With Passover nearly upon us, I cannot help but trawl the Passover seder for numismatic connections. Luckily said, a connection is quite forthcoming! The Passover seder is divided into fifteen sections, the final of which (Nirtzah) is comprised of festive songs. For the purposes of this post, we will focus on perhaps one of the most interesting of those songs, Chad Gadya. What is specifically of interest here is the chorus, which translates as “One little goat, one little goat, which my father bought for two zuzim.”  Figure 1. Half Shekel, ANS 1944.100.62980 Before diving into the c ..read more

Figure 1. The obverse and reverse of a 1793 large cent are clearly discernable from one another, and follow guidelines set out by the Coinage Act of 1792. ANS 1946.143.15. For most numismatic objects, the obverse and reverse are easy to recognize. Most of the time, the obverse of a coin carries the main elements of the piece, while the reverse may carry the seal of an issuing authority. The date of a modern coin is often on the obverse, while the denomination is generally on the reverse. If there is a bust of an historic individual, one would expect it to be on the obverse of a coin. Some ..read more

March 18, 2024 Figure 1. Catuvellauni gold stater depicting horse, chariot wheel, and astral imagery. (ANS 1944.100.78360) British Celtic coins are perhaps best-known for their depictions of horses, chariots, and sun gods (Fig. 1). While these motifs appear on the vast majority of coins, they were far from the only subjects selected by the ancient Britons. Boars, bulls, stags, wolves, ravens, waterfowl, and cranes all make appearances. Humanoid figures, sometimes even antlered or horned, appear in greater numbers as the kingdoms of Southeastern Britain had more direct and frequent contac ..read more

Figure 1. ANS 1969.83.35. Didrachm, RRC 22/1 (265-242 BCE). 6.54g. Gift of E.R. Miles. Control marks: Club/ΘΘ. Another batch of Roman republican coin types has just been released to the Roman Republican Die Project (RRDP). The new release significantly expands the time period of issues that have been processed, since it includes early republican didrachms (Fig. 1), as well as late republican aurei of Octavian and Antony (Fig. 2). The new release includes the following RRC types: 13/1 521/1 13/2 525/1 20/1 526/1 22/1 526/3 25/1 527/1 25/2 528/1 26/1 529/1 27/1 533/3 106 ..read more

February 16, 2024 For the fact that the Romans did not export their own coinage into the Greek world does not mean that their presence had no effect on existing monetary patterns. M. Crawford, Coinage and money under the Roman Republic, 119 Over the course of the second and first centuries BC, Rome conquered most of the Mediterranean world in a whirlwind of military campaigns (Fig. 1). The lavish triumphal parades celebrated by Roman generals after their victories leave no doubt that Rome financially benefited from these victories and acquired an enormous quantity of bullion and foreign coin ..read more

Austin Goodwin Andrews February 13, 2024 Valentine’s Day greeting cards popularly depict archer babies with wings as symbols of romance. This strange iconography ultimately derives from representations of Eros, the god of desire, who is typically featured as a winged, weapon-wielding baby or small child in ancient Greek and Roman art and literature. This motif appears on a number of so-called “magical” engraved gemstones held in the collection of the American Numismatic Society. Figure 1. Green jasper intaglio amulet, second century CE, 17 mm x 12.5 mm. Obverse: Eros bound to a column wi ..read more

February 5, 2024 Detail from Celestia envelope (ANS Archives). We received some interesting documents for the ANS Archives along with some numismatic items donated by ANS life fellow Bill Burd. They pertain to the Nation of Celestial Space, aka Celestia, a micronation founded by Illinois native James Thomas Mangan, who served as its “first representative” and prime minister. Speaking for the nation, Mangan claimed possession of “all space in all directions from the Earth in its present celestial position.” Planets, stars, and all other heavenly bodies were exempted. Passport to the Moo ..read more

January 26, 2024 Caitlin Smith Guests attend the cocktail hour. On Thursday, January 11, 2024, more than 150 friends of the American Numismatic Society (ANS) gathered for the Society’s Annual Gala at the Harvard Club of New York City, where Mr. Mark Salzberg was honored with the 2024 ANS Trustees’ Award. Mr. Salzberg is a leader in the numismatic community and certification industry through his outstanding career as Chairman of the Certified Collectibles Group, where he served for more than thirty-five years before his retirement in 2023. The Trustees’ Award recognizes the dedication and in ..read more

January 22, 2024 Peter van Alfen Figure 1: Silver medal issued in 1629 commemorating the capture of a Spanish treasure fleet by the Dutch Admiral Piet Hein in September 1628 that netted nearly 90 tons of silver and gold for the Dutch. For a recent discussion of this medal see McDowell, The Early Betts Medal Companion, no. 24 (ANS 1905.57.391, gift of Daniel Parish, Jr.). The 17th century saw an enormous increase in seaborne trade not just in the regions around Europe, but between Europe and the bourgeoning colonies in the New World, and between Europe and points farther east with the esta ..read more

December 11, 2023 by Scott H. Miller Earlier this year, the news media widely reported issues that arose with tickets to concerts to be given by the singer Taylor Swift. Coverage was given to the frustrations experienced by many fans trying to obtain tickets to her performances, as well as to their extreme devotion to the singer. This is nothing new. For most of the twentieth century, popular singers were idolized by their young fans, often to the bewilderment, or chagrin of their parents. It seems that every ten or twenty years a new figure emerged: Rudy Vallée, Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley ..read more