Enjoy fast, FREE delivery, exclusive deals and award-winning movies & TV shows with Prime
Try Prime and start saving today with Fast, FREE Delivery

Buy new:

$25.95

FREE Returns

FREE delivery Tuesday, May 30

Or fastest delivery Thursday, May 25. Order within 17 hrs 47 mins

Select delivery location

In Stock

[{"displayPrice":"$25.95","priceAmount":25.95,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"25","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"95","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"26vES6uzoZEBbliQXMBflqN2EHYdYsRAObS4NoMtmtoKC0qAPHiEAwg94wrpdVBXByP6A7kxTgHIogixLB1b0Ekntk4rXBzlnAU0L9jnJzS7yn21KIwiDwx4n3UX2mLdDaC6T%2FEJTPFA4IMfcXdY4g%3D%3D","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW"}]

$$25.95 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details

Payment

Secure transaction

Ships from

Amazon.com

Sold by

Amazon.com

Returns

Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt

Details

Payment

Secure transaction

We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more

Ships from

Amazon.com

Sold by

Amazon.com

Returns

Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt

This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.

Read full return policy

Add a gift receipt for easy returns

Have one to sell?

Sell on Amazon

Other Sellers on Amazon

Added

Not added

$41.96
+ $3.99 shipping

Sold by: SuperBookDeals---

Added

Not added

$46.41
& FREE Shipping

Sold by: Books Unplugged

Flip to back Flip to front

Listen Playing... Paused You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more

See all 3 images

Follow the Author

George A. Selgin

Good Money: Birmingham Button Makers, the Royal Mint, and the Beginnings of Modern Coinage, 1775–1821 Reprint Edition

by George Selgin (Author)

4.9 14 ratings

See all formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

Hardcover

"Please retry"

$16.48

$89.95

$12.50

Paperback

"Please retry"

$25.95

$25.80

$27.08

Purchase options and add-ons

A fascinating story of the important yet virtually unknown episode in the history of money, this history chronicles the British manufacturers’ challenge to the Crown’s monopoly on coinage. In the 1780s, when the Industrial Revolution was gathering momentum, the Royal Mint failed to produce enough small-denomination coinage for factory owners to pay their workers. As the currency shortage threatened to derail industrial progress, manufacturers began to mint custom-made coins, called “tradesman’s tokens,” which served as the nation’s most popular currency for wages and retail sales until 1821, when the Crown outlawed all moneys except its own. This book not only examines the crucial role of private coinage in fueling Great Britain’s Industrial Revolution, but also sheds light on contemporary private-sector alternatives to government-issued money, such as digital monies, cash cards, electronic funds transfer, and—outside of the United States—spontaneous “dollarization.”

ISBN-10

1598130439
ISBN-13

978-1598130430
Edition

Reprint
Publication date

October 1, 2011
Language

English
Dimensions

6 x 0.92 x 9 inches
Print length

390 pages
See all details

George Selgin
15
Paperback
33 offers from $2.25
London Publishing Partnership
14
Hardcover
14 offers from $12.50
George Selgin
16
Hardcover
25 offers from $2.48
Leland B. Yeager
5
Paperback
19 offers from $8.34
George Selgin
20
Paperback
20 offers from $9.73
George A. Selgin
6
Hardcover
7 offers from $87.99

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

George Selgin is a research fellow at the Independent Institute and a professor of economics at the University of Georgia. He has contributed to numerous journals, including the Economic Journal, the Economic History Review, the Financial Times, and the Wall Street Journal. He is also the coeditor of Econ Journal Watch and the author of Bank Deregulation and Monetary Order, Less Than Zero: The Case for a Falling Price Level in a Growing Economy, and The Theory of Free Banking. He lives in Athens, Georgia.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Independent Institute; Reprint edition (October 1, 2011)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 390 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1598130439
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1598130430
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.4 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.92 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #2,614,078 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,519 in Money & Monetary Policy (Books)
- #3,308 in European History (Books)
- #15,967 in Great Britain History (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.9 14 ratings

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Videos

Help others learn more about this product by uploading a video!

Upload your video

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

George A. Selgin

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

Customer reviews

4.9 out of 5

14 global ratings

5 star		92%
4 star		8%
3 star 0% (0%)		0%
2 star 0% (0%)		0%
1 star 0% (0%)		0%

How customer reviews and ratings work

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

James T. Martin

A Great History the Rise of the Industrial Age and Coinage

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 24, 2016

Verified Purchase

Bought it used but it was just like new - love it! If your'e interested in an important economic period, where Britain becomes a world industrial power, and that link to coinage, then this book is for you. As a companion to R. Doty's "Soho and the Industrialization of Money", it is unmatched. Together, you will understand the development of steam power to the industrialization of the world through coinage. Also, you will see the closing scenes of when society demanded intrinsic value in their money. A great read and much appreciated. Juno Moneta says visit Moneta-Coins dot COMmercial.

Helpful

Andrew Daubigny

Good Money; Great Storytelling

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 4, 2008

Verified Purchase

The scene: Birmingham, England, in the steamy, sooty grip of the Industrial Revolution. George Selgin tells the "riveting" tale of a group of eccentric entrepreneurs who take on not only each other, but the Royal Mint and the British Crown in their bids to supply a burgeoning working class with desperately needed copper and silver coins. The result: a yarn as colorfully amusing as one of Dickens' more ambitious novels, but entirely true, and one that offers up an economics lesson to boot: namely, that good money really does drive out bad--that is, as long as governments stay out of it (as soon as they don't Gersham's Law kicks in). If you love a great story, if you adore larger-than-life characters, if you put a premium on fine prose, do yourself a favor and buy Good Money. It will be well worth yours.

