National Coin Week: Spotlight on Numismatics
by Sebastian Wieschowski, translated by Rosa Haseeb
With live webinars, numismatic presentations and quizzes, this week in the United States of America is all about numismatics: The American Numismatic Association (ANA) is hosting “National Coin Week” from 21 to 27 April 2024, celebrating the 100th anniversary of the initiative under the motto “A Hobby for a Changing World — 100 Years and Counting”. To mark the centenary, the ANA wants to shed light on how coins and money have evolved over time to reflect different cultural values. The event emphasises the importance of numismatics, which has always reflected social trends and the interaction of collectors and adapted to changing interests.
National Coin Week: The broad spectrum of numismatics in the limelight. Photo: ANA.
The National Coin Week in the USA looks back on a long tradition. Its history began in 1923, when ANA Governor Julius Guttag expressed the idea of an annual event to the then President Moritz Wormser to raise public awareness of numismatics. The ANA also wanted to win new members and promote the academic study of numismatics. One year later, in February 1924, the first event took place and was a great success. The following year, it was organised again as “Old Coin Week”. Between 1928 and 1938, the ANA refrained from public promotion, but in 1939, on the initiative of Lee Hewitt from Chicago, it returned to the limelight as “National Coin Week”. The date was moved back a month to March and prizes were offered for the most active clubs and individuals. Since 1942, National Coin Week has been held in the third full week of April.
Personalities from other institutions, such as the International Association of Professional Numismatists (IAPN) or the American Numismatic Society (ANS), are also taking part in National Coin Week: as part of the upcoming webinar “Numismatics Online: Changes in the World of Research and Collecting”, which will take place on 26 April at 5 pm MT, Peter van Alfen, a long-time employee of the American Numismatic Society (ANS), will provide profound insights into the digital transformation of numismatics. Van Alfen, who has been with the ANS since 2002 and has held various editorial and leadership roles, will talk about the development and operation of digital resources introduced by the ANS and how they are transforming coin research and collecting.
The ANA has also prepared several project tasks for the next generation of numismatists, organised by age categories. In one mission, the “Money Museum” asks students to research a year from the past in which National Coin Week took place to celebrate its 100th anniversary. “During this task, you are to use your expertise to help design a medal that honours the chosen year,” states the project task assignment.
