Museum News:
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COAC 1997: The Medal in America
The program for the November 8-9 Coinage of the Americas Conference on the subject of "The Medal in America" has been set by the ANS Committee on Medals and Decorations. The conference will include one day of formal papers on the art and history of the medal and a day of workshop demonstrations on the techniques of medal making. Two major exhibits will open in conjunction with the conference, a retrospective exhibit of the work of American medalist Gilroy Roberts, and a joint exhibit of contemporary work by members of the American Medallic Sculpture Association (AMSA) and the British Art Medal Society (BAMS). Expenses for the exhibits are being underwritten by a generous grant from the Gilroy and Lillian T. Roberts Charitable Trusts.
The papers for the program were selected from among the many proposals received in response to a public call for papers. During the morning of Saturday, November 8, the talks will be: John W. Adams, "The Peace Medals of George III"; Chris Neuzil, "A Reckoning of Moritz Furst's American Medals"; Paul Rich and Guillermo De Los Reyes, "Masonic Medals and American Myth"; and Thayer Tolles, "The World's Columbian Exposition Commemorative Presentation Medal." The afternoon program will comprise papers devoted to early twentieth century medals: Barbara Baxter, "A. A. Weinman, Classic Medalist"; Scott Miller, "The Medals of Emil Fuchs"; Susan Luttschein, "Charles deKay and the Circle of Friends of the Medallion"; and Robert Mueller, "Manship's Medallic Mythology." The proceedings of the Conference will be published in a volume to be edited by Alan Stahl, chair of the conference.
On Sunday, November 9, there will be two workshops given to illustrate the classic processes of medal making. Virginia Janssen, a graduate of the Rome Scuola dell'Arte della Medaglia, will demonstrate the techniques of direct die engraving for medals. Ron Landis, of the Gallery Mint Museum, will give a demonstration of the use of punches in die engraving and will illustrate various methods of striking a medal, including by means of the nineteenth-century medal press in the ANS Museum's West Exhibit Hall.
Registration materials for the conference will be sent to ANS members in the early fall. For further information, contact Alan Stahl at the ANS.
Uptown Treasures
The fifth annual Uptown Treasures will take place on September 21, 1997. This will be a day of special events sponsored by the following institutions in the Washington Heights area: the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the ANS, the Church of the Intercession, the Cloisters, Dyckman House Museum, the Hispanic Society of America, Morris-Jumel Mansion, and Yeshiva University Museum. Buses will depart from a midtown location and travel to all of the institutions listed, allowing visitors time to stop and get acquainted with the collections and exhibits at these institutions. Last year over 200 persons visited the Society as part of this special event, giving them an opportunity to view our exhibit halls and to receive an introduction to the Society's activities.
H. U. S. Grant
On April 26 and 27 the ANS participated in the scholarly and popular celebration of the centenary of the completion of Hiram Ulysses Simpson Grant's tomb with an exhibit in the Society's West Exhibit Hall. The display was included in the itinerary of a group of Grant specialists who visited various sites in the city leading up to a great public celebration at the tomb itself, not far from the Society's headquarters. The core of the exhibit comprised the presidential campaign medals, especially those of 1868, of which the Society holds over 100 varieties including many with ferrotype photographic images. A special feature of the exhibit was the display of the two-volume set of responses received from the recipients of examples of the Society's 1897 Grant's Tomb medal, which is part of the ANS Library's rare books and manuscripts collection. One of the volumes was open to the letter from Grant's son Frederick, thanking J. Sanford Saltus for the silver medal sent to his mother; the letter is on the stationery of the New York City Police Department, of which the younger Grant was then Commissioner. The exhibit was curated by ANS Curator of Medals Alan Stahl in conjunction with Francis Campbell, the Society's Librarian.
ANS Members Appreciation Day July 19
July 19 marks the initial "ANS Members Appreciation Day," with a variety of activities in honor of fifty-year members and Society volunteers. The program for the afternoon of festivities includes a special recognition of individuals celebrating their Golden Anniversary as ANS members, including presentation of distinctive certificates hand lettered by Lili Wronker. Fifty-year members named by the Society's Council as Honorary Life Members of the ANS for 1997 are: Professor Frederick H. Armstrong, University of Western Ontario, Canada (Associate); Prof. Antonio Beltran, Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain (Corresponding); Mr. T. R. Fehrenbach, San Antonio, TX (Associate); Mr. Charles A. Hersh, Mineola, NY (Fellow); Mr. W. Frank Lenoir, Houston, TX (Associate); Professor Felipe Mateu y Llopis, Barcelona, Spain (Corresponding); Mr. Alfredo G. Porraz, Mexico City, Mexico (Associate); and Professor Homer A. Thompson, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ (Fellow). We are privileged to acknowledge the loyalty of these long-standing members and we look forward to enjoying this special day with them, in person or in absentia.
