Can anyone recommend some books I could use for closely analyzing the artwork on American coinage? What I mean by that is I'm looking for an in-depth description of both obv. and rev. of American coinage from the colonial times - current; what I'm NOT looking for, for instance, are the sculpting techniques of the various artists and stuff like that; I want to know how much the designs changed over time. Which means I am also looking for books on laws passed and other politics regarding coinage throughout the same ages - what caused the changes and so forth, for example when Roosevelt called for a change, etc.

This may be asking a lot, but I'm asking the experts, no?

Walter Breen, for all his personal failings(don't ask), wrote a pretty decent encyclopedia of US coinage.

^ I see the cat avatar has returned. Cute isn't he.

Here's a site with U.S. Monetary Acts from 1791 to 1873 http://landru.i-link-2.net/monques/monetaryacts.html

Stolen too

Some references that may be of assistance:

Numismatic Art in America by Vermeule

US Mint and Coinage by Taxay

Renaissance of American Coinage by Burdette (two of three volumes in print)

They should give you a good start and some good links into other references and materials.