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May 13 2023

Newman Portal Symposium Video Available

Video from the recent Newman Portal Symposium, held November April 27-29, 2023 is now available. The Newman Portal Symposium brings together speakers on a wide variety of numismatic topics, including U.S., world, and ancient numismatics. Our feature presentation examined crypto currencies and featured a Q&A with Rob Rodriguez and James Passin.

Videos from all Newman Portal Symposium sessions are posted at https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/multimediadetail/539070.
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May 26 2023

Eric P. Newman Numismatic Education Society Announces Newman Grants

The Eric P. Newman Numismatic Education Society (EPNNES) today announces its fourth set of Newman Grants, created to financially assist numismatic authors and organizations pursuing original research in American numismatics. Newman Grants are awarded annually on the late Eric P. Newman’s birthday and assist with direct costs of numismatic research such as travel, photography, and graphic arts services. 

Five awards are being made this year, touching on varied aspects of numismatics including United States federal coinage, medals, and Spanish-American paper money. The 2023 Newman Grant awardees are:

Benjamin Gastfriend will research elongated pieces produced at the Panama-California and Panama-Pacific International Expositions in the early 20th century, with a focus on archival materials held by the San Diego History Center.

Scott Miller will conduct research on the Lord and Lady Baltimore medal (Betts 34) with the objectives of documenting technical characteristics and creating a definitive census.

Ángel O. Navarro-Zayas has previously published within the field of Spanish-American numismatics and will research the use of 18th century paper money in Puerto Rico, with the goal of uncovering fractional issues possibly issued in the same period.

Shawn Tew will work with U.S. Mint documentation in the National Archives, with the objective of explaining observed anomalies in Lincoln cent production at the beginning of that series.

Winston Zack is well known as a researcher of contemporary counterfeits of early American coinage and will continue that study, concentrating on counterfeit half dollars and silver dollars.

It is the hope of EPNNES that this program will continue the legacy of Eric P. Newman in a way that would reflect his high standards for numismatic research.

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May 23 2023

Homer Saint-Gaudens Speaks on the Franklin Commemorative Medal

Scanning of the American Numismatic Society member correspondence through the 1930s continue apace, with correspondents through the letter S now posted.  In a communication of April 22, 1927, Homer Saint-Gaudens (son of Augustus) clarifies the creation of the Tiffany medal commemorating the bicentennial of the birth of Benjamin Franklin. Saint-Gaudens writes in part “I do not approve of your showing the medal as being done merely by ‘Saint-Gaudens,’ because that is equivalent to saying ‘Augustus Saint-Gaudens,’ as far as the general public is concerned.” Homer clarified that the work was done by his uncle Louis, and that “my father always considered it the work of his brother.” 

The Medallic Art Company consulted with the engraver James E. Fraser, who has assisted Augustus Saint-Gaudens with the medal. Fraser credited the reverse to Louis but felt that Augustus had reworked the obverse to the extent that “beyond question the portrait was his work.” The whole thread is reminiscent of the authorship of the Beatles’ catalog. John and Paul sometimes provided differing stories as to who composed what. The Saint-Gaudens clan was likely not operating under same level of mind-altering substances, but the salient point is that in a commercial operation with many moving parts, the details of exactly who did what are sometimes lost to history.

Link to Homer Saint-Gaudens correspondence with ANS: https://archive.org/details/saintgaudenshome00amer
Link to ANS member correspondence: https://archive.org/details/americannumismaticarchival?sort=-publicdate
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