You know better than us, but I think a theme mentioned in the book is worth considering in your paper (if you haven't used it already).
Basically, most of the gold (and silver) coins found VERY LITTLE mass circulation in commerce and among ordinary Americans....gold coins....and especially the large 1 oz. Double Eagles (Liberty and Saint-Gaudens). After the Civil War, Americans gradually came to trust paper currency. Silver and Gold Certificates (backed by the metals) were preferred, but the Rise Of The Dollar was on its way.
Since your paper appears to involve the switch from precious metals to paper, I thought that might be of use. Some of the special chapters in the book go into it in more depth.
Anyway, when I first got into collecting and researching Saints, I was shocked at how few of the millions of annual Saints minted were actually used in everyday commerce (usually hundreds, maybe 1-2 thousands, tops). And of course, if not for going overseas or South of The Border....we'd have very few of these coins to collect today.