From the vaults of history to the currency of today, Worth its Weight is an ANA podcast from the Money Museum. With episodes posted twice weekly, Curator Caroline Turco gives listeners two ways to follow the money: through timely weigh-ins on numismatic news, and rich deep-dives into the history money holds. Tune in for golden insights and stories that changed history!
Made for collectors. Open to the curious. Available wherever you get your podcasts.
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Coming up: a familiar collector tradition gets an unfamiliar price tag, new research revisits a famous coin’s ownership history, and a supposed rarity proves disappointing.
Plus, funding for coin clubs, an auction for young collectors, and a new series coming to this podcast.
And before we’re done, Canada puts a ghost on its money.
Funding requests: Email jalbanese@cacgrading.com by October 31, explaining your organization’s purpose and proposed use of the donation. John Albanese asks applicants to write in their own words, without AI assistance.
Worth Its Weight is an ANA production from the Money Museum, where history adds up—with interest!
To learn more, explore show notes, and discover more stories carried by money, visit money.org.
Follow the money. Literally.
A Coin to Die For: EID MAR with Shanna Schmidt
Tuesday, October 6, 2026 • Duration 01:05:24
Spooky season at Worth Its Weight begins with a killer coin. Shanna Schmidt joins Caroline Turco for a conversation about the EID MAR and the ancient coin industry, connecting a notorious piece of Roman history with the people who collect, study, and trade ancient money today. Join us for a look at the enduring fascination of ancient coins—and the stories they carry into the modern world.
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Guest Shanna Schmidt: Shanna Schmidt is an ancient coin dealer specializing in Greek coinage and the founder of Shanna Schmidt Numismatics. The daughter of renowned numismatist Harlan J. Berk, she grew up in the coin business before launching her own firm in 2016. She has served on the American Numismatic Association’s Board of Governors and helps collectors build collections and navigate major auctions worldwide.
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In this episode:
Reading the EID MAR’s imagery—and the contradictions behind its message of liberty.
Ancient coins as political advertisements, historical evidence, and objects of fascination.
Shanna’s journey from music and advertising to ancient coins, and finding her confidence in a predominantly male industry.
What auction representation involves, including bidding strategy, client advocacy, and lessons learned under pressure.
Shanna’s perspective on cultural property, collecting, and the importance of preserving a coin’s ownership history.
Her personal experience of the gold EID MAR investigation and its impact on the trade.
The S&S Library, historic auction catalogs, and efforts to preserve and digitize numismatic research.
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If you enjoyed this episode, follow Worth Its Weight wherever you get your podcasts and leave us a review—it helps more listeners discover the stories money carries.
And if there’s a coin, note, or piece of monetary history you think deserves an episode, send us your two cents. You never know what might make its way onto Worth Its Weight.
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Learn More About the American Numismatic Association
Weekly Weigh-In: October 2, 2026
Friday, October 2, 2026 • Duration 11:18
A growing hobby doesn’t always mean rising prices—and that can be good news for collectors. This week, Caroline explores the distinction between enthusiasm and value, from falling bullion prices and steady classic coins to the creative appeal of hobo nickels. Along the way: a real treasure hunt, the truth behind a $235,000 penny headline, a Team USA Silver Eagle that challenges the meaning of a “complete” collection, and Supergirl’s surprisingly ancient numismatic predecessors. Apparently, putting heroes on money never goes out of style.
Show Notes
Follow the clues, find the treasure: Stack’s Bowers is offering $40,000 in numismatic prizes across four cities: Miami, October 6–10; Philadelphia, October 13–17; San Francisco, October 20–24; and Boston, October 27–31. Rules, clues, and participation details.
An energized hobby versus rising prices: Coin World’s price-sheet analysis examines the contrast between bullion-linked modern issues and steadier classic collector coins. Metals prices mentioned in the episode reflect an October 1 snapshot.
Five-cent canvases: According to Kagin’s post-sale press release, the September 28 opening session of the Candace D. Kagin hobo nickel collection realized more than $100,000 across 137 lots. Explore the auction catalog.