Distinguished Volunteer Award
ANS Members Appreciation Day also includes public recognition of the great debt owed to the many volunteers who regularly assist in a variety of ANS functions. Volunteers to be honored for their contributions during 1997 are: David Jen, William Kable, Philip L. Mossman, Normand Pepin, Heidi Troxell, Frederic Withington, and Lili Wronker. This year will also mark the inauguration of the Society's Distinguished Volunteer Award, which will be presented to Kenneth Malcolm MacKenzie of Tenafly, NJ. Mr. MacKenzie has been an extraordinary volunteer since he first became an ANS member in 1952. He has been very helpful to the library and a long time volunteer worker on the Society's Ottoman coins, his specialty area of interest.
The afternoon's ceremonies will begin with the unveiling of our new tablets engraved with the names of ANS Benefactors, recording the generosity of those contributing at least $200,000 to the collections or coffers of the Society. The new plaque will include the names of the Arcana Foundation, Raphael Solomon, Donald G. Partrick, Kenneth Edlow, and Olivia Garvey Lincoln.
Mark Salton to Speak
The afternoon program will be capped off with an informal talk by ANS Fellow Mark Salton, himself a Fifty-Year Honoree. His illustrated address, 'Love and Politics in the Renaissance," will feature the Society's magnificent Maximilian and Mary marriage medal on which he has done the essential research. A reception will follow the program.
This will be a most celebratory day and we do hope that as many members as possible will attend to help the Society honor its fifty-year members, its volunteers, and the inaugural recipient of the Distinguished Volunteer Award.
Library Notes
In December 1996 Grace Lin, Assistant Librarian, resigned in order to devote more time to family matters. Grace served well during her employment, and it was unfortunate to loose her capable cataloguing skills. The Librarian is in the process of hiring a new assistant to fill the position left open by her departure. For a brief period during January and February, the Librarian was absent from the library due to illness; however, with the able assistance of volunteer Normand Pepin and the part-time staff of Mary Castle and Lied Hued, the library was able to keep current with reference requests and other matters.
An exhibit containing the publications of Professor Ulla Westermark was mounted in the library in conjunction with her receiving the Archer M. Huntington Award for 1997. Westermark, who visited the Society to receive her award, was able to make use of the library's auction holdings in her research. Also visiting the library was Professor Frank Holt, University of Houston, who carried out research on the Bactrian kings, particularly Eucratides I. Holt is preparing an article for Aramco World on the ANS gold stater of Eucratides from the Newell collection. He is also working on a second book devoted to Bactria to be entitled Thundering Zeus: The Making of Hellenistic Bactria.
Gifts to Library
Among the publications generously donated by authors and publishers are Vladimir Alekseyev's Rare and Unpublished Coins of Northern Black Sea Region Ancient Cities (Odessa, Polis, 1996); Giovanna Rita Bellini, Minturnae antiquarium: Monete dal Garigliano, 1. Guida alla mostra. Catalogo delle monete (Milan, 1996); Q. David Bowers with Michael Hodder, foreword by Kenneth E. Bressett, American Coin Treasures and Hoards and Caches of Other American Numismatic Items (Wolfeboro, NH, 1997); T. V. Buttrey and M. De Castro, Numismatic Sale Catalogues in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, ed. Aya Soika (Cambridge, 1997); John J. Connors IV, Price Guide to American & Canadian Chauffeur Badges, 4th rev. (Toledo, OH, 1994); Keith R. Davignon, Contemporary Counterfeit Capped Bust Half Dollars, intro. Sheridan Downey (Rocky River, OH, 1996); Andre Despretz, Academia Gandavensis in Nummis: Penningen die betrekking hebben op de Gentse Universiteit (Ghent, 1997); Almudena Dominguez Arranz, Francisco de A. Escudero y Escudero, and Carmelo Lasa Gracia, El patrimonio numismatico del Ayuntamiento de Huesca (Huesca, Spain, 1996); Arist Engler, Medaillen des Medailleurs Helmut Konig, 1974-1994, Band 3: Burgen, Schlosser, Kirchen, Rathauser, Denkmaler (Berlin, 1997); Nayef G. Goussous, Umayyad Coinage of Bilad al-Sham (Amman, Jordan, 1996); Alexei Ilyin, Russkiia