A COMMENTARY ON AWARDS

PREV ARTICLE NEXT ARTICLE FULL ISSUE PREV FULL ISSUE

V28 2025 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 28, Number 26, 2025, Article 12

For two weeks I was planning another article for the week, but that collapsed on Thursday morning. I am falling back on a project I worked on earlier in the week.

In 1995, ANA President Ken Bressett appointed me chair of the ANA Awards Committee. I have maintained an interest over the years. I try to post the awards to the individual entries in American Numismatic Biographies.

Each year the ANA sends out a request for award nominations. Many of the awards are for service to the ANA. Often a retiring board member will get a Glenn Smedley Memorial Award, if nothing else.

There are others who are honored for service at the local level, a regional level or for a specialty club. Some clubs take advantage of the opportunity to nominate their club members. Some clubs never nominate anyone. Thus the results are uneven. People who are equally deserving of an award are left out for lack of a nomination.

Nominations require a description of past service to the hobby. People who submit a nomination often consult with the person to assemble that list. In other cases the person receiving the award writes the nomination and submits it through a willing helper.

If you know someone who deserves an ANA service award, consider making the effort to submit a nomination.

The original Krause Publication Numismatic Ambassador Award often was given to show promoters with long service to their club. Frequently the names would be unfamiliar and I had to scramble to provide a biographical listing. If the person has a common name, I might not be able to figure out a biography.

This past week I posted the results from the 2025 Coin World List of 100 Most Influential People in Numismatics. I am often amused and sometimes confounded with the results.

It is clear to me that the emphasis is on commercial numismatics with little interest in numismatic education.

In the original 2020 list, Q. David Bowers and Ken Bressett were on their Top 10 list. By 2025, they were both off the list, Sorry guys, you are no longer influential.

The 2024 list had a category for Researchers/Authors. This included the influential David T. Alexander, Ken Bressett, Roger W. Burdette, Beth Deisher, Tom Delorey, Bill Fivaz, Ron Guth, R. W. Julian, and Joel Orosz. They were all dropped from the 2025 list.

New to the list this year are Ralph and Phyllis Ross, listed as a family. Ralph was not considered influential when he was ANA president. Tom Uram is listed but he is noted as past president of the Pennsylvania Association of Numismatists rather than as past president of the ANA.

In the past I commented that Coin World advertisers had a strong chance of being considered influential. I looked at the June monthly issue of Coin World. I found that 25 of the most influential people were connected to ads in that issue.

The Coin World list has been criticized for ignoring foreign numismatists. Ulrich Künker of the German auction firm made the list for the fifth year. They have a full-page ad in the June issue.

I think the Coin World list has a value if you recognize it for what it is. If you think of Numismatics as an industry, it tells you who are the big players.

Thanks, Pete. Here at The E-Sylum we steer clear of discussions of grading and pricing, preferring to focus on numismatic history and the history of numismatics and numismatists, and Pete's biographies fit right in. Every award-giving organization decides its own rules, which can and do change over time. Our sponsor, the Numismatic bibliomania Society (NBS), has some awards relating to numismatic literature and NBS service. The Numismatic Literary Guild (NLG) gives awards to authors and editors of new numismatic publications, and their categories and rules have changed over the years. Coin World's awards have changed, too, as Pete chronicles. Perhaps a category for Researchers/Authors will return someday. Meanwhile, congratulations to the latest Coin World recipients with a special appreciation for all the firms and individuals who support all numismatic periodicals, including Coin World and The E-Sylum. -Editor