Numismatics: History as Market
Hayek, Mises, and Rothbard, and of course Friedman, for all their passion, lacked any understanding of numismatics. As a result, their theories wanted facts; ultimately, their predictions and prescriptions were weak. Sometimes, they failed.
Hayek's Denationalisation of Money relied on Murray Rothbard's flawed monograph, What has Government Done to our Money? which delivered one anemic academic citation on tokens. Any active coin collector could deliver hundreds of examples of competing currencies, weak and strong, successful and disastrous.
Hayek's Denationalisation of Money relied on Murray Rothbard's flawed monograph, What has Government Done to our Money? which delivered one anemic academic citation on tokens. Any active coin collector could deliver hundreds of examples of competing currencies, weak and strong, successful and disastrous.
http://necessaryfacts.blogspot.com/2013/...
The Professional Scripophily Traders Association (www.psta.com)includes ANA members Bob Kerstein, Rober t Galiette and Lawrence Falater. “Scripophily” is the formal name for the collecting of historical stocks and bonds. According to Galiette, the club’s legal advisor, “People readily relate to how specie (hard currency), paper money, stocks and bonds (government and private) are used to start businesses, and . . . how one can be converted into another.” In the United States, gilt-edge securities often were payable in gold coin before 1933. Through scripophily, a collector can connect with the great names of American capitalism, including railroad, telegraph, telephone and radio companies; steel mills and coal mines; automobile and aircraft manufacturers; and even motion picture studios.
Two complementary sites (www.scripophily.net and www .scripophily.com) are operated by ANA member and Certified Public Accountant Bob Kerstein. They offer “Frequently Asked Questions” (FAQs), news and pointers on how to research old companies.
The International Bond and Share Society (IBSS) (www.scripophily.org) of Ashtead, Surrey, England, is a nonprofit organization that promotes the collection and study of all manner of historic securities. The site presents news, an archive of articles from the Scripophily quarterly, and FAQs.
The Holabird-Kagin Americana website (www.holabird.org) “specializes in the sale and appraisal of antiquarian mining goods, including old stock certificates, documents, photographs and other antiques and collectibles relating to western mining and history, dating from c. 1850 to c. 1950.”
Numistoria SARL of Paris, France, (www.numistoria.com) stores a range of informative essays from the IBSS Scripophily quarterly and boasts the largest online gallery of scripophily .
(This was taken from my monthly columns for ANA Numismatist Magazine, September 2008. Information about ANA Membership from www.money.org)