Can I Get A History Lesson On Usa/ USA Coins?

Thanks guys I will invest in the recommended book.

Leading on from the replies so far.

Individual states struck their own coins pre 1792... I assume these are quite a collectable now? Do these kind of coins often get found metal detecting? I assume the quantity was quite low and therefore have a high collector value now?
Also, foreign coins being used... Is there a main other currency that was used? I assume this will be people from other countries who relocated to the USA? Or would they have coins shipped in from abroad?

Trig:
I know the story of the Europeans 'discovering' America, but surely America wasn't just an untouched super large rock in the sea prior, in other words, was there people in the usa prior to it being 'discovered'? If so, do we know much about them? Does USA discover old life now and then via archaeology?

I thought nothing existed until the united states was born. And on the 7th day god created USA.

Excellent history of pre-Federal coinage....

http://www.coins.nd.edu/

You're talking about the period from 43AD to 409AD. Within the borders of what is now USA, the Hopewell farming culture was spreading throughout the eastern woodlands. Among many other cultural elements, they built large earthworks whose function is unclear; some possibly astronomical, similar to your Stonehenge except made of earthen mounds. In the southwest, the Hohokam farming culture were building elaborate irrigation systems and large settlements. Other hunter-gatherer cultures populated the entire continent. Further south, the Mayan city-states are becoming one of the most remarkable civilizations in world history. Maize (corn) was first being grown in the south around 400AD, and quickly spread east.

There were no "coins" that I know of. Vast trade networks covered the continent. Hopewell traded exotic materials and created objects that were found in burials far outside the Midwest. Hohokam had ball courts indicating strong ties to the Mayan. Probably a few million people lived in North America, and there were hundreds of cultures and languages. There was a lot going on, but no coins.

Edit: "Does USA discover old life now and then via archaeology?" In a word, YES. People were here at least 13000 years ago, and archaeology is everywhere.

Kind of a brief statement to get the Red Book. It is called "A Guide Book of United States coins" Top of the front page does say "The Official Red Book" though. It is published by Whitman Publishing company. Senior Editor is Kennethy Bressett.Presently on the 67th Edition. You may want to also check out the Whitman Publishing web site for a list of other books on coins.
Meanwhile back to your question.


Back in the USA, people were playing computer games. Talking on Cell Phones, eating a sandwich, drinking coffee while driving their parents cars. And all while those lousy Roman Hoards were ravishing throughout Europe. At the same time in Asia, Japan was warring on the people of China to stop them from making all those fake Japan coins.
During this time in Africa, Dinosurs were chasing Lions and Tigers and Elephants all over the place. NO TV crews were allowed so documentation is limited.
All of the above is available on the History Channel on TV.

Justcarl, you left out that in Antarctica, the Martian colony founded 3000 years earlier was just failing, disappearring just at about the same time as the Western Roman Empire fell to the barbarians.

Bringing it back on-topic, for a coin forum: pre-Columbian cultures in North America did not use coinage; that particular invention never crossed the Bering Sea and if pre-Columbian contact with the Old World occurred as frequently as some believe, the contactees were never taught about coins.

Most Native American societies did not have much of a concept of "money" at all. The closest things you can find are various forms of "primitive money" such as "wampum" (shell beads) in eastern North America and "naipes" (axe-money) in Ecuador and Peru. As is the case with most primitive monies, such objects usually had other ritual or practical uses besides their use purely as money and there is much debate amongst archaeologists and anthropologists about exactly how "money-like" such objects were.