Margie Akin and husband Kevin Akin will present "The Coins ofDeadwood: A Brief Summary on the Asian Coins Recovered inDeadwood, S.D.," at noon Tuesday at Deadwood City Hall, 102Sherman St.

The authors of the recently published 300-page fieldguide, "Numismatic Archeology of North America," say they areexcited to visit the Wild West town this week and continuetracing the origins of hundreds of Asian coins and tokensdiscovered here, which shed a light on the gold camp's frontierdays.

"I've only been to Deadwood once and Kevin has never visited,"Margie Akin said Thursday from her Riverside, Cal., home. "It'salways interesting for us to go to a place where we have workedon materials, like Deadwood's Chinese coins, to meet thoseinvolved in excavations, and to see other materials found in thearcheological digs.

"Understanding the setting in which they were found isextremely important and we've been working hard to getarcheologists and collectors to work together rather thancompetitively, because we can learn a lot from each other," addedAkin, who has been widely published in the field of historicarchaeology and numismatics.

Although Deadwood's history dates back only 140 years, coinsfrom the old Deadwood Chinatown tell some particularlyinteresting stories, according to local historic preservationofficials. Analyses of Asian and other coins from the site, begunin 2015 and completed in 2016, show similarities to anddifferences from Asian coins recovered elsewhere in the AmericanWest.

When archaeologists spent four summers digging and siftingthrough the remnants of this community's Chinatown a decade ago,they uncovered a treasure trove totaling a quarter-millionartifacts that traced the history and mystery of the miningcamp's early Asian settlers.

The finds also include the oldest coin yet found in SouthDakota, Chinese and Vietnamese coins used in playing fan tan, andChinese coins used in talismans, and by numismatists and privatecollectors, they said.

"The Deadwood Chinatown archaeological assemblage is awonderful asset in preserving and interpreting Deadwood'shistory," City Archivist Mike Runge said Friday. "TheAsian coins are just one example how the Deadwood HistoricPreservation Commission and the City of Deadwood are working withprofessionals from various fields to learn more about ourpast."

The Akins' new book, the result of more than two decades ofresearch, includes a photo of one of Deadwood's rare Asian coins.The couple will have their book available for purchase andconduct a book-signing.

"It's a book that has several target audiences, includinginformation for archeologists who don't have a background innumismatics but need information for reports, professionalnumismatists and collectors, as well as museums curators," shesaid. "So many people will find this book useful and helpful fordifferent reasons."

To read the complete article, see:
Experts on Asian coins coming to Deadwood(http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/local/experts-on-asian-coins-coming-to-deadwood/article_19327684-d738-5a67-9d2e-0b285ce72ae2.html)