May 2023 eNews
Upcoming Events and Announcements
The ANS Mourns the Loss of Trustee Jere Bacharach
We are saddened to learn of the passing of Jere L. Bacharach on April 9, 2023. Dr. Bacharach was a long-time member of the Board of Trustees, and an invaluable scholar of the numismatic community and Middle Eastern studies. In addition to the University of Washington, Dr. Bacharach served as the Director of the American Research Center in Egypt from 2002–2003, and was involved in other projects with the American Research Institute in Syria, the International Society for Iranian Studies, the Historians of Islamic Art and the Middle East Medievalists. More…
Exciting Updates to ANS Databases
1,400 Bactrian and Indo-Greek coins from the British Museum have been added into the Bactrian and Indo-Greek Ruler project. Almost 1,000 Ptolemaic and Seleucid coins from the National Numismatic Collection of the Netherlands at De Nederlandsche Bank have been added into Hellenistic Royal Coinages—surprisingly, one of these Ptolemaic coins was found in the Netherlands.
ANS Registration with Charities Aid Foundation (CAF)
The American Numismatic Society is now registered with the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF). Donors from the United Kingdom will now be able to make tax-deductible contributions to the ANS through the charity.
Hüseyin Köker returns to the ANS
Hüseyin Köker (Suleyman Demirel University), through a post-doc scholarship from the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey, will be studying the Kıranseyh (Kitahya) Silver Kios Hoard at the ANS. The hoard consists of 500 coins, most of which belong to Kios but also includes Byzantion, Kalkhedon, Abydos, Kyzikos, Ephesos, and Aleksandros III. Beginning in June, Dr. Köker will serve as this year’s Visiting Scholar for the Summer Seminar.
Arent Pol visits the ANS
Arent Pol (Leiden University) studies the production and circulation of gold coins of Western Europe, from 6th–7th century (Merovingian period) Burgundians, Franks, Frisians, and Anglo-Saxons. He will be taking specific gravity measurements of our Merovingian coins to aid his research. Former ANS Trustee Jeff Benjamin has graciously lent his collection of coins from this period for this study; if any other ANS members have Merovingian coins, Drs. Pol would be eager to get data on those as well (contact him at a.pol@arch.leidenuniv.nl).
Upcoming Long Tables
Cecilia von Heijne, Senior Curator at the Royal Coin Cabinet, will outline the history and development of one of Sweden’s oldest museum collections. Gitte Ingvardson, Curator of the Historical Museum at Lund University, will share her work with Viking hoards. Marta Barbaro, archaeologist at the Museo Nazionale Romano, will discuss new research that sheds lights on the circulation and use of the Romano-Campanian silver. David Wigg-Wolf, numismatist at the Roman Germanic Commission of the German Archaeological Institute, will speak on Celtic coins.
April in Review
Central States Numismatic Convention
From April 26–30, the Central States Numismatic Society’s 84th Anniversary Convention was held in Schaumburg, IL. The ANS was represented by Executive Director Gilles Bransbourg and Associate Curator Jesse Kraft. Dr. Bransbourg was invited to the inaugural reception of the Numismatica Ars Classica USA in Chicago by ANS Fellow Shanna Schmidt.
Photo: Gilles Bransbourg, Jesse Kraft, and Thomas Uram
Rome and the Coinages of the Mediterranean, 150 BCE to 64 CE Conference
From April 17-18, the British School at Rome hosted the conference “Rome and the Coinages of the Mediterranean, 150 BCE to 64 CE.” Associate Curator Lucia Carbone spoke on the cistophori of Asia, and Fellow Liv Mariah Yarrow and Curatorial Assistant Alice Sharpless presented on the debasement of coinage in the 80s BCE. More…
Peter van Alfen Invited to Speak in Sweden
The Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit invited Chief Curator Peter van Alfen to Sweden as a lecturer at the seminar The Value of Trust – A Historical Perspective on Means of Payment. He spoke on April 13 at the UNESCO World Heritage site Engelsberg Ironworks.
April Long Tables
Roger Bland (British Museum) presented on his decades-long die study cataloging coins of Gordian III; ANS Director of Publications Andrew Reinhard spoke on the virtual economy and how real money is exchanged in the digital space; and Lucia Travaini (Milan State University) discussed the coins that were revered by medieval Christians as one of the “Thirty Pieces Of Silver” mentioned in the Bible as payment to Judas for betraying Jesus.
