The International Association of Professional Numismatists (IAPN), founded in 1951, is a non-profit organisation of the leading international numismatic firms. The objects of the association are the development of a healthy and prosperous numismatic trade conducted according to the highest standards of business ethics and commercial practice.
The IAPN was constituted at a meeting held in Geneva in 1951 to which the leading international numismatic firms had been invited. There were 28 founding members. The objectives of the association are the development of a healthy and prosperous numismatic trade conducted according to the highest standards of business ethics and commercial practice, the encouragement of scientific research and the propagation of numismatics, and the creation of lasting and friendly relations amongst professional numismatists throughout the world.
Membership is vested in numismatic firms, or in numismatic departments of other commercial institution, and not in individuals. Today there are more than 110 numismatic member firms, situated in five continents and twenty-one countries. the General Assembly is the supreme organ of the association, and this is convened annually, normally in a different country.
The executive committee is composed of twelve to fifteen persons from at least six countries and includes the president, two vice-presidents (one from each hemisphere), the general secretary and the treasurer. There are subcommittees dealing with membership, discipline, publications, anti-forgery work, and government relations.
In pursuit of the objective to encourage numismatic research the association has published or assisted in the publication of a number of important numismatic works. In particular it maintains a close liaison with the International Numismatic Commission, and individual members take an active interest in the work of their national numismatic organizations.
In 1965 the IAPN held an international congress in Paris to consider the study of and defence against counterfeit coins, and in 1975 the association established the International Bureau for the Suppression of Counterfeit Coins (IBSCC). This bureau maintains close links with mints, police-forces, museums and collectors with the publication of specialized reports on counterfeits. Since January 1997 the information about new dangerous counterfeits and the scanned photos of the pieces are available on Internet. The Bulletin of Counterfeits and Internet-access are restricted to members only.
The members of the IAPN guarantee the authenticity of all the coins and medals which they sell – this is a condition of membership. Collectors may purchase numismatic material from any of the firms from the membership list in the full knowledge that if any item did prove to be counterfeit or not as described the piece could be returned and the purchase price would be refunded, without regard to date of purchase.
Membership of the association is not lightly acquired. Applicants have to be sponsored by three members, and the vetting of applications involves a rigorous and sometimes protracted procedure. In order to be admitted the applicants must have been established in business as numismatists for at least four years and must be known to a number of members. The committee need to be satisfied that they have carried on their business in an honourable manners and that they have a good general knowledge of numismatics as well as expertise in whatever field is their speciality.
The Medal of Honour of the association was established in 1963 in memory of its first president, Leonard S. Forrer, and is awarded by the President to persons of distinction whom the association wishes to honour or for distinguished services to the association.
Coin collecting is the collecting of coins or other forms of minted legal tender.
Numismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, medals and related objects.
Coin grading is the process of determining the grade or condition of a coin, one of the key factors in determining its collectible value. A coin's grade is generally determined by six criteria: strike, preservation, luster, color, attractiveness, and occasionally the country/state in which it was minted. Several grading systems have been developed. Certification services professionally grade coins for tiered fees.
The American Numismatic Association (ANA) is an organization founded in 1891 by George Francis Heath. Located in Colorado Springs, Colorado, it was formed to advance the knowledge of numismatics along educational, historical, and scientific lines, as well as to enhance interest in the hobby.
The Numismatist is the monthly publication of the American Numismatic Association. The Numismatist contains articles written on such topics as coins, tokens, medals, paper money, and stock certificates. All members of the American Numismatic Association receive the publication as part of their membership benefits.
The Rochester Numismatic Association (RNA) is a not-for-profit organization with an educational mission. The RNA was organized in 1912 by a group of local collectors to attract the American Numismatic Association's annual convention to Rochester, New York, USA. They met with success as the ANA did hold their convention in Rochester. The RNA has met continuously since 1912. Only one local coin club, the Boston Numismatic Society, founded in 1860, has a longer record of continuous meetings.
The American Numismatic Society (ANS) is a New York City-based organization dedicated to the study of coins, money, medals, tokens, and related objects. Founded in 1858, it is the only American museum devoted exclusively to their preservation and study. Its collection encompasses nearly one million items, including medals and paper money, as well as the world's most comprehensive library of numismatic literature. The current President of the Society, Dr. Ute Wartenberg, served as the Executive Director for two decades and was succeeded in this role by Dr. Gilles Bransbourg.
The Royal Canadian Numismatic Association was founded in 1950. It is a nonprofit association for coin collectors and other people interested in Canadian numismatics. It has members throughout Canada and in other countries. At times, it also works with the Canadian Association for Numismatic Education (CAFNE), an arms length organization, which is defined by the CRA as a Canadian educational and charitable organization. CAFNE provides funding for some of the RCNA's educational seminars and publications.
Coin World is an American numismatic magazine, with weekly and monthly issues. It is among the world’s most popular non-academic publications for coin collectors and is covering the entire numismatic field, including coins, paper money, medals and tokens.
Jerome "Jerry" Hosmer Remick III was a Canadian numismatist, geologist and columnist for Canadian Coin News.
Quentin David Bowers is an American numismatist, author, and columnist. Beginning in 1952, Bowers’s contributions to numismatics have continued uninterrupted and unabated to the present day. He has been involved in the selling of rare coins since 1953 when he was a teenager.
Joseph Farran Zerbe was an American coin collector and dealer who was the president of the American Numismatic Association (ANA) in 1908 and 1909. He served as chief numismatist at the World's Fairs in St. Louis (1904), Portland (1905), and San Francisco (1915).
Eric Pfeiffer Newman was an American numismatist. He wrote several "works about early American coins and paper money considered the standards on their subjects", as well as hundreds of articles. Newman sold his coins over auctions in 2013–2014 for over $70 million and used most of that money to fund the Newman Numismatic Education Society and its Newman Numismatic Portal to "make the literature and images of numismatics, particularly American numismatics, available to everyone on a free and forever basis."
The 1804 dollar or Bowed Liberty Dollar was a dollar coin struck by the United States Mint, of which fifteen specimens are currently known to exist. Though dated 1804, none were struck in that year; all were minted in the 1830s or later. They were first created for use in special proof coin sets used as diplomatic gifts during Edmund Roberts' trips to Siam and Muscat.
A numismatist is a specialist, researcher, and/or well-informed collector of numismatics/coins. Numismatists can include collectors, specialist dealers, and scholar-researchers who use coins in object-based research. Although use of the term numismatics was first recorded in English in 1799, people had been collecting and studying coins long before then all over the world.
Numismatic associations bring together groups of numismatists. They may be commercial, hobby or professional. Membership is sometimes by election.
Benjamin Maximillian Mehl, usually known as B. Max Mehl, was an American dealer in coins, selling them for over half a century. The most prominent dealer in the United States, through much of the first half of the 20th century, he is credited with helping to expand the appeal of coin collecting from a hobby for the wealthy to one enjoyed by many.
Clifford Leslie Mishler is an American author and numismatist. He has served as president of the American Numismatic Association.
Ute WartenbergFSA is a German numismatist and the first woman president and executive director of the American Numismatic Society (ANS). Wartenberg serves as an adjunct professor of classics at Columbia University and as the curator of the Amastris Collection, a private collection of Greek coins.
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