author

A. Hingston (Alison Hingston) Quiggin

1874–1971

A pioneering British anthropologist and numismatist, she explored how early societies used objects and exchange long before modern currency took shape. Her work on so-called "primitive money" became a lasting reference for readers interested in trade, culture, and the history of money.

1 Audiobook

History of anthropology

History of anthropology

by Alfred C. (Alfred Cort) Haddon, A. Hingston (Alison Hingston) Quiggin

About the author

Born in 1874, Alison Hingston Quiggin was a British anthropologist and numismatist whose research focused on early forms of exchange and material culture. She studied at Newnham College, Cambridge, and later taught in Cambridge, building a career around the study of money, trade, and human societies.

She is best known for A Survey of Primitive Money, a work that was reprinted and remained widely cited for its clear account of how different communities used shells, metals, ornaments, and other objects in exchange. Her writing helped connect anthropology, history, and economics in a way that was accessible to both specialists and general readers.

Quiggin died in 1971, but her reputation has endured through her scholarship on currency before coinage and banking. For audiobook listeners, she offers a window into a fascinating question: what counted as money before the modern world agreed on what money was?