Moneymakers

I mentioned in my last entry that I don't make "shop resolutions," and strictly speaking, that's true -- and fortunate, because 1) chief among prospective resolutions would have to be "stop expecting literally anyone except your coin-expert dad to care about counterfeiting, rare-coin scandalry*, and other stories related to felonious scrip/specie"; and 2) I would have broken this resolution 72 hours into the new year by accepting a couple of lightly read books on curséd coins of the 20th century...from my coin-expert dad. 

* Urban Dictionary says it's a word, so away we go

The books will wend their way into inventory eventually, after I've read them, because I do care, but I admit that the subgenre doesn't seem compelling on its face -- and that a lot of the writing about it is fibrously dense, even for folks who seek it out. The line between "process-y" and "performatively detailed" is fine enough that the majority of stories in the genre blunder across it on, like, page 4 and can never get back. When even Dave Sr. is handing off a bitty-fonted book to me all "...good luck"? It's hard to expect anyone else to invest the time.

But if you are intrigued by the topic, and just don't want to end up with a pile of boggy prose you'll never read and feel bad about not liking, I can help. Ben Tarnoff's Moneymakers is tops, although I don't have it in stock currently (as always, holler if you want me to chase it down for you); if you've liked certain books about other kinds of forgeries, that'll help me guide you towards counterfeiting/coin-shaving books you might like just as well.

"That's not for me, Bunts." I get it! Books about moneymakers aren't moneymakers; it's a funny old world.

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