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 RNA is located in Rochester, New York with a very active regional membership. Many members have retained their membership after leaving the area. Now, the RNA boasts a membership that reaches across the continental US.
Each fall the RNA holds a regional coin show at the Rochester Museum and Science Center which attracts dealers and attendees from around Western New York.
The RNA was formed in January 1912 by Dr. George P. French with 32 charter members. The first meeting attracted 15 coin collectors. Dr. French collected other curiosities besides coins. His curios included the clothes worn by General Tom Thumb, one of the world's smallest men, and Peter the Great.
One of the first acts of Dr. French was to have the RNA join the American Numismatic Association as Branch 2. The Chicago Numismatic Society had become ANA Branch 1 in 1904.
At the first annual banquet in 1913, a two-inch bronze portrait medal was presented to Dr. French, the retiring president. This tradition has continued to this day. During World War II, plastic impressions were made from the dies and presented at the annual banquet. At the war's end, bronze pieces were struck from the original dies.
Joseph A. Koeb, a charter member of the RNA, was the club's first member-sculptor. An artisan employed by Bastian Brothers Company of Rochester, he hand cut the dies in steel for the American Numismatic Association badge for the convention of 1912, held in Rochester, NY. As official club sculptor, he designed the reverses common to all medals from 1912 to 1952 and all the portraits of past presidents from 1912 to 1921.
In 1921 Alphonse A. Kolb, another member-sculptor, began hand cutting the portrait dies. Alphonse A. Kolb designed many medals for both the ANA and the RNA.
The Rochester Numismatic Association has hosted three ANA Conventions, in 1912 at the Hotel Rochester, in 1917 at the Memorial Art Gallery and in 1928 at the Seneca Hotel. An existing photograph of the 1912 convention shows the 47 people who attended and the number included only two women. Photos of the 1917 Convention show fewer people but many more women present. This is thought to reflect the social aspects of very early coin conventions.
From the beginning the club has maintained both a collection and a circulating library. The curator often brings selections to meetings for display. Especially when the pieces complement the talk given that evening.
In 1947, the RNA sponsored the Rochester Junior Numismatic Association under the leadership of Edward F. Meinhart, the 31st president of the senior group. Since then, the RJNA has met independently on a monthly basis. Many RJNA members continue on to join the RNA. Each spring the RNA sponsors a speaking contest named to honor Edward F. Meinhart. The contest is open to young numismatists and is intended to encourage the study and enjoyment of numismatics. Every participant is given a trophy and the winner is given a plaque.
Each year the RNA honors the immediate past president with a medal and a banquet. This tradition started with the first RNA president, Dr. George P. French. The early medals were created by RNA members and accomplished artists Joseph A. Koeb and Alphonse Anton Kolb.
The RNA is a member organization of:
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 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 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.
By 1954, a new trend was beginning to emerge for the Royal Canadian Numismatic Association as annual meetings evolved into annual conventions. Working with the Toronto Coin Club as host, the first such convention was held in Toronto in 1954. The conventions offered an agenda of educational forums, bourse activity, competitive exhibits with awards to the winners, and a closing banquet, with the highlight being a special guest speaker.. It was also in 1954 that the association issued its first ever medal to commemorate the event. The tradition of an annual convention and a convention medal continues to this very day.
Russell Alphonse Rulau was an American numismatist. He was involved in coin collecting for over 60 years. From his earliest days as a casual collector, Rulau contributed to numismatics as a writer, editor and club organizer. His interest in world coins led him to create the "Coin of the Year" award. The award is presented annually by Krause Publications' World Coin News. Rulau coined the term "exonumia" in 1960.
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).
Alex Shagin is a coin designer.
Eugene Daub is an American contemporary figure sculptor, best known for his portraits and figurative monument sculpture created in the classic heroic style. His sculptures reside in three of the nation's state capitals and in the National Statuary Hall in the United States Capitol. His work appears in public monuments and permanent collections in the United States and Europe.
Alphonse Anton Kolb (1893–1983) was a German-American artist known for creating sculptures and other art works ranging in size from medals to statues. For many years he worked for Bastian Brothers of Rochester, New York, and was the semi-official sculptor of the Rochester Numismatic Association.
The British Numismatic Society exists to promote the study and understanding of British numismatics. The Society was founded in 1903, focusing on all forms of coinage, tokens, banknotes and medals relating to the British Isles and former parts of the British Empire. The society promotes the understanding of numismatics through holding regular lectures and meetings as well as producing a number of publications. These include the British Numismatic Journal, the major journal for British numismatics.
Donald Nelson Everhart II is an American coin and medal engraver-medalist, and sculptor who has worked for the private Franklin Mint, as a freelance designer, and since 2004 has worked for the United States Mint in Philadelphia. With over 1,000 models for coins and medals attributed to him as of 2008, he is still at the prime of his career creating the bas-relief models for these and similar sculptural objects. His coin designs are in the pockets of American citizens, and despite his late arrival to the series of the popular U.S. Statehood Quarters, he has designed and modeled three State's unique reverse designs, modeled three others, and six U.S. commemorative coins. His portrait of President William Clinton was chosen for Clinton's second term Inaugural Medal. Among his other medal creations are six Congressional Gold Medals for the U.S. Mint, seven Society of Medalists issues, twelve calendar medals, and other models for private medal makers, as well as cast art medals.
George P. French was a founding member and first president of the Rochester Numismatic Association. He was born in 1865 and died November 25, 1932, in Rochester, New York of pneumonia.
Kenneth Edward Bressett is an American numismatist. He has actively promoted the study and hobby of numismatics for over 50 years. His published works on the subject cover a wide range of topics and extend from short articles to standard reference books on such diverse areas as ancient coins, paper money, British coins and United States coins.
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.
Richard Picker was an American numismatist. Based in New York City, Picker was a specialist and dealer of coins from early and colonial American history and was considered one of the foremost authorities in that area of numismatics. Picker was best known for his research and his active collaboration within the numismatic community.
Numismatic associations bring together groups of numismatists. They may be commercial, hobby or professional. Membership is sometimes by election.
Clifford Leslie Mishler is an American author and numismatist. He has served as president of the American Numismatic Association.
