RESERVATIONS REQUIRED - To RSVP, contact Juliette Pelletier at ext. 
230 or pelletier@amnumsoc.org



COAC: Saturday, May 17, 2003
Fraunces Tavern, 54 Pearl St., New York

David T. Alexander. "Hessian 'Blood Money': the History and the 
Myth." The paper will explore the legendary "bloodthalers," their 
Hanoverian context, and the strange career of Rudolph Erich Raspe in 
the era of the Revolution.

Brian J. Danforth. "New Interpretations on Irish Coppers in the 
American Colonies: The St. Patrick, Wood's Hibernia and Voce Populi 
Series." 
Based on original research conducted in Ireland, England and America, 
this paper presents a new perspective on selected Irish coppers that 
contributed to the circulating medium of colonial America. The 
highlights of the presentation shall include: the minter and 
production sequence of St. Patrick coppers, the circulation of Wood's 
Hibernia coinage in Ireland and the American colonies, and the events 
surrounding the issuance of the Voce Populi series. 
Mr. Danforth's talk was added to the program after the 
announcment of the event went out.

Margi Hofer. "Recent Discoveries in the New York Historical Society." 
As a result of cataloguing in preparation for opening a new study 
center, displaying the vast majority of its permanent collections 
long held in storage, significant numismatic discoveries have come to 
light at the New York Historical Society. This presentation will 
focus on two groups of exciting finds: five very early medals of the 
Society of the 
Cincinnati, and a pair of United States pattern quarters from 1792. 

John Kraljevich. "Annapolis Silver: The Coinage of John Chalmers." 
This will cover the currency context into which the Chalmers coins 
were issued, including archaeological finds of coins in the 
Chesapeake Bay region and contemporary paper money. It will examine 
the place of Annapolis in the nation in 1783, when it was our first 
peacetime capital, through a look at documents from Washington and 
Jefferson among others. Finally, it will include John Chalmer's 
biography and the specifics of the coins he issued.

Syd Martin. "The `Georgius Triumpho'/Danish West Indies Mule." The 
paper will examine the two newly discovered Georgius Triumpho/DWI 
mules in terms of (a) their physical characteristics and (b) where 
and when they were produced. This examination will tie together a 
number of loose ends with respect to an important addition to 
American colonial issues.

Kent Ponterio. "The First Coinage of the New World: Coins of the 
Mexico City Mint Struck during the Reign of Charles and Johanna." The 
paper will analyze recent discoveries in the sequences of issues and 
their assayers, based upon hoard study and original documentation.

Beginning January 15, 2003, the largest hoard of Byzantine gold coins ever found in Israel will be on view at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, 33 Liberty Street.

The American Numismatic Society in conjunction with the Israel Antiquities Authority is opening the exhibit "Archaeological News from the Holy Land: The Bet She?an Hoard". The special traveling exhibition, which is sponsored by the Pritzker Foundation, will be on view as part of the ANS Exhibit "Drachmas, Doubloons, and Dollars: The History of Money." The Bet She'an exhibition will close on May 16, 2003.

During salvage excavations carried out in 1998 by Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologists, a pot containing 751 Byzantine gold coins was uncovered under the floor of a residential house in a complex in the Jordan Valley, in northern Israel. The housing complex dates to the Umayyad period in the 7th century CE. The hoard of 7.5 pounds of gold is the largest find of gold ever made in Israel. The gold coins will be displayed in the context of other objects found in the excavations. Such hoards are not often recovered in archaeological excavations, which makes this find exceptional. It was previously shown at the Field Museum in Chicago and will also be on view beginning early this summer at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

The hoard will be part of an exhibition of 800 examples from the American Numismatic Society's noted collection of one million coins, bills and other forms of currency used worldwide and spanning three millenia of history.

The exhibition highlights the significance of money as political propaganda, artwork, and a reflection of social climate and economy. In addition to the Bet She?an Hoard from Israel the famed 1933 Double Eagle ? the world's most valuable coin ? will also be on view.

Exhibition hours are 10:00am to 4:00pm Monday through Friday at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, 33 Liberty Street (wheelchair access provided from the Maiden Lane entrance). Admission is free. For a guided tour of the Federal Reserve, you must make an appointment by calling 212-720-6130.