Behind the $235,000 penny headline: A family’s long-held 1943 bronze cent receives authentication—not a newly discovered windfall from pocket change. The reported figure is a valuation; the sale price was not disclosed. Read the story.
The Team USA Silver Eagle: A special issue with a mintage of just 403 raises questions about collecting boundaries. Bidding on the featured example closes October 18. Auction background and listing link.
Supergirl meets ancient coinage: Explore the U.S. Mint’s Comic Art program. Compare its modern heroes with Heracles on Alexander’s coinage, Aeneas on a Caesar denarius, and Commodus dressed as Hercules.
United States, Divided Interests
Tuesday, September 29, 2026 • Duration 25:15
America's Founders warned against political parties. Then they helped create them.
They questioned each other’s motives, accused their opponents of endangering the republic, and became convinced that only their side could save the country. Sound familiar?
In this episode of Worth Its Weight, discover how the battle over the First Bank of the United States helped turn disagreements among the Founders into America’s first political parties. Alexander Hamilton saw a bank that could strengthen the nation. Thomas Jefferson saw a dangerous concentration of money and power. James Madison challenged its constitutionality. George Washington had to decide.
The argument reached far beyond banking: How much power should the federal government wield? Who should benefit from its policies? And when did a political opponent become a threat to the country itself?
Through subscription certificates, speculative fortunes, and eagle-adorned banknotes, we trace the financial dispute that helped harden those divisions—and arrive at Washington’s warning against party spirit, written with help from Hamilton himself.
This is the third installment in our exploration of America’s financial founding, following Benjamin Franklin’s paper money and the creation of the decimal dollar.
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Numismatic References:
Bank of the United States subscription certificates, 1791 – Known as scrip, these certificates recorded an initial $25 payment toward a $400 share. Their resale fueled an early American speculative frenzy.
First Bank stock – The Bank’s authorized capital comprised 25,000 shares at $400 each. The federal government subscribed for one-fifth; private investors supplied the remainder.
Federal debt securities – Investors paid three-quarters of their stock subscriptions with eligible government debt and one-quarter in gold or silver, connecting public credit to the Bank’s capital.
First Bank banknotes – Privately issued promises of payment in specie, or gold and silver, on demand. Their acceptance for federal taxes gave them a significant public advantage.
Eagle and national-arms imagery – Symbols on the Bank’s notes linked the institution visually to the United States, reinforcing the episode’s central question: where did private money end and public authority begin?
Weekly Weigh-In: September 25, 2026
Friday, September 25, 2026 • Duration 11:33
What draws people into coin collecting—and what makes them stay?
Host and Curator Caroline Turco and The Numismatist editor-in-chief Caleb Noel explore the many routes into numismatics, from younger adults taking an interest in Europe’s banknote designs to the community and excitement of live online auctions. Along the way, they check the metals markets, visit a Roman silver hoard, and discover how hobo nickels, Saint-Gaudens, and working dogs connect collecting with interests people already love.
ANA Reading Room — More numismatic news, collecting advice, and stories from the American Numismatic Association.
Coming up on Worth Its Weight
October 1: Numismatic Innovators with Dr. Don Kagin debuts with PCGS co-founder David Hall.
October 6: Caroline welcomes ancient-coin specialist Shanna Schmidt.
Worth Its Weight is an ANA production from the Money Museum, where history adds up—with interest!
To learn more, explore show notes, and discover more stories carried by money, visit .
A More Perfect Dollar
Tuesday, September 22, 2026 • Duration 23:55
What if one dollar were worth 1,440 units?
Before the United States could place its ideals on its coins, its founders had to answer a deceptively difficult question: What should American money actually be?
In this episode of Worth Its Weight, follow the dollar from the monetary chaos of colonial America to Robert Morris’s mathematically elegant—but magnificently impractical—1,440-unit system. Discover how Morris risked his wealth and personal credit to sustain the Revolution, why Thomas Jefferson rejected his tiny monetary unit but preserved his decimal logic, and how Alexander Hamilton helped transform those accumulated ideas into the Coinage Act of 1792.
The result was more than a new collection of coins. It was a shared language of value for a country still learning to think of itself as one nation.
