Six Numismatic Leaders Who Changed the Coin Hobby Earn Major ANA Honors
Keith Moon, Steve Feltner, Mike Ellis, Barbara Gregory, David Menchell and Dennis Tucker will receive major service awards during the 2026 World’s Fair of Money.
Coins can survive for thousands of years. However, the collecting hobby survives only when people share their knowledge.
Teachers explain difficult subjects. Authors preserve new discoveries. Editors give researchers a platform. Meanwhile, graders, exhibitors, and volunteers help collectors develop the skills that keep the hobby moving forward.
This August, the American Numismatic Association will honor six people who have devoted much of their lives to that work.
The ANA will present its 2026 Medal of Merit and Adna G. Wilde Jr. Memorial Award for Exemplary Service during the World’s Fair of Money in Pittsburgh. The Member Awards & Donor Celebration will take place on Thursday, August 27, from 3 to 4:30 p.m. in Ballroom B of the David L. Lawrence Convention Center.
The 2026 World’s Fair of Money will run from August 25 through August 29.
ANA Medal of Merit Recognizes Lasting Hobby Service
The ANA Medal of Merit honors collectors and hobby leaders who have spent years supporting the Association. It also recognizes people who actively promote numismatics among the public.
The ANA selected Mike Ellis, Steve Feltner, and Dr. David Menchell as its 2026 recipients.
Mike Ellis: Teaching Collectors How Coins Get Made
Mike Ellis has built much of his numismatic legacy inside the classroom.
During 21 years of attendance at the ANA Summer Seminar, Ellis taught 26 full seminars and three mini-seminars. His subjects included minting technology, error coins, die varieties, and coin grading.
In addition, Ellis taught three traveling seminars at ANA conventions and special events.
His work also reaches collectors through print. Ellis helped prepare two editions of the Cherrypickers’ Guide to Rare Die Varieties. He also contributed to Q. David Bowers’ A Guide Book of Half Cents and Large Cents. Moreover, he has written columns for several numismatic publications.
The Florence Schook School of Numismatics awarded Ellis an honorary Doctor of Numismatics degree. The Combined Organizations of Numismatic Error Collectors of America inducted him into the CONECA Hall of Fame in 2009. CONECA also notes his earlier service as the organization’s president.
Steve Feltner: Grading Expertise Meets Collector Education
Steve Feltner has worked to make professional grading knowledge accessible to collectors of every age.
Feltner began his professional grading career at Professional Coin Grading Service. He later moved to Sacramento, California, where he helped establish a successful coin company. After several years, he returned to PCGS.
Today, Feltner serves as PCGS Director of Numismatic Education and Grading Team Leader. In that role, he combines technical grading work with collector outreach.
Feltner also taught the ANA Summer Seminar course “Intermediate Grading of U.S. Coins” for eight consecutive years. In addition, he serves as an instructor at Witter Coin University.
His connection with the ANA began early. The Association named him Young Numismatist of the Year in 2004. Coin World later included him among its 100 Most Influential People in Numismatics in both 2022 and 2024. The ANA’s historical awards record confirms his 2004 honor.
David Menchell: Building a Medallic Legacy
Dr. David Menchell has promoted numismatic education through exhibits, lectures, articles, and donations.
Menchell has served as a certified exhibit judge for 25 years. He also presents lectures about medals to numismatic groups across the country.
Furthermore, he has published research in the ANA’s The Numismatist and the Medal Collectors of America’s MCA Advisory.
Menchell helped establish the Colonial Coin Collectors Club in 1993. He also became a founding member of the Medal Collectors of America in 1998. Since 2002, he has served as a regional vice president for the Colonial Coin Collectors Club. C4 continues to promote research into coins, tokens, currency, and medals from America’s colonial and early federal periods.
Menchell has taught at the ANA Summer Seminar seven times. After those classes, he donated the instructional medals to the ANA’s Edward C. Rochette Money Museum.
