ASIAN COINS FOUND IN DEADWOOD'S CHINATOWN

Margie Akin and husband Kevin Akin will present “The Coins of Deadwood: A Brief Summary on the Asian Coins Recovered in Deadwood, S.D.,” at noon Tuesday at Deadwood City Hall, 102 Sherman St.

The authors of the recently published 300-page field guide, “Numismatic Archeology of North America,” say they are excited to visit the Wild West town this week and continue tracing the origins of hundreds of Asian coins and tokens discovered here, which shed a light on the gold camp’s frontier days.

“I’ve only been to Deadwood once and Kevin has never visited,” Margie Akin said Thursday from her Riverside, Cal., home. “It’s always interesting for us to go to a place where we have worked on materials, like Deadwood’s Chinese coins, to meet those involved in excavations, and to see other materials found in the archeological digs.

“Understanding the setting in which they were found is extremely important and we’ve been working hard to get archeologists and collectors to work together rather than competitively, because we can learn a lot from each other,” added Akin, who has been widely published in the field of historic archaeology and numismatics.

Although Deadwood’s history dates back only 140 years, coins from the old Deadwood Chinatown tell some particularly interesting stories, according to local historic preservation officials. Analyses of Asian and other coins from the site, begun in 2015 and completed in 2016, show similarities to and differences from Asian coins recovered elsewhere in the American West.

When archaeologists spent four summers digging and sifting through the remnants of this community’s Chinatown a decade ago, they uncovered a treasure trove totaling a quarter-million artifacts that traced the history and mystery of the mining camp’s early Asian settlers.

The finds also include the oldest coin yet found in South Dakota, Chinese and Vietnamese coins used in playing fan tan, and Chinese coins used in talismans, and by numismatists and private collectors, they said.

"The Deadwood Chinatown archaeological assemblage is a wonderful asset in preserving and interpreting Deadwood’s history," City Archivist Mike Runge said Friday. "The Asian coins are just one example how the Deadwood Historic Preservation Commission and the City of Deadwood are working with professionals from various fields to learn more about our past."

The Akins’ new book, the result of more than two decades of research, includes a photo of one of Deadwood’s rare Asian coins. The couple will have their book available for purchase and conduct a book-signing.

“It’s a book that has several target audiences, including information for archeologists who don’t have a background in numismatics but need information for reports, professional numismatists and collectors, as well as museums curators,” she said. “So many people will find this book useful and helpful for different reasons.”

To read the complete article, see:
Experts on Asian coins coming to Deadwood (http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/local/experts-on-asian-coins-coming-to-deadwood/article_19327684-d738-5a67-9d2e-0b285ce72ae2.html)

	NBS (coinbooks.org) Web