Edmonton Numismatic Society

L’AIGLON IS BORN By: Pierre Driessen It had been the worst of nights and the best of nights. The most powerful man in Europe, victor of numerous campaigns, had never felt this powerless. He could do nothing but stand by helplessly, waiting to let fate decide the outcome. The realization of his most longed for […]

From Thalers to Dollars By: Marc Bink In a previous article, I wrote about an early Saxon Thaler that I found at one of our semi-annual Money Shows. We rarely see these huge, expensive silver coins here, and I have always wanted to build a collection of them. At the last RCNA Convention that was […]

1895 Society of Colonial Wars Relic Medal By: M. Goudreau As those of you who know me can attest, I collect numismatic items from across a wide spectrum of fields, I am however always looking for items with Canadian connections. One item that sparked my interest, although issued in the United States in 1895 by […]

A Penny’s Worth By: Marc Bink Since my compatriot Pierre is writing about English coins and the laws surrounding counterfeiting and forgery, I thought I’d throw my “Penny’s Worth” into the fray and describe a story about a little man who wound up convincing a powerful Queen how great he and his newfangled technology were, […]

Show Me a Coin Used for Paying Tax By: Graham Sproule Although the utility of a coin has decreased in the modern age of electronic banking, the image of a coin remains a potent one. For this reason alone, there is no reason to believe that the age of the ‘coin-less of ce’ will ever […]

Digging for Dollars, German style By: Marc Bink Shift work is hard. It’s the classic “hurry up and wait” scenario that only people in the military can understand; hours of sheer drudgery interspersed with a few moments of terror. The other night I was hard at work and had a couple of hours to kill. […]

Defacing Coins as a Form of Political Action: Royal Canadian Mint Sues Dogwood Initiative over ‘Loony Idea’ By: Graham Sproule. “No person shall, except in accordance with a licence granted by the Minister, melt down, break up or use otherwise than as currency any coin that is current and legal tender in Canada.” – Article […]

French Experiments with Paper Money – Part 3 “Those who can not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” By: Pierre Driessen The Revolutionary government, having assumed the debts of the previous regime, found itself in dire financial straits. In addition to this fiscal burden, domestically it faced a deteriorating economy, shortages of food […]

The Numismatic Bibliomania Society (NBS)   The Numismatic Bibliomania Society (NBS) is an educational association founded in 1979 to support and promote the use and collecting of numismatic literature. Numismatic literature includes books, periodicals, catalogs and other written or printed material relating to coins, medals, tokens, or paper money, ancient or modern, U.S. or worldwide. […]

French Experiments with Paper Money – Part 2 By: Pierre Driessen Following the collapse of John Law’s “System”, the French government’s finances became desperate. Royal debt had tripled between 1715 and 1722, credit was drying up, interest rates were soaring and the crown’s credibility had been severely tarnished. Over time however, through governmental and administrative […]