Dr. Michael Alram Received Huntington Award

On June 7, 2016, the ANS honored Dr. Michael Alram with the 2016 Archer M. Huntington Award in recognition of his outstanding career contributions to numismatic scholarship. Dr. Alram is a distinguished scholar, scientist, researcher and teacher who has been a formidable presence in the numismatic community for the past four decades. Remarkably for such a scholar—and most fittingly for the mission of the American Numismatic Society—he is a rare example of a researcher who has strived throughout his career to bring the study and love of numismatics to a wider audience. He is also an exemplary model of administrative accomplishments, serving in leadership capacities at the Coin Cabinet of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, the Austrian Academy of Sciences, the International Committee of Money and Banking Museums and the International Numismatic Council, where he currently serves as President.

The award ceremony, held at the ANS headquarters in Manhattan, included the presentation of Dr. Alram’s Silvia Mani Hurter Memorial Lecture entitled, “Money and Power in Ancient Bactria.”

Dr. Ute Wartenberg Kagan, Executive Director of the ANS, noted the historical significance of this year’s choice of honoree: Dr. Alram is the 95th recipient of the Huntington Award, yet only the third Austrian to receive it, and the first since World War II.

In making the selection, Prof. Jere Bacharach, Chair of the Huntington Committee, wrote: “Dr. Alram has spent his entire career invested in and devoted to the field of numismatics. His academic credentials, from his numerous awards to his teaching positions to the variety of leadership roles, made him an obvious choice for this prestigious award. All of us in the numismatic community are indebted to him for his lifelong work and contributions to our field of study.”

The Archer M. Huntington Award, first presented to Edward T. Newell in 1918, is conferred annually in honor of the late Archer M. Huntington, ANS President from 1905 to 1910 and a major benefactor, in recognition of outstanding career contributions to numismatic scholarship. The medal was designed in 1908 by Emil Fuchs to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the founding of the American Numismatic Society.

For information contact Catherine DiTuri at 212-571-4470, ext. 117, or cdituri@numismatics.org

The American Numismatic Society, organized in 1858 and incorporated in 1865 in New York State, operates as a research museum under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and is recognized as a publicly supported organization under section 170(b)(1)(A)(vi) as confirmed on November 1, 1970.