On Saturday March 16 the
Archer M. Huntington Medal Award for 1996 was presented to Theodore V. Buttrey,
Emeritus Professor of Classical Studies at the University of Michigan and
Emeritus Keeper of Coins at the Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge.
The award is given in recognition of outstanding achievement in numismatic
scholarship.
"Theodore Buttrey's academic achievements are outstanding. Among them, he
was first Professor and then Chairman of Classical Studies at the University
of Michigan, 1964-68; elected Life Fellow of Clare Hall, Cambridge University,
1972; Keeper of Coins, Fitzwilliam Museum, 1988-91; Fulbright Professor at
Copenhagen University, 1985; Medallist of the Royal Numismatic Society, 1983;
and President of the Royal Numismatic Society, 1989-94, no mean achievement
for an American.
"His numismatic career began in 1952 with his participation in the ANS Graduate
Seminar, and since then he has shown on many occasions how research, if
persistent and thorough, can uncover new insights even where problems appear
forbiddingly thorny. The bibliography of his activity bears this out. It
is too extensive to be recited here in its entirely, but several of his most
significant writings should be mentioned: The Triumviral Portrait Gold
of the Quattuorviri Monetales of 12 B.C. (ANSNNM 137, 1956) which shows
the analytical skill of the writer, shedding a clear light on the hitherto
only vaguely understood question of the moneyers' college of that year with
conclusions based on meticulous die studies, and each step in the reasoning
carefully backed by supporting evidence; 'Chronology of the Flavian Titulature'
(1980) followed by 'Flavian Numismatic Titulature,' RNS Presidential Address
(1990); work in collaboration with Ian Carradice on a review of RIC 2
concerning Flavian emperors; 'Morgantina Studies, the Coins,' Numismatic
Chronicle (1973) and Princeton (1989); 'The Denarii of Pescennius Niger,'
RNS Presidential Address (1992) where he identified no less than 50 Niger
obverse legends; and, not to go unmentioned, numerous hoard reports, excavation
records, and reviews. Forthcoming studies include a corpus of the coinage
of Pescennius Niger, a work on the denarii of Publius Crepusius proceeding
jointly with Giles Carter and Charles Hersh, and a study on Pharaonic imitations
of Athenian tetradrachms.
"It is evident that Roman numismatics in all its aspects is a focal point
of his interests. On the other hand, his scientific inquiry has by no means
been limited to the classical period. A large body of his work is devoted
to Mexican numismatics, as is borne out by numerous essays, papers, and
publications, both in English and in Spanish, examining many facets of the
coinages of our neighbor to the South. They include: The Guide Book of
Mexican Coins, first published in 1969, followed by repeated updated
editions, the sixth together with Clyde Hubbard in 1992; 'Central America
under the Mexican Empire, 1822-1823,' ANSMN 13 (1967); a number of
papers on coinages of the Zapata uprising; and numerous others as well.
"As if all this would not suffice, Theodore Buttrey also is the author of
articles on numismatics and archaeology intended for the general public,
thus reaching out to a wider audience. In this endeavor he has conducted
numerous television programs on classical subjects including coinage.
"His association with the ANS is of long standing. He became an Associate
member in 1953, was elected a Fellow in 1955 and a Life Fellow in 1964. From
1963 to 1983 he served as a Council Member and from 1965 to 1983 as Chairman
of the Publication Committee. In 1975 he was named a Benefactor of the Society.
"But perhaps his most important contribution to numismatic knowledge is his
ability to teach others - his generosity in sharing and disseminating
the fruit of his labor is well remembered by those who have had the privilege
of his mentorship.
"It is in view of his many significant accomplishments in furthering the
science of numismatics that it gives the American Numismatic Society great
pleasure to award this year's Archer M. Huntington Medal Award to Professor
Theodore V. Buttrey, Jr."
