Pocket Change Blog

Pocket Change is the official blog of the American Numismatic Society.

Mysteries from the Vault: Monkey?
   ANS    
Mysteries from the Vault: Monkey?
By Matthew Wittman

With close to a million objects in the American Numismatic Society’s collections, the curatorial team occasionally comes across items that are mysteries to us. This series will feature some of these objects in the hopes that the collective wisdom of our readers can help us to identify and learn more about them.

ANS, 1993.141.26

This rather strange looking metallic object is 28mm in diameter and is rather hefty for its size, weighing 20.7 grams. The obverse features a raised face that I think looks like a monkey. The face is in extreme relief raising 5 mm out from the 3 mm thick planchet. The reverse…

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The Society's Inaugural Ledger
   ANS    
The Society's Inaugural Ledger
By Matthew Wittman

One of the volumes that the curatorial staff often consults is a folio-sized hardbound ledger that records the first half-century…

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Profiles in Research: Andrei Gandila
   ANS    
Profiles in Research: Andrei Gandila
By Matthew Wittman

For the past month, Andrei Gandila, an Assistant Professor of History at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, has been…

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ANS at the World's Fair of Money
   ANS    
ANS at the World's Fair of Money
By Matthew Wittman

ANS, 1983.156.7

The American Numismatic Society will be at this week’s World’s Fair of Money in Chicago. If you have an inquiry…

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Joe Cowell's Numismatic Welcome to New York City, 1821
   ANS    
Joe Cowell's Numismatic Welcome to New York City, 1821
By Matthew Wittman

Joseph Cowell (1792-1863) was a British comedian and theatrical entrepreneur who performed on both sides of the Atlantic. His memoir, Thirty…

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Miniature Numismatic Books
   ANS    
Miniature Numismatic Books
By Matthew Wittman

According to the Miniature Book Society, only volumes no larger than three inches in height, width, or thickness may properly be classified…

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Seige of Louisbourg Medals, 1758
   ANS    
Seige of Louisbourg Medals, 1758
By Matthew Wittman

During the summer of 1758, British and colonial forces captured the fortress of Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island, which marked a…

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Odd Bronzes of the Georgian Golden Age
   ANS    
Odd Bronzes of the Georgian Golden Age
By Matthew Wittman

***This is a follow-up to Summer Seminar scholar Lara Fabian’s earlier post about the fascinating history of coinage from the Caucasus in…

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Whistler's Peacocks
   ANS    
Whistler's Peacocks
By David Hill

James McNeil WhistlerArrangement in Grey and Black, no. 1Oil on canvas, 1871Musée d’Orsay

Whistler’s Mother. There are few works like it,…

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Admit One: Sprague & Blodgett's Georgia Minstrels
   ANS    
Admit One: Sprague & Blodgett's Georgia Minstrels
By Matthew Wittman

One of the most popular and complicated cultural forms that enlivened popular entertainment in the nineteenth-century United States was the…

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Bastille Day, Lafayette, and Numismatics
   ANS    
Bastille Day, Lafayette, and Numismatics
By Matthew Wittman

Happy Bastille Day! The ANS was energized a week or so ago by the arrival of the Hermione, a replica of…

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Diplomacy and Display in Commagenian Coinage
   ANS    
Diplomacy and Display in Commagenian Coinage
By The American Numismatic Society

By Patricia Kim

During the late 2nd century BCE, the region of Commagene, located in south-central Anatolia, became an independent kingdom…

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