present generation of numismatic writers will dare take up the guidon and strive to supplant him.

So it is within this context that we pick up the latest entry in Bowers’ long-running and popular franchise Coins & Collectors.

Entitled Coins & Collectors: Golden Anniversary Edition, this newest reworking bears all of the trappings of Whitman’s contemporary design sensibility. A handsome hardcover, Coins & Collectors is a lavishly illustrated, full-color edition that brings Bowers’ prose to life.

It is a celebration of Numismatics in breadth and occasionally in depth. Bowers breezily spans more than 200 years of history, discussing numismatic objects and their backstories while simultaneously proffering his oftentimes first-hand memories of collectors and characters from times past.

And therein lies a great part of the charm of our hobby. In the aggregate, coins are objects through which great stories are told.

Coins & Collectors covers many areas that go beyond the scope of major auction headliners or the most popular collectibles. Among its pages are discourses on Feuchtwanger tokens, ANA medals, minstrel show counterstamps, and 19th century medals celebrating monumental achievements in American engineering.

You’ll also find intriguing nuggets of information and the had-to-be-there backstories behind the pursuit of the 1933 double eagle, the designs of the New Hampshire State and America the Beautiful quarters, and the drama surrounding the SS Central America treasure salvage efforts.

But perhaps more important are Bowers’ reflections on some of the great 19th and 20th century collectors, many of whom he knew and conducted business with. The roster is lengthy, but we’d be remiss not to mention the likes of Norweb, Eliasberg, and the great Thomas Elder–all subjects that Bowers has covered in-depth elsewhere. In the present volume, they serve not only as a spur to further discussion, but also as a reminder for present-day numismatists: it will soon be your responsibility to care for and maintain these stories of coins and collectors.

For now it’s clear: the Old Professor isn’t done yet. The keys still clatter with verve and vigor, and we’re all richer for it.

To read the complete article, see:
First Read: Coins & Collectors: Golden Anniversary Edition (www.coinweek.com/featured-news/first-read-coins-collectors-golden-anniversary-edition/)

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