21 people found this helpful

Helpful

Grant

Capitalism saves itself and the Industrial Revolution

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 12, 2009

Verified Purchase

Well researched and generally well written. Some of the middle chapters can get a little tedious with the historical detail lavished on the Soho Mint, but other than that it is a historical gem! All you ever wanted to know but were afraid to ask about the fascinating economic underpinnings of the Industrial Revolution and the cultural milieu within which it was rooted.

9 people found this helpful

Helpful

Britney Rabbit

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 17, 2015

Verified Purchase

Highly satisfied customer.

Helpful

Ben Jones

A Challenge to Central Bankers

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 4, 2008

Despite it's seemingly specialized, historical subject, Good Money is really both very topical and very important. The story it tells--of private coinage during the Industrial Revolution--directly challenges the conventional wisdom that's at the foundation of all modern monetary systems, namely, the belief that only government's are fit to supply coins and paper money. Selgin shows that this was far from being the case in 18th-century England. There the government proved itself perfectly unfit to coin money, until private mints showed it how to do its job right! The story of how they designed the world's first successful industrial-scale coinage system, and of how the government ultimately put them out of business, is absolutely spellbinding! No one who reads it can ever look at a central bank or government-run mint without wondering how much better off the world might have been without it!

27 people found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Andrew Selkirk

A major contribution to the 'free banking' debate

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on August 25, 2016

Verified Purchase

Currently there is increasing concern about the role of central banks in controlling the money supply, and some are beginning to feel that the central banks in the western world are being wholly irresponsible by pursuing low or even negative interest rates and that this horrible experiment is going to end in tears. Thus the concept of ‘free banking’, that is doing away with central banks and allowing bodies such as the commercial banks to issue currency is beginning to be debated. The crucial starting point is Hayek’s pamphlet advocating the Denationalization of Money and the abolition of the Bank of England, and the classic example of free banking is that of the Scottish banks and their successful use of free banking between the 1700s and 1845.

In this debate, a crucial contribution is George Selgin’s Good Money, in which he explains how the Royal Mint failed to provide enough small change from 1775 to 1821 and the Birmingham button makers stepped in to produce their own currency which was successful until it was closed down by parliament. This is a fascinating and important book, both for economists and historians. Professor Selgin is essentially an economist, but he is also an excellent historian and a good writer too, and anyone interested in current monetary problems and is concerned about policies of the central banks should read this book and find out how in the past private enterprise has successfully replaced irresponsible central banks.

P.S It is also fascinating for aficionados of steam power, for it was steam power as pioneered by Matthew Boulton and others that made possible the production of small change that could not easily be counterfeited.

Peter Luddington

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on February 20, 2017

Verified Purchase

Great book

No profile

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on January 26, 2016

Verified Purchase

excellent

Marc

Not a bad read

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on September 13, 2013

Verified Purchase

The book flowed well, it was an easy read, and the topic kept my interest. I very much enjoyed it.

See all reviews

Amazon Music Stream millions of songs	Amazon Advertising Find, attract, and engage customers	6pm Score deals on fashion brands	AbeBooks Books, art & collectibles	ACX Audiobook Publishing Made Easy	Sell on Amazon Start a Selling Account

Amazon Business Everything For Your Business	Amazon Fresh Groceries & More Right To Your Door	AmazonGlobal Ship Orders Internationally	Home Services Experienced Pros Happiness Guarantee	Amazon Ignite Sell your original Digital Educational Resources	Amazon Web Services Scalable Cloud Computing Services

Audible Listen to Books & Original Audio Performances	Book Depository Books With Free Delivery Worldwide	Box Office Mojo Find Movie Box Office Data	ComiXology Thousands of Digital Comics	DPReview Digital Photography	Fabric Sewing, Quilting & Knitting

Goodreads Book reviews & recommendations	IMDb Movies, TV & Celebrities	IMDbPro Get Info Entertainment Professionals Need	Kindle Direct Publishing Indie Digital & Print Publishing Made Easy	Amazon Photos Unlimited Photo Storage Free With Prime	Prime Video Direct Video Distribution Made Easy

Shopbop Designer Fashion Brands	Amazon Warehouse Great Deals on Quality Used Products	Whole Foods Market America’s Healthiest Grocery Store	Woot! Deals and Shenanigans	Zappos Shoes & Clothing	Ring Smart Home Security Systems

eero WiFi Stream 4K Video in Every Room	Blink Smart Security for Every Home	Neighbors App Real-Time Crime & Safety Alerts	Amazon Subscription Boxes Top subscription boxes – right to your door	PillPack Pharmacy Simplified	Amazon Renewed Like-new products you can trust

Amazon Prime includes:

Buy new: $25.95

Other Sellers on Amazon

Follow the Author

Good Money: Birmingham Button Makers, the Royal Mint, and the Beginnings of Modern Coinage, 1775–1821 Reprint Edition

Purchase options and add-ons

Popular titles by this author

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Product details

Videos

About the author

George A. Selgin

Customer reviews

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Top reviews from other countries

Buy new:

$25.95