News Archive

Annual MCA Meeting (Posted December 2014)

Our annual MCA meeting will be held on Saturday, January 10, 2015, in New York City at the Waldorf-Astoria in conjunction with the New York International Numismatic Convention (NYINC). Our MCA meeting will take place at 12 noon in the Sutton Room. Our featured guest speaker will be Gerry Muhl, who will present a talk on "A Lively Look at the Medals of the Rochester Numismatic Association." The Rochester club has a long and distinguished history and has produced a series of Presidential medals and other items since its inception more than a century ago.

In addition to Muhl's talk, we will be unveiling our club medal for 2015 made by the well-known sculptor and engraver Alex Shagin.

All are invited to attend, and we look forward to seeing everyone there.

The American Medallic Sculpture Association Announces the First American Medal of the Year (AMY) Award (Posted September 2014)

The American Medallic Sculpture Association (AMSA) is very pleased to announce the establishment of the American Medal of the Year (AMY) Award. Mel Wacks, Head of the Planning Committee, indicates that "AMSA hopes that medalists and mints will enthusiastically participate - to help advance the appreciation of an art form that was born during the Renaissance, and that still offers collectors the opportunity to acquire and enjoy superb art medals at surprisingly affordable prices."

Nominations for the first AMY Award are invited from medalists, mints, judges, AMSA members, or anyone else by March 1, 2015 for medals created in the United States by an American medalist in 2014. There is a limit of 3 entries per medalist per year, and once someone wins, they will not be eligible for the next 2 years.

Nomination should include name, address, email and phone number of medalist, material, size, weight, mint or foundry, maximum size of edition, actual number made, and -- if applicable -- present availability, price and how to order. 300dpi color pictures of both sides, or one side if uniface, are required. Nominations for the 2014 AMY should be submitted by March 1 to amyaward2014@gmail.com.

The pleiade of distinguished jurors are: Philip Attwood, Curator of Medals, Department of Coins and Medals, British Museum and editor of The Medal; Cory Gillilland, Member of the Consultative Committee of Fédération Internationale de la Médaille d'Art and formerly Curator and Deputy Director of the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian Institution; Barbara Gregory, editor of The Numismatist; Arthur Houghton, former curator of antiquities at the J. Paul Getty Museum and president of the American Numismatic Society; Steve Roach, editor of Coin World, and formerly paintings specialist at Christie's; Dr. Alan Stahl, Curator of Numismatics, Princeton University, and one of the founders of AMSA; and Ben Weiss Ph.D., medal collector and author, member of the board of directors of Medal Collectors of America and its webmaster.

Further information about AMSA, established by leading American medalists and collectors in 1982, can be found at www.amsamedals.org [⇗].

For more on criteria and previous awardees click here (pdf).

New Medal Articles of Interest (Posted June 2014)

Thanks to the generosity of Wayne Homren, who sent me the direct links, here are some articles reprinted from the E-Sylum that are related to medals. Thanks, Wayne!

Theodore N. Vail National Award Medals. [⇗]

Congressional Gold Medals of the Kings. [⇗]

Medallic Art Company Medal Archive (By Dick Johnson) [⇗]

Also see interesting article on Jewish Chaplain Medals [⇗] from Mel Wack's Jewish-American Hall of Fame.

Boy Scout Numismatists (Posted June 2014)

To encourage our younger readers to consider collecting medals, we have posted this request sent to me from the leader of one of the Boy Scout troops. The article he asked me to post is on Numismatics and Coin Collecting [⇗]. Hopefully these young numismatists will expand their horizons and explore the exciting history and wonderful art of collecting medals.

ANA (and MCA) Meetings and Presentations (Posted June 2014)

The ANA convention, World's Fair of Money, will be held this year at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center, Rosemont, Illinois, on August 5-9, 2014.

In conjunction with the convention, the meeting of the Medal Collectors of America will be held on Thursday, August 7, in Room 40 of the Convention Center. The MCA meeting will feature the well-known numismatic researcher and writer Leonard Augsburger, who will speak on the medals and tokens of Christian Gobrecht. We will also have a presentation on "The French Narrative Medal" by art historian Tom Garver. All are invited to attend what promises to be a most engaging and informative meeting.

Also at the convention, our own Bob Fritsch will be giving a Money Talks presentation "Collecting Medals--Two" at 9 am on Thursday, August 7, in Room 5 of the Convention Center. All are invited to attend.

Huntington Award Ceremony (Posted April 2014)

A wonderful write-up of the ceremony at which the American Numismatic Society presented John W. Adams the 2014 ANS Huntington Award may be found on Wayne Homren's E-Sylum [⇗].

John Adams Receives ANS Huntington Award (Posted February 2014)

Our own John W. Adams received the prestigious American Numismatic Society 2014 Archer M. Huntington Award for excellence in numismatic scholarship. For more on this award and its illustrious awardee see the Members Corner. You do us proud, John!

MCA Awards (Posted February 2014)

The 2013 MCA awards were issued as follows:

The Carl Carlson Award, named for a true pioneer in the field of researching medals, is awarded to individuals who have made major long term contributions. This year's recipient is Warren Baker.

The Georgia Stamm Chamberlain Award, named for a writer known for exploring uncharted waters, is awarded to promising newcomers in the field of researching medals. This year's recipient is Larry Baber.

Our hearty congratulations to both of these outstanding individuals.

Ira Rezak Talks on French Medals (Posted January 2014)

Dr. Ira Rezak gave a presentation titled Favorite French Medals: A Collector's Choice at the NYINC on January 11, 2014.

Ira describes his talk as follows: This paper, on a theme suggested by Richard Margolis, was presented before the Société américaine pour l'etude de la numismatique française at the January 2014 New York International Coin Convention. It doesn't aim to develop a single narrative or argument but is a sort of riff on the some of the pleasure to be savored and the information to be accumulated as a result of collecting medals rather casually over a period of many years.

To download and read this interesting presentation and view the accompanying images, click on this link (pdf).