History fades. Coins remember.
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Numismatic References:
Spanish Milled Dollar – One of the most familiar and widely circulated coins in colonial America. Jefferson favored it as the national monetary unit because Americans already understood and trusted its value.
1783 Nova Constellatio Patterns – Experimental coins produced for Robert Morris’s proposed national coinage system. Their name comes from the Latin legend meaning “a new constellation.”
100-Unit Bit – A silver pattern representing 100 of Morris’s proposed units. Despite sometimes being called a cent, it did not equal one-hundredth of a dollar.
500-Unit Quint – A silver pattern worth five times the 100-unit piece.
1,000-Unit Mark – The largest silver denomination in Morris’s proposed series. Even this substantial coin equaled only about 69.44 cents.
Jefferson Nickel – Introduced in 1938, pairing Thomas Jefferson’s portrait with Monticello, the home he designed. On the current coin, “Liberty” is reproduced from Jefferson’s handwriting.
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Key People:
Thomas Jefferson – Author of the 1784 Notes on the Establishment of a Money Unit, and of a Coinage for the United States. Jefferson advocated adopting the familiar Spanish dollar and dividing it according to decimal principles.
September 18, 2026 Weekly Weigh-In
Friday, September 18, 2026 • Duration 12:56
Host Caroline takes a quick look at what’s making news in numismatics this week:
The Federal Reserve raised interest rates—and gold apparently didn’t receive the memo. Archaeologists may have uncovered the largest coin workshop in the ancient world. A shipwreck that has been surrendering treasure for more than four decades just produced sixty pounds of copper. Two countries that share the same king are taking very different approaches to representing him on money. And a one-cent coin sold for nearly $200,000.
Worth Its Weight is an ANA production from the Money Museum, where history adds up—with interest!
To learn more, explore show notes, and discover more stories carried by money, visit money.org.
Follow the money. Literally.
B. Franklin, Printer
Tuesday, September 15, 2026 • Duration 19:17
Before Benjamin Franklin was on American money, he made it. Literally.
We remember Benjamin Franklin as a Founding Father, scientist, inventor, diplomat, and statesman. But decades before he helped declare American independence, Franklin was a printer—and one of his most fascinating jobs was printing money.
In this episode of Worth Its Weight, discover how a young printer became an advocate for colonial paper currency, won contracts to produce it, and developed ingenious ways to stay one step ahead of counterfeiters. From deliberately complicated designs and colored fibers to shimmering paper, nature-printed leaves, and a mysterious ink recipe that took modern science nearly 300 years to uncover, Franklin understood something fundamental about money:
Paper is only valuable if people trust it.
And protecting that trust became part of his extraordinary legacy.
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Numismatic References
Pennsylvania Colonial Currency Printed by Benjamin Franklin – Franklin received his first contract to print Pennsylvania paper money in 1730, beginning a decades-long involvement in colonial currency production.
1739 Pennsylvania Paper Money – Franklin incorporated complicated typography and intentionally varied spellings of “Pennsylvania” into these notes, creating additional obstacles for counterfeiters attempting to reproduce them.
Franklin Nature-Print Notes – Franklin used impressions taken from actual leaves to create extraordinarily detailed printing blocks for the backs of colonial notes. The unique networks of veins were difficult for counterfeiters to reproduce by hand.
Colonial Currency with “To Counterfeit is Death” Warnings – Colonial notes frequently carried stark warnings about the legal consequences of counterfeiting. In some jurisdictions and circumstances, currency counterfeiting could be punishable by death.
United States $100 Federal Reserve Note – Benjamin Franklin has appeared on the $100 Federal Reserve note since its introduction in 1914. Today’s note incorporates numerous anti-counterfeiting technologies—including specialized paper, embedded fibers, a security thread, color-shifting ink, microprinting, and the three-dimensional security ribbon.
September 11, 2026 Weekly Weigh In
Friday, September 11, 2026 • Duration 11:13
Hosts Caroline & Caleb take a quick look at what’s making news in numismatics this week:
Two American silver coins cross the million-dollar mark, gold and silver are climbing again, eBay adds another layer of protection for coin collectors, and–believe it or not–we have another buried hoard to reveal. Plus, a brand-new educational commemorative from India.