Professor Buttrey expressed his deep appreciation for the award which he
characterized as the "top honor in the field." Recalling the number of times
that he, as a member of the Society and its Council, had been present at
previous Huntington Award ceremonies, he noted that perhaps Otto Morkholm,
recipient in 1981, had best expressed the feelings of honorees when he said
that he had "looked through the list of previous recipients and marveled
at them and wondered what he was doing in this place and decided, 'Why not?'
"
Stating that he had first set foot in the ANS some 45 years ago, and since
had never been away for very long, Buttrey expressed his admiration for the
Society's collections. library, and personnel that together make possible
the work of scholars which, in turn, the ANS finds worthy of recognition.
Finally, he noted that he was accepting the award "as a measure not of what
I have done but of things to come; a reminder of what is yet to be completed,
" referring to the projects cited by Mark Salton as in progress. Buttrey
concluded "If I fail in that, you may have the medal back!"
Following his acceptance of the award medal, Buttrey (introduced by his former
student, now Chief Curator of the ANS, William E. Metcalf), discussed the
problem of "Western American Gold Bars, " which he identified as a series
of closely related ingots produced in the names of western mines and assayers
and mostly purporting to originate in California and to date from the 1850s
and 1860s, the days of the gold rush. Buttrey asserted that historical evidence
supporting their origin is lacking and his research indicates that the bars
themselves were unknown before the 1950s.
Saltus Medal Award to
Nicola Moss
The meeting was accompanied by the opening of two exhibits in the Society's
East Hall. "Nicola Moss, a Retrospective" featured an extensive display of
the Saltus recipient's work, mostly on loan from her own collection. Among
those pieces of special interest were a large cast version of the artist's
portrait of Charles Darwin, which was adapted for her popular medal for the
Society of Medallists; a setting of her Saint Dunstan Millennium medal in
an oak casket; and a series of
medals done jointly with her husband Simon Beeson which draw on their experiences
with ice fishing in Minnesota.
The other exhibit, "The English Medal," was curated by ANS Curator of Medals
Alan Stahl and installed by Curatorial Assistant Elena Stolyarik. It was
based on the Society's strong holdings of English medals and decorations,
supplemented with important loans from the collections of Mark and Lottie
Salton and Jonathan Kagan. Among the interesting pieces on display were the
medal made for Lord Baltimore, one of the earliest with an American connection,
and the insignia from the Garter King at Arms, one of the rarest of the Society's
holdings of English orders.
A new feature was introduced into the proceedings with a workshop for medalists
given by Nicola Moss before the formal meeting, an event sponsored by the
American Medallic Sculpture Association. The day ended on a traditional note,
with many of the assembled group continuing the festivities at the Cedar
Tavern in Greenwich Village.
Mark Salton, the Chairman of the
Huntington Medal Award Committee read the following citation:
"Today, we honor a numismatist whose dedication to the science has spanned
more than four decades and continues undiminished. The poet Robert Herrick
wrote some 300 years ago 'Attempt the end and never stand to doubt, Nothing's
so hard but research will find it out.' If we were looking for scholars in
our time for whom those lines might have been intended, among the first to
come to mind would be today's medallist.
On February 17, one day
after one of the winter's seemingly endless series of snowstorms, a large
number of friends of the medal made their way to the ANS for the award of
the J. Sanford Saltus Medal to Nicola Moss, an English artist. Moss, who
lived in Minnesota last year, has many friends among American medalists,
who joined with Society members and the public to applaud her as she received
the Saltus Award for Signal Achievement in the Art of the Medal. In accepting
the award medal, Moss gave the audience an overview to her approach to medallic
creation, which draws strongly on personal experiences and
imagery.
Among Moss's longtime admirers in
attendance was the featured speaker at the meeting, Philip Attwood, of the
Department of Coins and Medals of the British Museum. Attwood's talk was
entitled "An Art and an Industry: Medal Making in Britain in the 19th Century.
" In this original and stimulating presentation, he traced the emergence
of a thriving medallic industry in Victorian England, especially in Birmingham.
He touched on issues of interest to all in the audience, which included makers,
collectors, scholars, and admirers of the medal.