monety: Miednaia moneta, s'1700-1725 g. Petra I (rpt., Santa Rosa, CA, 1997); David W. Lange, The Complete Guide to Lincoln Cents (Wolfeboro, NH, 1996); Christoph Mayrhofer and Gunther Rohrer, eds., Tausend Jahre Salzburger Munzrecht (Salzburg, 1996); Rafat el-Nabarawi, 'Atif Mansur Muhammad Ramadan, al-Kalimat wa'l-ibarat ghayr al-diniyya 'ala al-sikka al-islamiyya fi al-Maghrib wa'l-Andalus [Non-religious words and expressions on the Islamic coinage of North Africa and Spain] (PhD. diss., Cairo University, 1995); Lubomir Nemeskal, Pocatek razby ceskeho tolaru a konec razby prazskeho grose (1469- 1561): Penezne-historicka studie (Prague, 1997); Kevin Herbert, The John Max Wulfing Collection in Washington University, vol. 3: Roman Imperial Coins, Augustus to Hadrian and Antonine Selections, 31 B.C.-A.D. 180 (Wauconda, IL, 1996); Adam Wiecek, Dzieje sztuki medalierskiej w Polsce: Wydanie drugie poszerzone i uzupelnione (Cracow, 1989); Francisco Yabar Acufla, Las ultimas acunaciones provinciales, 1883- 1886: Las Casas de Moneda de Cuzco y Arequipa despues de la Guerra del Pacifico (Lima, Peru, 1996); and from Giovanni Gorini, Padua, we have received Celebrazioni Patiniane: Carolus Patinus, 1633-1693 (4 Maggio 1994-Atti) (Padua, 1996).
Other gifts of publications have been received from Dr. Ralph Sonnenschein, Malibu, CA, Mrs. Sydney Frey, New York City, and the estate of Selma Merkin, New York City. Readers who wish further details concerning the above publications should address their inquiries to the librarian.
Moroccan Archaeologist to Train at ANS
Choukri Heddouchi, a young Moroccan archaeologist, will spend five weeks as an intern in Islamic numismatics at the ANS in May and June 1997 for hands-on experience in museum practice and numismatic methodology. Heddouchi will recatalogue and rearrange the early modern Moroccan coins in the Society's collection. He will also be studying the gold and silver coins of the Murbin (Almoravid) dynasty of the eleventh and twelfth centuries for his thesis on the evolution of numismatic epigraphic style.
Heddouchi is presently a student at Middle Tennessee State University in a two-year master's program in Public History and Historical Archaeology. He holds a licence from the Institut National des Sciences Archeologiques et Patrimoniaux of Rabat. Heddouchi had the highest grade ranking of any student in each of his four years at the Institut. His training there, at the only Moroccan institution for the preparation of archaeologists, included a survey and typological analysis of the medieval baths in Fez, the subject of his these. He has also participated in the excavations of Sijilmasa, at the northern end of the trans-Saharan gold caravan route, under the supervision of Professor Ronald A. Messier, whose work tracing the flow of west African gold on the evidence of trace element analysis of medieval North African gold coinage is familiar to specialists.
To Audit Graduate Seminar Lectures
Present plans are for Heddouchi to arrive in New York on May 15 and begin work at the Society on May 21. He will be at the Society every day until June 21 and will attend the introductory lectures of the first week of the Graduate Seminar in Numismatics. Heddouchi's study in the U.S. is funded by a Fulbright Scholarship. His expenses in New York will be paid by Amideast, a quasi-governmental organization that administers U.S. scholarships for students from the Middle East. He will be staying at International House near Columbia.
Hamad Fellow
The Shaykh Hamad Bin Abdullah AlThani Fellowship in Islamic Numismatics for the academic year 1997-98 has been awarded to Roxani Margariti, a graduate student at Princeton University. Margariti is a specialist in nautical archaeology and marine history. She is finishing her M.A. work in the Nautical Archaeology Program headed by George Bass at Texas A&M University and her thesis concerns a ship with a cargo of pottery wrecked in the second millennium B.C. off eytan Deresi, Turkey. She also worked in Turkey several summers on the program's excavation of a Bronze Age shipwreck at Uluburun.
Margariti has been studying Arabic the last three years and is preparing to study maritime trade and society in the western Indian Ocean during the medieval period. At Princeton, she is enrolled in the Ph.D. program in the Department of Near Eastern Studies, working with Professors Michael Cook and Avram Udovitch.