Worth Its Weight is an ANA production from the Money Museum, where history adds up—with interest!
To learn more, explore show notes, and discover more stories carried by money, visit money.org.
Follow the money. Literally.
The Labor of Money: The Hardest-Working Coins in History
Tuesday, September 8, 2026 • Duration 22:47
Which coin worked the hardest for its place in history?
In this Labor Day episode of Worth Its Weight, we’re clocking in with five of history’s hardest-working coins—from the silver owls that helped build Athens to the Spanish dollars that crossed oceans and the humble American cent that kept everyday commerce moving.
These coins paid armies, built monuments, connected continents, funded governments, and passed through countless hands. Some worked for centuries. Others traveled thousands of miles. And one helped finance a civilization whose influence we still feel today.
So… which deserves the title of history’s hardest-working coin?
Turns out, they’ve all earned a day off.
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Numismatic References
Athenian Owl Tetradrachm – One of the ancient world’s most recognizable coins, depicting Athena on the obverse and her sacred owl on the reverse. Struck from the rich silver deposits of Laurion, these coins helped finance Athens’ navy, government, monumental building projects, and Golden Age.
Roman Denarius – Introduced around 211 BC during the Second Punic War, the silver denarius became the backbone of the Roman monetary system for centuries, paying soldiers, collecting taxes, and traveling wherever Rome’s armies marched.
Augustus Denarius with Cippus Reverse – Referenced in the episode as an example of the denarius at work under the Roman Empire. Its reverse inscription commemorates Augustus’ restoration of public roads—particularly fitting for a coin that could travel thousands of miles through the Roman economy.
Chinese Cash Coins – Round cast coins with distinctive square central holes that remained a fixture of Chinese commerce for more than two millennia. Produced under numerous dynasties, cash coins could be strung together in large quantities for everyday transactions.
Spanish Colonial 8 Reales, or “Piece of Eight” – Struck from New World silver and accepted around the globe, the Spanish dollar became one of history’s great international trade coins. Examples circulating in China were often stamped with chop marks indicating that merchants had tested and accepted them.
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Worth Its Weight is an ANA production from the Money Museum, where history adds up—with interest!
To learn more, explore show notes, and discover more stories carried by money, visit money.org.
Follow the money. Literally.
Coming Tuesday: Shanna Schmidt joins Caroline to discuss the EID MAR and ancient coin dealing, launching our numismatic spooky season.
Send us your spooky stories: Have a favorite tale of murder, mystery, or monetary misdeeds? Share your suggestions at money.org/worth-its-weight.
Worth Its Weight is an ANA production from the Money Museum, where history adds up—with interest!
To learn more, explore show notes, and discover more stories carried by money, visit money.org.
Follow the money. Literally.
Second Bank of the United States, chartered in 1816 – A brief epilogue introduces the institution that followed the First Bank and would later confront Andrew Jackson.
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People & Events:
Alexander Hamilton’s financial program and his sometimes combustible relationship with George Washington.
James Madison’s congressional opposition and Thomas Jefferson’s constitutional objections.
Washington’s approval of the Bank charter on February 25, 1791.
The July 1791 subscription sale, William Duer’s speculation, and the Panic of 1792.
The emergence of Federalist and Republican political organizations.
Washington’s 1796 Farewell Address—and Hamilton’s role in writing its warning against party spirit.
The expiration of the First Bank’s charter in 1811.
If you enjoyed this episode, follow Worth Its Weight wherever you get your podcasts and leave us a review—it helps more listeners discover the stories money carries.
And if there’s a coin, note, or piece of monetary history you think deserves an episode, send us your two cents. You never know what might make its way onto Worth Its Weight.
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Learn More About the American Numismatic Association
Robert Morris – Merchant, signer of the Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, and Constitution, and Superintendent of Finance from 1781 to 1784. Known as “the Financier,” Morris repeatedly used his resources, connections, and personal credit to support the Revolutionary cause.
