The American Numismatic Society (ANS) is a

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

-based organization dedicated to the study of

coin A coin is a small, flat (usually depending on the country or value), round piece of metal or plastic used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order t ...

money Money is any item or verifiable record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts, such as taxes, in a particular country or socio-economic context. The primary functions which distinguish money are as ...

medal A medal or medallion is a small portable artistic object, a thin disc, normally of metal, carrying a design, usually on both sides. They typically have a commemorative purpose of some kind, and many are presented as awards. They may be int ...

s, tokens, and related objects. Founded in 1858, it is the only American museum devoted exclusively to their preservation and study. Its collection encompasses nearly one million items, including medals and paper money, as well as the world's most comprehensive library of numismatic literature. The current President of the Society, Dr.

Ute Wartenberg Ute Wartenberg Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, FSA (born 1963) is a German Numismatist (specialist), numismatist and the first woman president and executive director of the American Numismatic Society (ANS). Wartenberg serves as an adjunct ...

, served as the Executive Director for two decades and was succeeded in this role by Dr. Gilles Bransbourg.

Introduction

The American

Numismatic 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 ...

Society is an organization dedicated to the study of coins, currency, medals, tokens, and related objects from all cultures, past and present. The Society's headquarters in

houses the foremost research collection and library specialized in numismatics in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. These resources are used to support research and education in numismatics, for the benefit of academic specialists, serious collectors, professional numismatists, and the interested public. It is one of a number of

numismatic associations Numismatic associations bring together groups of numismatists. They may be commercial, hobby or professional. Membership is sometimes by election. List of international numismatic associations British Art Medal Society(BAMS) * Federation of Europ ...

. The ANS is a constituent member of the

American Council of Learned Societies American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

, as well as other notable museum and culture umbrella organizations.

Mission

The mission of the ANS is the creation and maintenance of the preeminent national institution advancing the study and public appreciation of coins, currency, medals, orders and decorations, and related objects of all cultures as historical and artistic documents and artifacts.

Location

The Society and its holdings have been housed in several locations in

. The first meetings of the Society were hosted in private homes, including at the family home of ANS founding member, Augustus B. Sage in 1856. For the next several decades, the ANS and its collection was maintained in rented spaces at the

Cooper Union The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art (Cooper Union) is a private college at Cooper Square in New York City. Peter Cooper founded the institution in 1859 after learning about the government-supported École Polytechnique in ...

, the Bible House at

Astor Place Astor Place is a one-block street in NoHo/ East Village, in the lower part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It runs from Broadway in the west (just below East 8th Street) to Lafayette Street. The street encompasses two plazas at th ...

Union Dime Savings Bank Union Dime Savings Bank was originally chartered in 1859 in New York City, USA. By the time of bank deregulation in 1979 it was starting to suffer losses. With the direction of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, it was acquired by Buffalo S ...

, among other locations. With the largess of Archer Huntington, who became a member of the ANS in 1899 and its president in 1904, the Society moved to

Audubon Terrace Audubon Terrace, also known as the Audubon Terrace Historic District, is a landmark complex of eight early-20th century Beaux Arts/American Renaissance buildings located on the west side of Broadway, bounded by West 155th and West 156th Street ...

on West 155th and Broadway, first hosted by the

Hispanic Society The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties former ...

and later in its on purpose-built space in 1907. In 2003, the Society moved into the former

Fidelity and Deposit Company The Fidelity and Deposit Company is a trust company in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1890 by Edwin Warfield, it was also known as the ''Fidelity and Deposit Trust Company of Maryland'' and the ''Fidelity and Deposit Company of Baltimore''. Hist ...

building at the corner of Fulton and William Street. In 2008, the ANS moved to its current location is at 75

Varick Street __NOTOC__ Varick Street runs north–south primarily in the Hudson Square district of Lower Manhattan in New York City, United States. Varick Street's northern terminus is in the West Village, where it is a continuation of Seventh Avenue South ...

by Canal Street in downtown

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

Collection

The collection of coins, medals and paper currency consists of over 800,000 objects drawn from all periods and cultures. In many fields, the ANS collections are the most comprehensive anywhere in the world. The collection includes early numismatic items from

Ancient Greece Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity ( AD 600), that comprised a loose collection of cult ...

and the

Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( la, Res publica Romana ) was a form of government of Rome and the era of the classical Roman civilization when it was run through public representation of the Roman people. Beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Kin ...

