Research at the ANS

Research Services

As the repository for one of the world’s leading numismatic collections, libraries, and archives, the American Numismatic Society is committed to making its resources available to the broader community to promote research and to further our educational mission.

Museums may request loans from our numismatic collections for exhibitions by contacting the Collections Manager, John Thomassen.

Individuals who are unable to visit the ANS in person may request scans or photocopies of library and archival materials and photography of items in the numismatic collection. One of the many benefits of ANS membership is a reduced fee schedule for such items.

From Our Staff

In addition to holding one of the most important and comprehensive numismatic collections and libraries in the world, the American Numismatic Society is home to a staff of formidable research-active scholars who publish critical works on numismatics, economics, archaeology, history, art history, and other fields, actively shaping international discourses.

Dr. Gilles Bransbourg
Executive Director

Dr. Lucia Carbone
Andrew M. Burnett Assistant Curator of Roman Numismatics

Dr. Nathan T. Elkins
Deputy Director

Ethan Gruber, MA
Director of Data Science

David Hill, MA, MLS
Francis D. Campbell Librarian and Archivist

Dr. Jesse Kraft
Resolute Americana Assistant Curator of American Numismatics

Dr. Peter van Alfen
Chief Curator

Dr. Ute Wartenberg
Research Curator and ANS President

David Yoon, MPhil
Mark Salton Associate Curator of Medieval, Renaissance and Early European Numismatics

Collaborative Research at the ANS

White Gold

Why coinage?
Why electrum?

Why at that particular moment (ca. 650 BCE) in a particular place (western Asia Minor) did a group of people decide to strike coins for the first time? What do coins do that other types of monetary instruments don’t? Why were they struck in a metal which we now know was an entirely invented alloy of gold and silver?

White Gold: Studies in Early Electrum Coinage collects the most complete, current scholarship on the history of known examples of ancient electrum coinage of the Greek world, with text, catalogues, and images.

Edited by 
Peter van Alfen
and Ute Wartenberg

with
Wolfgang Fischer-Bossert, Haim Gitler,
Koray Konuk,
and Catharine C. Lorber

This sold-out title is now available to print on demand!

The Roman Republican Die Project

“The largest die study ever undertaken”

The Roman Republican Die Project (RRDP) aims to provide URIs for each obverse and reverse die connected to Michael Crawford’s Roman Republican Coinage (RRC, 1974) types published in Coinage of the Roman Republic Online. RRDP is based on Richard Schaefer’s archive of Roman Republican Dies, comprising more than 300,000 specimen images. The digitized version of Schaefer’s archive is available on ARCHER, the digital archives of the American Numismatic Society (see here).

with contributions from:

ANS Conferences

Coinage of the Americas Conference

COAC 2021: The Victor David Brenner Sesquicentennial

In 2021, the ANS reintroduced the Coinage of the Americas Conference (COAC). Since the 1980s, COACs have been considered the leading venue for the presentation of academic research that pertains to numismatics of the Western Hemisphere.

COAC 2021 delved into famed sculptor, Victor David Brenner, for the 150th anniversary of his birth. While his most well-known piece is, undoubtedly, the Lincoln Cent, Brenner created more than 200 medallic works of art throughout his 35-year career.

Watch

Coinage of the Roman Provinces before Provincial Coinage:
The Richard B. Witschonke Collection

Co-sponsored by the American Numismatic Society and the Ph.D. Program in History at the Graduate Center, CUNY

This three day conference featured contributions by the foremost scholars in the field, offering a numismatic and historical overview of each region represented by the coins in the R. B. Witschonke Collection.

Watch