Gouverneur Morris – Robert Morris’s assistant—though no relation—who helped develop the proposed 1,440-unit monetary system.
Alexander Hamilton – The first secretary of the Treasury. His 1791 report addressed the metallic standards, denominations, and institutional requirements of a functioning national mint.
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Key Documents:
Robert Morris’s 1782 Report on Coinage – Proposed a national mint and a base monetary unit equal to one-quarter grain of fine silver.
Thomas Jefferson’s 1784 Notes on Coinage – Rejected Morris’s minute base unit while embracing decimal calculation and the Spanish dollar.
The Constitution, Article I, Section 8 – Empowered Congress to levy taxes, borrow money, regulate commerce, coin money, and regulate its value.
Hamilton’s 1791 Report on the Establishment of a Mint – Recommended the practical metallic and administrative structure for federal coinage.
The Coinage Act of 1792 – Established the United States Mint and authorized gold eagles, silver dollars and fractional denominations, and copper cents and half cents.
If you enjoyed this episode, follow Worth Its Weight wherever you get your podcasts and leave us a review—it helps more listeners discover the stories money carries.
And if there’s a coin, note, or piece of monetary history you think deserves an episode, send us your two cents. You never know what might make its way onto Worth Its Weight.
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Learn More About the American Numismatic Association
Worth Its Weight is an ANA production from the Money Museum, where history adds up—with interest!
To learn more, explore show notes, and discover more stories carried by money, visit money.org.
Follow the money. Literally.
Curious what these objects look like? Visit the Money Museum website to see historic paper money and other objects from the ANA collection.
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Franklin’s Anti-Counterfeiting Toolkit
COMPLEX PRINTING Elaborate borders, different typefaces, ornamental lettering, symbols, changing spellings, signatures, and other details gave counterfeiters more than a single image to reproduce. Franklin understood that complexity itself could become a form of security.
SPECIALIZED PAPER Franklin experimented with the material beneath the printing. Colored threads incorporated directly into the paper pulp created features a counterfeiter couldn’t simply copy with ink. Researchers have also identified tiny particles of mica in Franklin-associated currency paper, giving it distinctive characteristics.
NATURE PRINTING Perhaps Franklin’s most ingenious anti-counterfeiting technique came directly from nature. By transferring the intricate vein structure of actual leaves into printing blocks, Franklin created designs that were recognizable but extraordinarily difficult to reproduce accurately by hand.
UNUSUAL INK Nearly 300 years later, modern researchers discovered another unusual feature hiding in Franklin’s currency. While many contemporary printers and known counterfeiters used conventional bone-black pigments, analysis found graphite in Franklin’s black printing ink. Exactly why he chose it remains uncertain—but counterfeiters examined by researchers weren’t using it.
LAYERS OF SECURITY No single feature made Franklin’s currency impossible to counterfeit. That was the point. A successful counterfeiter had to reproduce the paper, ink, typography, borders, nature prints, signatures, and other details convincingly enough to fool the person accepting the note.
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Sources
Franklin, Benjamin. A Modest Enquiry into the Nature and Necessity of a Paper Currency. Philadelphia, 1729.
Franklin, Benjamin. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin.
Newman, Eric P. The Early Paper Money of America. Krause Publications.
Newman, Eric P. “The Nature Printing on Colonial and Continental Currency.” The Numismatist.
Khachaturyan, A. et al. “Multimodal Analysis of Benjamin Franklin’s Printed Currency Reveals Previously Unknown Methods for Deterring Counterfeits.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2023.
Library Company of Philadelphia. Benjamin Franklin papers, printing records, and collections relating to Franklin’s career as a printer.
Library of Congress. Benjamin Franklin Papers and resources relating to Franklin’s printing and political career.
National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution. National Numismatic Collection and resources on colonial American paper currency.
University of Notre Dame, Department of Special Collections. Colonial Currency: A Project of the Robert H. Gore, Jr. Numismatic Collection.
U.S. Currency Education Program, Federal Reserve Board. Historical and security information for the $100 Federal Reserve note.
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Subscribe Today!