, and also has a strong representation of coins of American, European, East Asian, South Asian, and Islamic origin. These coinages range from 700 BCE to the present. In addition, the collection contains paper and other non-coinage

, as well as medals and decorations dating back to as early as approximately 4000 BC. The curatorial department of the ANS preserves, studies, and documents the extensive collection. This work includes keeping the collection's

database In computing, a database is an organized collection of data stored and accessed electronically. Small databases can be stored on a file system, while large databases are hosted on computer clusters or cloud storage. The design of databases sp ...

MANTIS up-to-date, which also involves adding images. This online database is a major asset to the study of numismatics, because it is one of the largest of its kind and accessible to everyone.

Online Resources

The ANS makes significant amount of numismatic research and resources accessible online, from its own holdings and in collaboration with other institutions. In collaboration with the

Institute for the Study of the Ancient World The Institute for the Study of the Ancient World (ISAW) is a center for advanced scholarly research and graduate education at New York University. ISAW's mission is to cultivate comparative, connective investigations of the ancient world from the ...

, the ANS create
OCRE
the "Online Coins of the Roman Empire." This project aspires to record every published type of Roman Imperial Coinage and link them with examples in major collections published online. The ANS also participates in Nomisma.org, which "is a collaborative project to provide stable digital representations of numismatic concepts according to the principles of Linked Open Data.". Similarly, the Hellenistic Royal Coinages project, HRC, is aiming to do something similar with all coinages from the empire of

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, wikt:Ἀλέξανδρος, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Maced ...

and his various successor kingdoms, including the

Seleucids The Seleucid Empire (; grc, Βασιλεία τῶν Σελευκιδῶν, ''Basileía tōn Seleukidōn'') was a Greek state in West Asia that existed during the Hellenistic period from 312 BC to 63 BC. The Seleucid Empire was founded by the ...

in the

Near East The ''Near East''; he, המזרח הקרוב; arc, ܕܢܚܐ ܩܪܒ; fa, خاور نزدیک, Xāvar-e nazdik; tr, Yakın Doğu is a geographical term which roughly encompasses a transcontinental region in Western Asia, that was once the hist ...

and the

Ptolemies The Ptolemaic dynasty (; grc, Πτολεμαῖοι, ''Ptolemaioi''), sometimes referred to as the Lagid dynasty (Λαγίδαι, ''Lagidae;'' after Ptolemy I's father, Lagus), was a Macedonian Greek royal dynasty which ruled the Ptolemaic K ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

Exhibitions

At its headquarters in Manhattan, the ANS has a small exhibition space, which is open to the public. The ANS also loans objects from its collections to other major institutions and exhibitions. While the largest number of objects from the ANS can be found at

The Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 F ...

, there are exhibitions with ANS objects all over the world.

Library

The library of the ANS houses over 100,000 items and is one of the most comprehensive collections of numismatic literature including books, periodicals, auction catalogs, manuscripts, photographs, and pamphlets. A special part of the library is the Rare Books Room with its unique collection of antique numismatic literature.

Publications

The ANS is also an active disseminator of research. As the largest non-profit numismatic publishing house in the world, ANS issues books, periodicals, monographs, catalogues, conference papers, and conference proceedings in a variety of series and special issues. Currently the ANS publishes three

periodicals A periodical literature (also called a periodical publication or simply a periodical) is a published work that appears in a new edition on a regular schedule. The most familiar example is a newspaper, but a magazine or a Academic journal, journal ...

: the annual ''American Journal of Numismatics'' (1866–1924 and 1989–present), the triannual ''Colonial Newsletter'' (1960–present), and the quarterly ''ANS Magazine'' (2001–present). Electronic publications are the monthly "ANS eNews" and the "Pocket Change" blog. The ANS also publishes books on coins and medals. Past publications have included the ''Numismatic Literature'' journal (1947-2007).

