Alfred Szego (April 9, 1914 – September 1, 1991) was a numismatic historian, who specialized in 14th-17th-century Italian coinage, coinage of ancient

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

Carthage Carthage was the capital city of Ancient Carthage, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the classi ...

Judea Judea or Judaea ( or ; from he, יהודה, Hebrew language#Modern Hebrew, Standard ''Yəhūda'', Tiberian vocalization, Tiberian ''Yehūḏā''; el, Ἰουδαία, ; la, Iūdaea) is an ancient, historic, Biblical Hebrew, contemporaneous L ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

, and 19th-century Europe. Alfred Szego

Born in New York to Oscar and Rose Szego, Jewish immigrants who emigrated from

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

in 1912. Oldest of four children. Married Augusta, June 1940. Two children, Phillip and Carol. Szego originally became interested in

numismatics Numismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, medals and related objects. Specialists, known as numismatists, are often characterized as students or collectors of coins, but the discipline also includ ...

in 1955, while he was a television repairman. One of his customers was planning to sell a cache of old coins to a local dealer to raise cash for his repair bill; Szego, however, accepted the coins towards payment at a price better than offered by the coin dealer. After this, he and his wife began to learn more about

. Together, they created a thriving specialty business, concentrating on coinage of

Ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 B ...

, the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a Polity, political entity in Western Europe, Western, Central Europe, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, dissolution i ...

, and Medieval

. Szego was working on a book on Medieval coinage at the time of his death. In 1969, Szego and his wife, Augusta, were involved in a deadly two car crash in which neither were hurt, but a third passenger was killed; the driver of the other vehicle was arrested. Szego was also a dedicated amateur botanist who invested his energies into performing cross breeding experiments on

American Chestnut The American chestnut (''Castanea dentata'') is a large, fast-growing deciduous tree of the beech family native to eastern North America. As is true of all species in genus Castanea, the American chestnut produces burred fruit with edible nuts. ...

in conjunction with the Northern Nut Growers Association, seeking a chestnut-blight resistant subspecies. Due to the slow growing nature of the

, his work set the stage for others, who are now further breeding with some success.

Publications (Works, Bibliography)

* ** Primarily a derivative work, included primary study of previously unattributed coinage that was issued during the period as well as previously untranslated material. * Szego A (1948) Breeding chestnuts in the New York city area. Annual Report of the Northern Nut Growers Association 39:196-199 * Szego A (1953) Growing American chestnuts and their hybrids under blight conditions. Ann. Rept. No. Nut Growers Assoc. 44:154-156. * Szego A (1964) Experiences with hybrid chestnuts under seashore conditions. 55:29-30. * Szego A (1968) New chestnuts for the northeastern states. Ann. Rept. No. Nut Growers Assoc. 59:87-92. * Szego A (1969) New and little known facts about chestnuts. 60:27-30 * Szego A (1970) Experiences with various chestnut species and their hybrids on eastern Long Island. 61:77-81. * Szego A (1980) Hypovirulence and chestnut breeding. 71:33-35.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Szego, Alfred 1991 deaths 1914 births 20th-century American historians American male non-fiction writers 20th-century American male writers