Sayles, Wayne
Founder of The Celator and the Ancient Coin Collectors Guild
Wayne Gerald Sayles (* 1943) graduated from Wisconsin Horicon High School in 1961, enlisted in the U.S. Air Force and was trained in Communications-Electronics Maintenance. His tours as an electronics technician included assignments to Newfoundland; North Carolina; Florida; Dominican Republic; Turkey and California.
In 1971, he was accepted into the Commissioning Bootstrap Program and earned a Bachelor’s Degree in History from the University of Nebraska at Omaha. An honor graduate from Officer’s Training School in May 1972, he served in subsequent assignments as Communications Squadron Commander, Group Detachment Commander, Air Force Advisor to the Air National Guard and USAF Reserve Forces and Team Chief for several Major Air Command Inspector General teams. He retired from the Air Force as a Captain in 1982.
In addition to pursuing his avocation as a professional numismatist, Wayne Sayles then returned to academia and earned a Masters degree in Art History at the University of Wisconsin (Madison). His MA Thesis highlighted the influence of ancient coins in the work of 17th century Flemish painter and ancient coin dealer Peter Paul Rubens. That same year, he founded “The Celator” – a monthly journal about ancient coins that circulated worldwide for more than 25 years.
Wayne Sayles co-authored “Turkoman Figural Bronze Coins and Their Iconography” (2 vols.); wrote the six volume series “Ancient Coin Collecting” (3 are in expanded 2nd ed.); the monograph “Classical Deception”; and the exhibition catalogue of the “Ned H. and Gloria A. Griner Greek and Roman Coin Collection” at Ball State University. He wrote the “Coin Collecting” article and updated the “Coins” article for “Encyclopaedia Britannica” and has published several titles by other authors under his own banner of “Clio’s Cabinet”. In 2010, he acquired the copyrights to a series of highly acclaimed works on Islamic numismatics by the late Ömer Diler. His special interest lies with coins from ancient Cilicia.
Wayne Sayles is a Life Fellow or member of nearly a dozen numismatic societies and associations, and founder of the non-profit Ancient Coin Collectors Guild and 416th Bomb Group Archive. He has lectured extensively at conventions, symposia, seminars and club meetings in the U.S. and abroad, written more than 200 articles about ancient coinage, and has been honored with several Numismatic Literary Guild awards. He has on nine occasions presented oral testimony before the U.S. State Department’s Cultural Property Advisory Committee in Washington, DC.
In addition to several USAF medals for meritorius service, Wayne Sayles is recipient of the Air National Guard “Minuteman Award”, the “Numismatic Ambassador” award from Krause Publications, and was selected by KP in 2007 as one of the 55 “Most Intriguing People in Numismatics”.
He was honored with the American Numismatic Association’s Presidential Award in 2010 and was selected as recipient of the ANA’s Glenn Smedley Memorial Award in 2012.
He has been a biographee in Marquis, “Who’s Who in America” and in “Who’s Who in the World”, since 2006. In 2008, he earned the President’s Volunteer Service Award (gold) established by George W. Bush. Wayne Sayles and his wife Doris were joint recipients of the George Bledsoe Preservation Award from the East Anglia Air War Project (WWII).
You can reach Wayne G. Sayles by email.
Wayne Sayles of course has his own Wikipedia entry.
Although the Celator has ceased to be issued, there is still a website.
To access the website of the Ancient Coin Collectors Guild founded by Wayne Sayles, please click here.
David Lisot published an interview with Wayne Sayles on legislation affecting ancient coins on youtube.
Wayne Sayles LinkedIn profile can be viewed by clicking here.
This is his academia.edu profile.
And here you can read his 2015 article “End the Unilateral Trade Sanctions on Collectors”.