Awards

The ANS gives multiple awards to people contributing to numismatics and the Society. The Huntington Medal Award is conferred annually in honor of

Archer M. Huntington Archer Milton Huntington (March 10, 1870 – December 11, 1955) was a philanthropist and scholar, primarily known for his contributions to the field of Hispanic Studies. He founded The Hispanic Society of America in New York City, and made n ...

, who was an important contributor to the ANS at the beginning of the 20th century. This award recognizes outstanding career contributions to numismatic scholarship. The first such award was conferred to

Edward T. Newell Edward Theodore Newell (1886–1941) was a U.S. numismatist. He served as the president of the American Numismatic Society between 1916 and 1941. He was awarded the medal of the Royal Numismatic Society The Medal of the Royal Numismatic Society ...

in 1918. The Saltus Medal Award is named after J. Sanford Saltus, who initiated this award in 1913. This award is given to sculptors “for distinguished achievement in the field of the art of the medal”. While this medal was at first only given to Americans, since 1983 foreign artists are also eligible to receive this award. The 2011 award recipient was Portuguese artist João Duarte and previous winners are on the

List of Saltus Award winners The J. Sanford Saltus Medal Award is an annual award made to artists "for lifetime achievement in medallic art". It is administered by the American Numismatic Society. The award was first awarded in 1913 on the initiative of J. Sanford Saltus to re ...

Graduate Seminar

In 1952, the American Numismatic Society established th
Eric P. Newman Graduate Seminar in Numismatics
This training program in numismatics takes places each summer and many of its alumni are now in academic positions.

History

The ANS was formed by a group of collectors in New York City in 1858, at a time when many learned societies were created. Although the initial meeting of the collectors occurred in March 1858, the Society looks back to April 6, 1858, as its date of creation; that was the day on which the fledgling Society's first constitution and bylaws were approved by the membership. That same month, the Society accessioned its first coin. In 1865, it was incorporated as the American Numismatic and Archaeological Society or ANAS. In 1907, the name was changed back to the original one. “The founders were Edward Groh, James Oliver, Dr. Isaac H. Gibbs, Henry Whitmore, James D. Foskett, Alfred Boughton, Ezra Hill, Augustus B. Sage, Asher D. Atkinson, M.D., John Cooper Vail, W. H. Morgan,

Thomas Dunn English Thomas Dunn English (June 29, 1819 – April 1, 1902) was an American Democratic Party politician from New Jersey who represented the state's 6th congressional district in the House of Representatives from 1891 to 1895. He was also a published a ...

, M.D., LL.D., and Theophilus W. Lawrence. The corporators were Frank H. Norton, Isaac J. Greenwood, John Hannah, James Oliver, F. Augustus Wood, Frank Leathe, Edward Groh, Daniel Parish, Jr., and William Wood Seymour.”Lossing, Benson J. ''History of New York City Volume II'' (New York: The Perine Engraving and Publishing Co., 1884), 598. Benson Lossing in the ''History of New York City Volume II'' wrote in 1884 that “the prime objects of the society are the cultivation of the science of

numismatology 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 ...

, the promotion of the study of American archaeology, and the collection of coins and medals and specimens of archaic remains.” Later, ANS changed its mission to focus primarily on all aspects of coins and medals. Under the leadership of several dynamic, resourceful and generous presidents, the ANS grew to become a major international center for numismatic research. One of these presidents, Archer M. Huntington, scion of the family who built the Southern Pacific Railroad and a serious collector, gave the Society land at 155th Street and Broadway and contributed toward construction of the neoclassical building which opened in 1908. In 1929, Huntington underwrote the expansion of the building, which doubled its size. As President of the ANS from 1916 to 1941,

, a scholar of Greek coins, guided the Society toward making its mark worldwide. He also left his enormous personal coin collection to the Society. It was in the latter half of the 20th century that the Society evolved into the foremost numismatic research institution in the United States. Its cabinet of nearly one million objects ranks with the largest in the world and is an extraordinary resource for students of the humanities. Its unique library of over 100,000 items is the most comprehensive collection of numismatic literature in existence. The Society'
Eric P. Newman Graduate Seminar in Numismatics
established in 1952, continues today as a training program in the discipline and numbers among its alumni many scholars now in academic positions including several of the Society's current curatorial staff. The Society administers a variety of fellowships and grants designed to promote research in numismatics and encourage use of the collections.