The American Numismatic Society announces:


The Heritage of Sasanian Iran: Dinars, Drahms

and Coppers of

the Sasanian and early Muslim Periods


Co-sponsored by The Center for Iranian Studies at Columbia


New York

Thursday and Friday, June 19-20, 2003




Sasanian coins and their subsequent Muslim, Dabuyid and Hunnic
imitations formed an important part of the monetary systems of late
Antique and early medieval Iran. Late Sasanian coins became the
pre-eminent silver coinage in the Near East during this period. The
early Muslims in Iran and dynasts of northern and eastern Iran later
copied the main outlines of these coins while creating distinct
provincial and regional coinages. The coins today represent
documents of social, political and economic life at a time of great
cultural efflorescence as well as social and political change.

The conference invites papers treating any aspect of Sasanian and
early Muslim coins of Iran as artefacts of civilization and culture.
The topics of papers may be numismatic, historical or art historical.
They may examine problems in the reading and interpretation of the
Pahlavi and Arabic legends or the iconography, the representation of
sovereignty, Zoroastrianism and Islam, or the production, use and
regulation of these coinages.

The conference will also feature a workshop in reading the Pahlavi
legends on these coins and a roundtable for the discussion of issues
of common interest and coins if anyone wishes to bring them in.

Queries and abstracts should be sent by e-mail to Dr. Stuart D. Sears
at sears@aucegypt.edu or Dr. Michael L. Bates at bates@amnumsoc.org
or by mail to: Dr. Stuart D. Sears, The American University in Cairo,
Department of Arabic Studies, Box 2511, Cairo, Egypt 11511.
Communications by E-mail are preferred. Abstracts must be submitted
by March 1st, 2003.

This exhibition is on display at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, 33 Liberty Street







 Don't think much about money except what you can buy with it? Come see 
what compelling stories coins and bills can tell! The American Numismatic 
Society-one of Manhattan's oldest museums-and the Federal Reserve Bank of 
New York are pleased to announce the January 16 opening of a five-year 
exhibition titled "Drachmas, Doubloons and Dollars: The History of Money." 
William McDonough, President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and 
Alan Greenspan, Chairman of the Federal Reserve, will remark and officially 
open the exhibition with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. The opening is from 5:00 
p.m. to 7:00 p.m., with the ribbon cutting promptly at 6:15. This is the 
first time that The American Numismatic Society's most valuable coins and 
medals have been brought together for the public to view. On display are
more than 800 examples from the Society's noted collection of almost one 
million coins, bills and other forms of currency used worldwide and spanning three 
millennia of history. 

 The exhibition, the first major opening in Manhattan's financial district 
Bank of New York, a landmark building constructed in 1924. The 
5,000-square-foot exhibition space appears exactly as it was designed in the 
1920s when it was used for banking transactions. Renowned early-20th-century 
metal artist Samuel Yellin designed and forged the iron teller cages, 
chandeliers and writing tables in a gracefully ornate-and sometimes 
whimsical-style (look for the geometric animals at the top of the teller 
cages). 

 Presented chronologically, the exhibition highlights the significance of 
money as political propaganda, artwork, and a reflection of social climate 
and economy. Items on display range in date from a 7th-century-B.C. Lydian 
electrum coin to recent paper money, such as a Romanian 2000-lei note 
commemorating the total solar eclipse on August 11, 1999. Three of the most 
valuable objects shown will be a Brasher doubloon, a Confederate States 
half-dollar and the famous 20-dollar gold piece designed by Augustus 
Saint-Gaudens. Visitors will also see varied, and often strange, images 
depicted on coins and bills-such as a giant foot on an Alexandrian copper 
coin-as well as unusual examples of money, including shell money from 
Thailand and Native American wampum. The exhibition will include a short 
film and a replica of an early-19th-century mint with a period coin screw 
press. 

 The American Numismatic Society, located at Broadway and 155th Street, is 
a national institution advancing the study and appreciation of coins, medals 
and related objects of all cultures as historical and artistic documents. 
Founded in 1858, the ANS houses the world> 's finest numismatic library and 
America's most comprehensive collection of numismatic objects. The ANS 
supports scholarly research and publications, and sponsors educational and 
interpretive programs for diverse audiences. 

 Exhibition hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday from January 
17, 2002 through 2007 at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, 33 Liberty 
Street (wheelchair access provided from the Maiden Lane entrance). Admission 
is free. For a guided tour of the Federal Reserve Exhibit: Fed Works, the 
Gold Vault or Market Group you must make an appointment, call 212-720-6130. 
> Take the 1or 2 train to Wall Street or Fulton Street.; the J or Z train to 
Fulton Street; or the 4, 5, A, or C train to Broadway-Nassau