November 2023 eNews
Upcoming Events and Announcements
ANS Coins on Display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
On November 19, Africa & Byzantium will open at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. The exhibition will feature ten ANS coins, and explore the artistic and cultural influences of various African nations on the Byzantine Empire. See a sample of the ANS loan and learn more about the exhibit.
ANS Coins on Display the Morgan Library
Sixteen ANS coins are now on loan to the Morgan Library & Museum in New York City, for Medieval Money, Merchants, and Morality, opening on November 10th with a public lecture from Diane Wolfthal (Rice University), guest curator of the exhibit. The exhibit charts the economic revolution that took place at the end of the Middle Ages and the early Renaissance, when trade was conducted on an unprecedented scale, banks were established, and coinage proliferated. The widespread use of money in everyday life transformed every aspect of European society, including its values and culture. See a sample of the ANS loan and learn more about the exhibit. Learn more information about the lecture at the Morgan.
Tickets Now Available for the 2024 ANS Gala
On January 11, 2024, the ANS will honor Mark Salzberg at the Harvard Club of New York City. The 2024 Trustees’ Award celebrates Salzberg’s exceptional service to the numismatic community and expertise as a leader of the collectibles industry, having served as the Chairman of the Certified Collectibles Group (CCG) for more than thirty-five years. More.
The ANS at the Whitman Expo
From November 9–11, the ANS will attend the Whitman Winter Expo in Baltimore. Nathan Elkins, Deputy Director, and Jesse Kraft, Resolute Americana Assistant Curator of American Numismatics, will be available to answer any questions you may have on an array of numismatic topics or about the ANS. Kraft will give a lecture on Thursday, November 9 (time TBD) on the impact of hoards and shipwrecks on colonial numismatics.
From November 16 to 18, Jesse Kraft, Resolute Americana Assistant Curator of American Numismatics, will attend the International Committee on Money and Banking Museums (ICOMON) conference held at the Bank Negara in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The theme for the annual conference will be “Sustainability in Money Museums.” He will present a paper on modern technologies that can help a money museum keep better track of its collection holdings.
Currency Policy and Inflation in the Roman Empire
Executive Director Gilles Bransbourg has been invited as keynote speaker for the evening by the French Institute for Advanced Studies. He will present Currency Policy and Inflation in the Roman Empire in Orleans, France on November 13. With more than a thousand years of political continuity, the Roman and Byzantine Empires offer an exceptional framework for the study of money over the long term. He will discuss the sophisticated monetary policies of Nero, Marcus Aurelius, and Diocletian, and explore the full range of economic policy decisions that the ancient world could offer in the face of ongoing risk of monetary and political dislocation. More.
Two Numismatic Calls for Papers
Two numismatic sessions are planned for the 2025 Joint Annual Meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America and the Society for Classical Studies. The Friends of Numismatics seeks abstracts for an organized session on “Lenses into the Ancient World: Coins and Pedagogy”; the due date for submissions is February 16, 2024. The Numismatics Interest Group is seeking abstracts for an organized session on “Coins and Archaeology”; the due date for submissions is February 28, 2024.
Upcoming Long Tables
ANS Life Fellow and Honorary Trustee Roger Siboni will outline the history of the Franco-American Castorland jeton. Bernhard Weisser, Director of the Berlin Münzkabinett, will present the coin dies of the renowned German coin forger Carl Wilhelm Becker. Sam Moorhead, who recently retired as the National Finds Adviser for Ancient Coins in the Portable Antiquities Scheme at the British Museum, will present a complete reappraisal of Carausius’ coinage and the wealth of new information that has been discovered about his silver coins. More.
October in Review
The 2023 ANS Annual Meeting
The 166th Annual Meeting of the American Numismatic Society took place on October 21. The meeting included presentations by ANS Trustees and staff, with the election of new Trustees. Following the meeting, attendees enjoyed a reception at the ANS, where new acquisitions were on display. Watch
2022 Saltus Award Ceremony
On October 5, the ANS honored Hanna Jelonek with the 2022 J. Sanford Saltus Award for Signal Achievement in the Art of the Medal. After the ceremony, Alan Stahl, ANS Fellow and Curator of Numismatics at Princeton University, presented “Medals by Committee: the Histoire Métallique of Louis XIV”, with the lecture supported by the Stephen K. Scher Fund. Watch.
The ANS at the 2023 USMEX
Jesse Kraft, Resolute Americana Assistant Curator of American Numismatics, attended the 2023 U.S. Mexican Numismatic Association convention in Scottsdale, Arizona, from October 26-28. We welcome the new members who joined the ANS following the convention, and the interesting donations received for the Library: notably, a collection of mid-19th century monographs written in French on Chinese and Japanese numismatics. During the convention, the ANS exhibited a range of coins and currency issued by General Francisco “Pancho” Villa during the Mexican Revolution of 1910.
Carbone Spoke to the ANA
On October 12, Lucia Carbone, ANS Andrew M. Burnett Associate Curator of Roman Numismatics, delivered a talk for the American Numismatic Association. Her lecture, entitled “Women at the Periphery? Local Women on Roman Provincial Coinage,” explored the presence of local women on the civic coinage issued in the Roman provinces.
Saint Gaudens Objects Loaned for Arts of Money Series
On October 30, the Pennsylvania Association of Numismatists (PAN) and the National Arts Club (NAC) held the first Arts of Money series, in conjunction with the 125th anniversary of the NAC. The evening was capped with a lecture by Mike Moran entitled “In Search of Angels,” which focused on the efforts of Augustus Saint-Gaudens to execute the perfect bust for what would eventually become the $20 Double Eagle of 1907. In conjunction with the event, the ANS loaned three Saint-Gaudens objects to the exhibit, curated by Carlos Kearns.
ANS Lyceum: Coinage and Civil Wars through the Centuries Continues
The latest ANS Lyceum addresses the relationship between coin production, circulation, and civil wars from ancient to modern times. So far, François de Callataÿ (Royal Library of Belgium), Evangeline Markou (National Hellenic Research Foundation), Lucia F. Carbone (ANS), Gilles Bransbourg (ANS), Nathan Elkins (ANS) and Robert Hoge (ANS) have presented on the civil wars of Ancient Greece through to the English civil wars of the 17th century. The final two sessions will be hosted by Jesse Kraft (ANS), who will discuss the American Civil war and its numismatic consequences.
October Long Tables
Eneko Hiriart (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique at Bordeaux Montaigne University) took us back to the earliest days of coinage in Europe and looked at the social, economic, and political impact of introducing coins into trade. Federico Carbone (University of Salerno) discussed his research on the Cretan city of Phaistos and how its monetary practices offer insight into Greek society far beyond the island of Crete. Karsten Dahmen, Deputy Director of the Coin Cabinet at the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, spoke on prominent coin collector General Charles Richard Fox (1796–1873) and what we can learn today about collecting in the 19th century. Mairi Gkikaki, Research Fellow at the University of Warwick, discussed how the tokens of Classical and Hellenistic Athens reflect politics, administration, and everyday life. Watch recorded lectures on the ANS YouTube Channel.
