PNG gives awards

Last night at the Professional Numismatists Guild dinner, John Dannreuther of Memphis was given the Lifetime Achievement Award.

I was interested to discover that he has been a PNG member for 30 years, the same number of years that I have been on the staff at Krause Publications. I couldn’t remember a time when he was not active, and now I know why.

Dannreuther was recognized as one of the founders of the Professional Coin Grading Service. Most people think of David Hall first, and that is fair, but Hall could not have done everything alone.

In addition to awards, Patti Finner took a few minutes to tell the assembled guests that she was a candidate for president of the American Numismatic Association in next year’s election. She is now the first declared candidate for any elective position in the 2009 election.

Another award, the Abe Kosoff Award, was given to Mark Salzberg, the CEO of Numismatic Guaranty Corp., the second of the two major grading services in both time and chronology (ANACS, though older, was founded as an adjunct to the American Numismatic Association.)

The two commercial services became the first of a number of businesses set up to grade coins.

PCGS was the first to encapsulate coins in what are called slabs. This was in contrast to ANACS holders, which were not sealed shut. ANACS coins were also photographed.

The Art Kagin Numismatic Ambassador Award was given to John McCloskey. Anthony Swiatek was given a Significant Achievement Award.

Michael F. Moran was recognized with the Robert Friedberg Award for his book, Striking Change: The Great Artistic Collaboration of Theodore Roosevelt and August Saint-Gaudens.