Qualified as a scientific diver, Margariti has participated in underwater surveys and excavation in Greece at Kythera, Iria, and Dhokos, as well as the Uluburun wreck in Turkey. On shore she spent three seasons in Oman recording traditional wooden vessels and has participated in archaeological excavation, conservation, and recording at a Neolithic cave site at Diros, in the archaic temple at Koukounaries, and in the citadel of Mycenae, all in Greece. She has also excavated at Ed Dur, a Parthian-period site in the United Arab Emirates, and in the keep of Lewis Castle in Sussex, England. Her undergraduate education was at University College London, where she received her B.A. in archaeology with first class honors, including a dissertation "Organization and Tools of the Dilmun Trade."
The Fellowship has been made possible by a generous donation to the Society's Islamic Department from Shaykh Hamad of Qatar, a Gold Circle member of the ANS, who was recognized as the International Honoree of the Society at the Tribute Dinner for Eric P. Newman last October 25. The Hamad Fellowship is intended to combine service to the Society with training in Islamic numismatics and museum practice. Margariti expects to begin work at the Society on October 10 or 11 and will continue one day per week until May 1998. The Fellowship provides a stipend of $3000.
Youthful Vistors to ANS
Fourteen sixth-grade students from Trinity School on West 91 st Street in Manhattan visited the ANS on April 10. Their teacher, Ms. Margarita Jarecki, had discussed Roman coins with them before they visited, and each student had a questionnaire in hand to fill out concerning objects in the exhibit and their relation to Roman history.
Accompanied by an assistant teacher and two parents (one a coin collector), the visit began with a lesson in museum etiquette. As the students entered, each one in turn passed the donation box and put in a dollar. Then they gathered in a circle while Ms. Jarecki explained how the exhibit was arranged and what they might see. The students then proceeded to view the exhibit, in part guided by the questionnaire each one had, with the adults giving help or advice when asked. The decorum of the students and their preparation for the visit amazed every staff member who saw the group that morning.
Pre-Islamic Coinage Reorganized
Dr. Parvaneh Pourshariati, the 1996-97 Hamad Fellow, reorganized the Society's pre-lslamic coinage from Khurasan, Tukharistan, and Sogdia, in addition to cataloguing and maintenance. She will spend this summer in Paris, working on an equipe of the Centre National de Recherche Scientifique with Professor Ryka Gyselen, a specialist in Sasanian coins and seals. Pourshariati has also been awarded a Social Science Research Council Grant for research and travel in Turkey in 1997/8.
New York City-- Coin Capital 1997!
This summer New York will host many activities relating to coins and numismatic education. The 6th Annual New York Coin Expo sponsored by the New York International Numismatic Convention will take place from May 29 through June 1 at the World Trade Center in New York. The Society will have booth 44 on the Bourse Concourse at One World Trade Center. The convention has been successfully held at the World Trade Center in 1996, and we look forward to welcoming both old and new friends at our information table. If you have any questions, please telephone Arlene Jacobs (212-234-3130, ext. 219).
ANA in NYC
The 106th Annual ANA Convention will take place from July 30 through August 3 at the Hotel Marriott Marquis. The ANS has taken a booth in the main bourse area for this period in order to greet convention goers and encourage visitors to come to know the Society and its bountiful resources. Volunteer hosts for the booth are needed and anyone wishing to help us greet visitors at the ANS table is encouraged to contact Arlene Jacobs (212-2343130, ext. 219) and let her know of your availability.
Special ANS Tour on Program
ANA registrants will have the opportunity to take a special tour of the ANS scheduled for Thursday, July 31. A bus will depart from the Marriott Marquis at 10:00 A.M. for the Society. Following a brief introduction to the ANS, its collections and exhibitions, there will be a tour of this unique numismatic research center with time allotted to browse in its world famous library. Various ANS electronic innovations will be on view, including the new CD-Rom on the ANS's collection of ancient Roman coins; the ANS collections data base will be demonstrated; and staff will explain interesting features of the ANS Web Site. For people with special collecting interests, the ANS curators will be available to show specimens from the renowned ANS collections as well as answer questions. A buffet lunch will be served to tour members and at 1:30 P.M. the bus will return to the hotel.
Members coming into town during this period who wish to visit the Society at times other than the scheduled tour on July 31 should telephone in advance for an appointment since ANS personnel expect to have busy schedules both here at the museum and in attendance at the convention hotel.
Several ANS staff members are participating in educational forums at both the NYINC and ANA conventions and look forward to the lively discussions that these opportunities often engender. This will be a banner year for coin conventions and we welcome our members to New York City.