If you enjoyed this episode, follow Worth Its Weight wherever you get your podcasts and leave us a review—it helps more listeners discover the stories money carries.
And if there’s a coin, note, or piece of monetary history you think deserves an episode, send us your two cents. You never know what might make its way onto Worth Its Weight.
---
Learn More About the American Numismatic Association
Worth Its Weight is an ANA production from the Money Museum, where history adds up—with interest!
To learn more, explore show notes, and discover more stories carried by money, visit money.org.
Follow the money. Literally.
1793 United States Cent – The first cent produced by the United States Mint and an important source of desperately needed small change for the young republic.
1909 Lincoln Cent – Introduced to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s birth, the Lincoln cent helped usher presidential portraiture onto circulating U.S. coinage and became one of America’s most familiar coins.
Curious what these objects look like? Visit the Money Museum website to see coins from around the world and across history, along with thousands of other objects from the ANA collection.
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Meet the Hardest-Working Coins
THE BUILDER: Athenian Owl Tetradrachm When Athens discovered a rich new vein of silver at Laurion in 483 BC, its citizens faced a choice: divide the windfall among themselves or invest it in the city. They chose investment. The resulting silver coinage helped finance a fleet of triremes, pay sailors and public officials, raise the Parthenon, and bankroll the extraordinary cultural flowering we now call the Golden Age of Athens.
THE MARCHER: Roman Denarius For nearly five centuries, the denarius kept Rome moving. It paid legionaries and the enormous network of craftsmen, merchants, engineers, and suppliers behind them. As Roman armies marched across Europe, North Africa, and the Near East, their money marched with them—carrying Roman economic and political influence across the ancient world.
THE LONGEST CAREER: Chinese Cash Coin Chinese cash coins appeared in the centuries before Christ and remained in everyday use into the early 20th century. Dynasties rose and fell, emperors came and went, and the inscriptions changed—but the familiar round coin with its square hole endured. For more than two millennia, cash coins bought meals, paid wages, settled taxes, and kept one of the world’s largest economies moving.
THE GLOBE-TROTTER: Spanish Dollar Minted from the enormous silver deposits of the Spanish Americas, pieces of eight traveled aboard treasure fleets and merchant ships across both the Atlantic and Pacific. They circulated throughout Europe, the Americas, and Asia and were trusted far beyond the borders of the empire that produced them. The Spanish dollar even remained legal tender in the United States until 1857.
THE EVERYDAY HERO: American Cent The cent didn’t finance an empire or sail around the world. It did something less glamorous and arguably just as important: it made ordinary transactions possible. Introduced in 1793 to help solve America’s chronic shortage of small change, the cent has spent more than two centuries doing the smallest jobs in the American economy—and billions remain in circulation today.
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Sources
Crawford, Michael H. Coinage and Money Under the Roman Republic: Italy and the Mediterranean Economy.University of California Press, 1985.
Crawford, Michael H. Roman Republican Coinage. Cambridge University Press, 1974.
Franke, Herbert. The Cambridge History of China, Volume 6: Alien Regimes and Border States, 907–1368.Cambridge University Press, 1994.
Kallet, Lisa, and John H. Kroll. The Athenian Empire: Using Coins as Sources. Cambridge University Press, 2020.
Kroll, John H. The Athenian Agora, Volume XXVI: The Greek Coins. American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 1993.
Peng, Xinwei. A Monetary History of China. Translated by Edward H. Kaplan. Western Washington University, 1994.
Vilar, Pierre. A History of Gold and Money, 1450–1920. Verso, 1991.
United States Mint. “History of U.S. Circulating Coins” and historical resources on the cent and Lincoln cent.
National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution. The Value of Money and collection resources on the Spanish eight-real coin and international trade.
Shanghai Museum. Chinese Numismatics Gallery.
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Subscribe Today!
If you enjoyed this episode, follow Worth Its Weight wherever you get your podcasts and leave us a review—it helps more listeners discover the stories money carries.
And if there’s a monetary story you’re dying to hear, visit the official Worth Its Weight website at money.org and submit your two cents.
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Learn More About the American Numismatic Association
