In a special ceremony conducted before an overflow audience, the ANS recognized four members celebrating their fiftieth year of association with the Society. At the Society's board meeting earlier in the day, the Council elected as Honorary Life Members, Leon LaCroix, Mendel L. Peterson, Mark M. Salton and Randolph Zander. Although none of the recipients could be present for the ceremony, each was sent a videotape of the proceedings together with a distinctive certificate hand lettered for the occasion by ANS member Lili Wronker, who this year donated her services in memory of her husband, Erich, whose death on June 9 saddened the entire numismatic community.

ANS President Arthur A. Houghton III introduced the program, commenting, "Today's program is joyous for several reasons. First, we have the privilege of honoring four members of our Society whose loyalty and devotion to this institution stretches back 50 years. Second is the happy coincidence that each of our honorees has distinguished himself in various facets of numismatics, exemplifying by their contributions, both the compass of the discipline and the range of interests and specialties among the membership of the ANS. Another cause for joy is that this occasion brings back to our lecture podium, after too long an absence, our good friend, Commander James Risk who will be our featured speaker later this afternoon."

By happy coincidence, each of the 1996 honorees has been author or editor of numismatic publications of note. A display of these publications was on view in the Society's West Hall where many visitors were able to peruse it before the ceremonies and during the reception which followed.

ANS Director Leslie A. Elam, assisted by staff colleagues, introduced the honorees, in absentia, to the gathering, followed by responses received from three of the honorees. He first called on Dr. Arnold-Biucchi, ANS Margaret Thompson Curator of Greek Coins, to summarize Professor Lacroix's membership and share with the audience his reply.

"Leon Lacroix is Professor Emeritus of Numismatics and Archaeology at the University of Liege, Belgium. A distinguished scholar of ancient Greek coinage, he was elected a Corresponding Member of the ANS in 1979, in recognition of his many contributions to the discipline. He is represented in the Society's Centennial Publication, issued in 1958 under Harold Ingholt's direction, and comprising contributions from leading numismatists throughout the world. Among Prof. Lacroix's books, one might mention Les Reproductions des statues sur les monnaies grecques (1949), Monnaies et colonisation dans l'Occident grec (1965), and Etudes d'archeologie numismatique (1979)."

In response to his election as an Honorary Life Member, Prof. Lacroix wrote the following, addressed to Mr. Elam: "It is a great honor to me to become an Honorary Life Member of the American Numismatic Society. I wish I had been able to accept your offer to attend the meeting on July 20, but age and health problems make such a trip impossible. I hope you will excuse my absence and accept my sincere and deep gratitude. May I also ask you to convey my thanks to our colleagues?

"I realize that I have made only a small contribution to Greek numismatics, but I have been most gratified to see numismatic studies pursued on a wide range of topics and periods thanks to the support of institutions among which the ANS holds a preeminent spot. My fondest wish is that the research carried on under the aegis of the American Numismatic Society be continued under the most favorable conditions.

"It is with these sentiments that I wish you to accept my best wishes. "

Next, Mr. Elam recognized Mendel L. Peterson.

"Mr. Peterson, an expert on naval and military history, is also a serious student of numismatics. Formerly the Chairman of the Department of Armed Forces History at what was then the Museum of History and Technology of the Smithsonian Institution (now the National Museum of American History), he then undertook positions as Curator of the Division of Historic Archeology and Director of the Underwater Exploration Program at SI. An accomplished diver as well as historian and numismatist, his experiences are detailed in two important books: History Under the Sea, published in 1965, and a seminal manual on undersea exploration methodology; and in 1975, The Funnel of Gold, a detailed analysis of the Spanish treasure fleets attempting to move the wealth of the New World back to Europe. Now retired, Mr. Peterson lives in McLean, Virginia.

Then Mr. Elam commented, "Our next honoree needs no introduction; we only regret that Mark Salton and his wife Lottie are unable to be with us as they had originally planned. I might mention in passing that Mark was elected a Fellow of the Society in 1979 and serves on three ANS Standing Committees: Medals, the Saltus Award, and the Huntington Award, of which he is the Chairman. With Lottie, he was named a Benefactor of the Society in 1984, in recognition of their great generosity. I am brief because I want to defer to our good friend Lou Zara who has known Mark since the day Mark joined the ANS 50 years ago and will bring this perspective to our proceedings.

Mr. Zara sketched from personal knowledge a person of great courage and character, describing his early acquaintance with Mr. Salton when he established himself as a coin dealer in New York prior to embarking on his career as an international banker. Mr. Zara brought with him several mementos, including early Salton-Schlessinger catalogues and an offprint given him by Mark of a short article he had written in 1951.

These gifts were received on Mr. Salton's behalf by Mr. Elam, who then called on the Society's Chief Curator, William E. Metcalf to share a note received from Mr. Salton in his absence.

Addressed "Mr. President, Numismatic friends," Mr. Salton's letter continued, "Much to my regret, I am unable to be here today, and I have asked Bill Metcalf for the favor of conveying to you some thoughts on this occasion.

"Longevity of numismatists is surpassed only by that of the coins themselves. As in the case of coins, of precious wines and, if some frivolity be allowed, of good cheese, their quality tends to improve with age. We won't go into details about that, because any elaborative statement in this regard may, to quote Winston Churchill, entail, in the extreme acceptance of the word, a certain risk of terminological inexactitude.

