The International Association of Professional Numismatists (IAPN) announced last week the winners of its annual Book Prize. The American Numismatic Society (ANS) is delighted that The Early Betts Medal Companion: Medals of America’s Discovery and Colonization (1492–1737) by Christopher R. McDowell earned third place. McDowell is the editor-in-chief of the ANS’s award-winning Journal of Early American Numismatics and is currently the President of the Colonial Coin Collectors Club (C4).
The Early Betts Medal Companion brings to fruition Charles Wyllys Betts’ dream of illustrating American colonial history through contemporary medals. The volume includes Betts-1 to 170, the Period of Discovery through the Period of Colonization of the New World. Images and prices realized are provided for every Betts medal in existence.
In addition, the history of each medal is told, helping to explain their design and importance.
Past ANS winners of the IAPN Book Prize include White Gold: Studies in Early Electrum Coinage (edited by Peter van Alfen and Ute Wartenberg, 2nd place, 2021) and Coins of the Ptolemaic Empire, Part 1 (by Catharine C. Lorber, 1st place, 2019).
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The American Numismatic Society (ANS), organized in 1858 and incorporated in 1865 in New York State, operates as a research museum under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and is recognized as a publicly supported organization under section 170(b)(1)(A)(vi) as confirmed on November 1, 1970.
