John Ford, a coin dealer and collector known for catalogs that brought clarity to numismatics and whose collections, including the earliest American coins and prized Confederate pennies, have dazzled recent auctiongoers, died July 7 at a nursing home in Scottsdale, Ariz. He was 81.

Susan Dobbins, his daughter, confirmed the death.

The scale and completeness of Mr. Ford's collecting have emerged as 11 of as many as 20 auctions have been conducted to sell off his esoteric collections, which included the notes of Massachusetts issued in 1690, the oldest coins issued by the Continental Congress, and African chiefs' medals.

Michael Hodder, a numismatic consultant, said bidders already had spent $35 million on the Ford collections, and the final total may rival the three auctions of the collection of Louis Eliasburg, who assembled examples of every known American coin. These exceeded $55 million.

Francis Campbell, the librarian of the American Numismatic Society, said the sales have expanded appreciation of Mr. Ford.

"It's going to settle in that he was more important than we thought he was," he said.

Mr. Ford's impact on the field has been better-known in the small circle of its professionals, particularly his catalogs for New Netherlands Coin Co., which he partly owned. His meticulous descriptions of grades, colors and other qualities were unprecedented, wrote Harvey Stack, owner of Stack's, which is auctioning Ford's collections.

The catalogs not only enabled people to bid with more confidence, but also represented some of the highest numismatic scholarship in the United States, Hodder said. In an introduction to a catalog, Q. David Bowers, a well-known numismatist, called Mr. Ford one of the "most influential figures in American numismatics."

He was most prominent in the 1950s and '60s, when coin collecting, once known as "the hobby of kings," greatly broadened its appeal. It trails only stamp collecting in participants, but leads in money spent.

Mr. Ford's career had controversy. He reversed the industry's practice of overrating coins up for auction. He designated coins "very fine" that others might rate "extremely fine." It packed the room, he said.

Mr. Ford was involved in one of the longest-running, vitriolic disputes in the history of American numismatics. Some prominent experts charged that he was part of a scheme to sell fake gold and silver bars, falsely claiming they came from the American West.

Mr. Ford, backed by other authorities, categorically denied fraud. However, he could not help philosophizing.

"Ever since the first coin was sold to anybody, somebody has lied about it," he told the magazine of Heritage Galleries and Auctioneers.

John Jay Ford Jr. was born March 5, 1924, in Hollywood, Calif., where his father liked to socialize with movie people. A scientist and inventor, the elder Ford lost all his money in business failures and retreated to Queens, N.Y. He borrowed haircut money from his teenage son.

Mr. Ford, already a stamp collector, bought his first old currency from a shop in Brooklyn, N.Y. He paid 15 cents for a Confederate bill that fetched $200 years later.

He quit his paper route and got a job as a delivery boy for Stack's. By the time he was drafted into the Army, he had a thriving business.

He was regarded as a wonder, having virtually memorized "United States Pattern, Trial and Experimental Pieces" by Edgar Adams and William Woodin, then a standard numismatic resource. Hodder likened this to memorizing all of a day's baseball box scores, only more complicated.

After serving as an Army cryptographer, Mr. Ford did other kinds of work before finding his way back to coin shops. He soon joined Charles Wormser at New Netherlands, becoming a partner in two years.

Mr. Ford discovered and cultivated Walter Breen, who went on to write what became an industry bible. He teamed up with Mr. Ford to write New Netherlands' famous catalogs.

Wayte Raymond, one of America's legendary numismatists, hired Mr. Ford to help him with in-depth research at the National Archives. Mr. Ford also worked closely with F.C.C. Boyd, long a commanding personality in the coin field. Mr. Ford handled both men's estates, giving him a first chance at great treasures.

In addition to his daughter Susan, Mr. Ford is survived by his wife, Joan; daughters Leslie Sanderson of Prescott, Ariz.; and Kimberly Moon of Haddonfield, N.J.; eight grandchildren; and one great-granddaughter.

He is remembered for the no-nonsense bomb shelter full of valuable coins and currencies in the basement of his Long Island home, not to mention his Cuban cigars.

His stories, such as one about taking a $67,000 check written on toilet paper from a tipsy oilman, are still savored: It was the only paper in the hotel room.

Mr. Ford's enthusiasm for collecting and trading spilled into such collectibles as the medals presidents gave Indian chiefs, the badges slaves wore when they were rented out for day work, Civil War revolvers and an ashtray owned by Hitler.