A Lexington author strikes gold - or, perhaps more fitting, coins - in his new book.

Michael Moran, author of “Striking Change: The Great Artistic Collaboration of Theodore Roosevelt and Augustus Saint-Gaudens,” explores the bond between the 26th U.S. president and the world-renowned sculptor.

“Striking Change” delves into the lives of these two influential figures through first-person accounts and confidential conversations, exploring the dramatic personalities involved.

In 1905 President Roosevelt challenged Saint-Gaudens to create coinage for the United States that would be as beautiful as the coins the ancient Greeks used, according to the Web site of Whitman Publishing (www.whitmanbooks.com), which published the book. “Striking Change” examines the partnership that was formed by Saint-Gaudens and Roosevelt to redesign the country’s numismatic, or coin-based, art, according to the Web site. (more…)

(Fallbrook, California) – The Professional Numismatists Guild (PNG) will conduct a series of free, educational “Share the Knowledge” seminars for collectors and dealers at coin shows around the country during 2008. The first in the series of programs will be held during the Long Beach Coin, Stamp & Collectibles Expo in February.

“The PNG has a responsibility to provide leadership for the growth of this fabulous hobby and profession. Our organization’s motto is ‘Knowledge, Integrity, Responsibility,’ and these educational seminars during the coming year will be one way we will share the knowledge from some of the country’s top numismatic experts,” said PNG President Gary Adkins of Edina, Minnesota.

The first seminar will be conducted at Noon on Thursday, February 14, 2008 in room 102-A of the Long Beach, California Convention and Entertainment Center as part of the Long Beach Expo. The one-hour program about collecting United States gold coins will be led by two well-known numismatic researchers, authors and PNG members: Jeff C. Garrett of Lexington, Kentucky and Douglas A. Winter of Portland, Oregon. (more…)

The year that is about to close marks two noteworthy and related centennials. In 1907, America’s greatest sculptor, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, died. Also in that year, the federal government issued the gold coins — in $10 and $20 denominations — that it had commissioned Saint-Gaudens to design.

Most people know of Saint-Gaudens for his large-scale public works that ennoble certain lucky American cities, including and especially New York. But as a fine exhibition mounted by the American Numismatic Society at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York attests, the master sculptor was equally adept on a scale as small as a coin.

…By this point, the visitor may wonder why the American Numismatic Society would mount their show in one of the hardest-to-enter buildings in New York. Once I’d been cleared, I saw why. The groin-vaulted galleries of York & Sawyer’s splendid building, marked off by wrought-iron fences by Samuel Yellin, America’s greatest artist in iron, may well be the most exhilarating exhibition spaces in the entire city. Read Full Story

(Colorado Springs, Colorado) — A rare, 490-year old original copy of the first illustrated, printed numismatic book, Illustrium Imagines (”Images of the Illustrious”), has been donated to the American Numismatic Association by well-known collector, sports agent and real estate developer, Dwight N. Manley, of Newport Beach, California. The book was printed in 1517 in Rome, Italy, and contains 204 ornate woodcut illustrations from ancient Roman coins and medallions.

Manley purchased it for $8,050 in the November 1, 2007, rare book auction conducted by George Frederick Kolbe of Crestline, California. In the catalog, Kolbe described the book as “… of unparalleled importance, being only the second numismatic book ever published, and the first printed book substantially illustrating coins and medals … A handsome publication, truly one of the greatest landmarks in the history of numismatic literature.”

“This generous gift is unquestionably one of the most treasured volumes in any numismatic library collection,” said ANA Acting Executive Director Ken Hallenbeck. “This becomes the oldest numismatic book in the world’s largest numismatic lending library. It is a terrific addition to the ANA’s Dwight N. Manley Library.”

In 2003, the ANA Library was named in honor of Manley when he gratefully donated $250,000 to the Association as way of saying “thank you” for the $400 scholarship he received as a teenager in 1980 to attend an ANA Summer Seminar session. (more…)