Those donations now total about 650 pieces. One major 2017 gift alone included more than 400 American medals dating from the mid-18th century through the 21st century.
The ANA previously presented Menchell with the Glenn Smedley Memorial Award in 2020.
Adna G. Wilde Award Celebrates Exemplary Service
The Adna G. Wilde Jr. Memorial Award for Exemplary Service honors ANA members who give their time, expertise, and resources to numismatics.
Recipients also support the ANA’s growth and advance its educational mission. The award commonly recognizes years of activity at the regional or national level.
The ANA selected Barbara Gregory, Keith Moon, and Dennis Tucker as its 2026 recipients.
Barbara Gregory: Transforming The Numismatist
Barbara Gregory served as editor-in-chief of The Numismatist for 32 years. No other editor has held the position longer. She also became the magazine’s first female editor-in-chief.
During her tenure, Gregory introduced payment for contributing writers and columnists. She also moved the magazine into desktop publishing, making The Numismatist the first major numismatic hobby periodical to make that transition.
In addition, she restructured the ANA’s Young Numismatist Literary Awards program and mentored generations of numismatic authors.
The ANA inducted Gregory into its Numismatic Hall of Fame in 2021. Two years later, it presented her with the Elvira Clain-Stefanelli Memorial Award for Achievement in Numismatics.
Gregory now edits The Centinel, the official quarterly publication of the Central States Numismatic Society.
Keith Moon: Millions of Coins and a Mission to Teach
Keith Moon has spent decades grading coins, training collectors, and mentoring future professionals.
Moon worked as a grader or finalizer for ANACS, PCGS, and Numismatic Guaranty Company. NGC hired him as a senior grading finalizer in 2021, citing his expertise and his role in maintaining grading consistency.
However, Moon’s work extends far beyond the grading room.
He teaches coin grading and counterfeit detection through the ANA Summer Seminar, ANA traveling seminars, and Witter Coin University. The ANA presented him with the Glenn Smedley Memorial Award in 2025 for his educational and outreach work.
In 2025, Moon and Devin Hipp launched Numismatic Rarities Exchange in collaboration with David Lawrence Rare Coins. The company emphasizes research, collector education, ethical commerce, and mentorship within the hobby.
Dennis Tucker: More Than 300 Books for Collectors
Author and editor Dennis Tucker helped shape a modern renaissance in numismatic publishing.
Tucker joined Whitman Publishing as its publisher in December 2004. He remained in that role until his retirement in 2024.
During those years, he oversaw more than 300 titles. Those works ranged from short monographs to major references of more than 1,500 pages. They covered coins, medals, banking history, presidential history, military history, and other subjects.
Tucker also served two terms on the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee from 2016 through 2024. The Secretary of the Treasury appointed him as the committee member specially qualified in numismatics.
In addition, he has taught at the ANA Summer Seminar and written hundreds of articles.
His books include American Gold and Silver: U.S. Mint Collector and Investor Coins and Medals, Bicentennial to Date. The reference examines modern United States Mint collector coins, bullion pieces, and medals.
The ANA previously honored Tucker with the Glenn Smedley Memorial Award in 2023 and the Medal of Merit in 2024.
Six Careers, One Shared Numismatic Mission
The six 2026 honorees represent different parts of the hobby.
Ellis and Feltner teach collectors how to understand coins and grades. Menchell preserves the history of American medals. Gregory and Tucker built publishing platforms that carried numismatic research to a wider audience. Meanwhile, Moon links professional grading with hands-on education.
Together, their careers show why numismatics needs more than rare coins.
The hobby also needs teachers, writers, editors, graders, donors, and mentors. Without them, knowledge disappears. With them, every new generation starts with a stronger foundation.
The American Numismatic Association operates as a congressionally chartered, nonprofit educational organization. It encourages the study and collection of coins and related objects through its museum, library, publications, conventions, webinars, and educational programs.
For more information, contact the ANA at 719-632-2646 or visit Money.org.
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