"No such risk exists, however, in recounting that during the fifty years of my membership in the American Numismatic Society, the Society has undergone substantial changes; it has developed into one of the foremost centers of numismatic study and research worldwide, and its staff and presidents have consistently expanded the traditions of Archer M. Huntington, Edward T. Newell and the other 'founding fathers'.

"It gives me as a 'cinquantenarian' pride and joy to have been able to witness this evolution which, we can be certain, will be extrapolated into the future as well. Thank you."

Mr. Elam returned to the podium to say, "Last alphabetically, but prominent in our thoughts, is Randolph Zander of Alexandria, Virginia, also a Fellow of the Society, elected as such in 1991. A graduate of Columbia College in 1936, Ran served as an intelligence programs analyst in the office of the Secretary of Defense following a decade of military service during which he rose to the rank of Major. We know him best as the indefatigable editor of the Journal of the Russian Numismatic Society, a post he has held and served well since 1982. We will put the cart before the horse a bit and ask the ANS Librarian, Francis Campbell, to read Ran's letter on this occasion, followed shortly by a personal reminiscence by our speaker who shares childhood memories with Ran Zander.

Mr. Campbell remarked briefly on his long acquaintance with Ran Zander, a member of the Society's Library Committee. He then read Mr. Zander's remarks, as addressed to Mr. Elam. "A little while ago a friendly voice from your office called to invite me to a small get-together to mark a few more members' 50th anniversary. She asked also for biographical notes.

"Inclosed are the notes. It saddens me enormously not to be able to come to New York. I'm marooned down here for good.

"I've not visited the Society very much during this half-century; indeed the building saw more of me in the early thirties, before I was a member. Then I was going to school barely two miles south of you. Sometimes, happily giving way to temptation, I'd cut a lab class and run up to Audubon Terrace for a far more agreeable (and useful) afternoon with Sawyer Mosser in his library. He was ever patient and forthcoming with this numismatic waif (what a vast company of more serious numismatic scholars the Society has nurtured during all the intervening years). A memorable moment was when the saturnine and even then legendary Howland Wood once walked into the room to check out some fact or other.

"One of the few regrets toward the end of a long and generally rewarding numismatic life is that circumstances have kept me from truly knowing and being useful to the Society - even on an infinitely more modest scale - the way busy people like Charlie Panish or Henry Grunthal managed to.

"As it is, especially during these last fifteen years, with the Russian Numismatic Society's publications keeping me on my toes and every now and then momentarily out of my depth, Frank Campbell time and again has gone out of his way to suggest and mobilize needed resources. Of the Museum's many capabilities I know him and his incomparable library best; and from what one sees of other such establishments in Europe, one appreciates how clearly the Society has stood unchallenged.

"I send you all thanks for the cherished years of association, and most earnestly I wish our Society well during many generations to come. With affection and respect. "

Following these proceedings, Mr. Houghton called on Alan M. Stahl, whose curatorial responsibilities encompass medals and decorations as well as medieval coins, to introduce Commander James Risk, the invited speaker on this special occasion. In doing so, Mr. Houghton briefly recalled his long-standing friendship with and respect for Mr. Risk as the head of Coin Galleries in New York.

Mr. Stahl reminded the gathering that Mr. Risk (himself an Honorary Life Member of the ANS, having joined the ANS in 1939) had been educated at Dartmouth and Harvard, and had taught history at MIT until, in 1940, he joined the war effort, serving in the U. S. Navy. In 1945 he was appointed to the Allied Commission in Rome and two years later entered the Foreign Service with posts to Vladivostok, Moscow and Saigon before returning to New York in 1953. Mr. Risk, who for many years chaired the Society's Committee on Orders and Decorations, is one of the foremost authorities on British Orders and serves as consultant to the Royal Family in this regard. His expertise and service was formally recognized by Queen Elizabeth II who honored him as a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order. It is on the topic of British Orders that he graciously agreed to address this special audience in a paper titled, "Senior Numismatists and Ancient Knighthoods."

Before proceeding to the formal portion of his talk, Mr. Risk, as promised, remembered his boyhood years in Montclair, New Jersey, shared in great part with his good friend Ran Zander. Together they frequented the shop of Thomas Elder in NYC, picking up numismatic lore and, as Mr. Risk recalled, improving their "street vocabulary" for which Elder was infamous. One amusing anecdote served to illuminate the nature of his and Ran's friendship - they pooled funds aggregating $50, which they exchanged for $5 gold pieces straight from bank tills until they acquired a complete date set, 1840-60! He recalled Ran as a brilliant linguist whose fluency in Russian was instrumental in his career decision.

Mr. Risk then thoroughly entertained the audience with a rapid succession of color slides depicting rarely seen examples of British decorations, predominantly of the Order of the Garter. He showed and discussed several pieces discovered by him in the course of inventorying the Royal Family collection and pointed out arrays of precious jewels and finely wrought designs used to personalize these decorations as well as changes made to individual pieces over time. At its conclusion, his presentation received an appreciative ovation.

The afternoon was rounded out with a reception in honor of the newly inducted Honorary Life Members.