Notable members

Agnes Baldwin Brett Agnes Baldwin Brett (née Baldwin, 1876–1955) was an American numismatist and archaeologist who worked as the Curator at the American Numismatic Society from 1910 to 1913. She was the first paid curator at the American Numismatic Society. She ...

Ernest Babelon Ernest Charles François Babelon (born 7 November 1854 in Sarrey, Département Haute-Marne; died 3 January 1924 in Paris) was a French Numismatist and classical archaeologist. Education and career Ernest Babelon trained from 1874 to 1878 to be a ...

Harry W. Bass Jr. Harry Wesley Bass Jr. (January 6, 1927 – April 4, 1998), was an American businessman, coin collector, and philanthropist. He was active in the Texas Republican Party during the late 1950s when the state was still dominated by the Democratic ...

Abram Belskie Abram Belskie (March 24, 1907 – November 7, 1988) was a British-born sculptor. He is known for his 1939 collaboration with Dr. Robertson Dickinson on the Birth Series Sculptures. Biography Belskie was born in London and grew up in Glasgow, S ...

Granville Carter Granville Wellington Carter NA, Fellow National Sculpture Society (November 18, 1920 – November 21, 1992) was an American sculptor. He started his sculpture career by taking up wood carving as a teenager. Many of his wood carved creations w ...

Eugene Daub Eugene Daub (born November 13, 1942) is an American contemporary figure sculptor, best known for his portraits and figurative monument sculpture created in the classic heroic style. His sculptures reside in three of the nation's state capitals an ...

Roger Curtis Green Roger Curtis Green (15 March 1932 – 4 October 2009) was an American-born, New Zealand-based archaeologist, Professor Emeritus at The University of Auckland, and member of the National Academy of Sciences and Royal Society of New Zealand. He ...

Philip Grierson Philip Grierson, FBA (15 November 1910 – 15 January 2006) was a British historian and numismatist, emeritus professor of numismatics at Cambridge University and a fellow of Gonville and Caius College for over seventy years. During his long an ...

Kenneth W. Harl Kenneth W. Harl is an American scholar, author, and classicist. He received his B.A. in Classics and History at Trinity College, and his M.A. and PhD at Yale University. He was a Professor of History at Tulane University in New Orleans until his re ...

David Hendin David Bruce Hendin (born December 16, 1945) is an expert American numismatist specializing in ancient Jewish and Biblical coins and their archaeology. Throughout his career, Hendin has also been known as a medical journalist, newspaper columnist, ...

* Robert Hewitt Jr. *

Urban T. Holmes Jr. Urban Tigner Holmes Jr. (July 13, 1900 – May 12, 1972) was an American scholar focusing on medieval literature and romance philology. The son of Commander Urban T. Holmes, United States Navy, Holmes was born in Washington, D.C. In 1916, he enr ...

Edward Theodore Newell Edward Theodore Newell (1886–1941) was a U.S. numismatist. He served as the president of the American Numismatic Society between 1916 and 1941. He was awarded the medal of the Royal Numismatic Society The Medal of the Royal Numismatic Society ...

Eric P. Newman Eric Pfeiffer Newman (May 25, 1911 – November 15, 2017) was an American numismatist. He wrote several "works about early American coins and paper money considered the standards on their subjects", as well as hundreds of articles. Newman sold his ...

* Stephen Hyatt Pell *

Russell Rulau Russell Alphonse Rulau (September 21, 1926 – November 12, 2012) was an American numismatist. He was involved in coin collecting for over 60 years. From his earliest days as a casual collector, Rulau contributed to numismatics as a writer, editor ...

William Herbert Sheldon William Herbert Sheldon, Jr. (November 19, 1898 – September 17, 1977) was an American psychologist and numismatist. He created the field of somatotype and constitutional psychology that correlate body types with Temperament, illustrated by his ...