From the Mises Economics Blog comes this audio interview of George Selgin by Jeffrey Tucker. George Selgin is author of Good Money: Birmingham Button Makers, the Royal Mint, and the Beginnings of Modern Coinage, 1775-1821.
This book is about the true and remarkable story of private coinage and banking in Britain in the early years of the Industrial Revolution (1775-1850). Making money was a business in demand. The needs of business for small denominations were changing. Merchants needed small denomination coins in copper and silver. The Royal Mint couldn't be bothered. It made coins to serve the elites, not the new and burgeoning working class. Free enterprise stepped in with a new industry that truly saved the day—before the Crown cruelly stamped it out and ended one of the most beautiful experiences with private money in world history.
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