Gene Hessler to Receive the Farran Zerbe Award

Gene Hessler is the 2008 recipient of the American Numismatic Association’s highest honor, the Farran Zerbe Memorial Award for Distinguished Service. He will be presented the accolade Aug. 2 during the Awards Banquet at the World’s Fair of Money® in Baltimore. Hessler, of Cincinnati, Ohio, is best known in the numismatic world as a paper money expert, who coined the term “syngraphics.”

He is the author of The Comprehensive Catalog of United States Paper Money, which garnered the Nathan Gold Memorial Award and the Robert Friedberg Award; An Illustrated History of U.S. Loans, 1775-1898; U.S. Essay, Proof & Specimen Notes; The Engraver’s Line: An Encyclopedia of Paper Money and Postage Stamp Art; and The International Engraver’s Line. A prolific writer for numismatic periodicals, he edits Paper Money, the Society of Paper Money Collectors’ journal.

From 1967-77, Hessler served as curator of the Chase Manhattan Bank Money Museum in New York’s Rockefeller Center. He also became the first full-time curator of the Mercantile Money Museum in St. Louis, where he worked from 1986-88.

An active advocate for the hobby, Hessler has been an expert source of numismatic information for publications including Time, Newsweek and the Encyclopedia Britannica; appeared on radio and TV shows such as “The Today Show,” “Wonderama,” “Voice of America” and “What’s My Line?.” His scripts for “Money Talks,” a daily National Public Radio broadcast, earned him a Peabody Broadcasting Award nomination in 1993.

An accomplished trombonist, Hessler worked with music legends Stan Kenton, Woody Herman and Buddy Rich. As a member of Broadway pit orchestras for The Music Man, Camelot and a dozen other shows, he performed with Robert Preston, Julie Andrews, Barbra Streisand, and a variety of other singers and entertainers in the 1950s and ´60s. Hessler won the ANA’s Glenn Smedley Award in 1993, the Medal of Merit in 1995 and a Presidential award in 1998. He received the Numismatic Ambassador Award in 1993 and the Numismatic Literary Guild’s Clemy Award in 2007.

The Farran Zerbe Memorial Award is given annually in recognition of numerous years of outstanding, dedicated service to numismatics. Past winners include Joseph E. Boling (2005), Anthony J. Swiatek (2002), Arthur Kagin (2000), and Kenneth and Bert Bressett (1998).

Leon Hendrickson named Numismatist of the Year

Leon Hendrickson is the recipient of the American Numismatic Association’s 2008 Numismatist of the Year for his many contributions to the hobby. He will be presented the award during the ANA Membership Reception at 4 p.m. Aug. 1 during the World’s Fair of Money® in Baltimore.

Hendrickson is widely known as the founder and president of Silver Towne, a coin dealership and mint he founded in 1949 in Winchester, Ind. He began by selling coins out of a cigar box stashed under the counter of his restaurant, and the business grew from there. Today, Silver Towne employs 100 people and features a coin shop, jewelry and collectibles departments, and custom mint.

“It’s just beyond my imagination how much business is out there. But the hobby’s fellowship has meant so much more to me than the money,” Hendrickson said. Hendrickson is an active member of more than 30 numismatic organizations and a tireless advocate and promoter of the hobby. He is a former president of the Professional Numismatists Guild, Central States Numismatic Society and Indiana State Numismatic Association.

An ANA life member, Hendrickson previously won the ANA Medal of Merit (1990) and Presidential Award (2003). He has received lifetime achievement awards from the National Silver Dollar Roundtable, the Blue Ridge Numismatic Association and the Professional Numismatists Guild.

“Whenever the hobby community has presented a challenge to him with a request for his participation, Hendrickson has simply done what was asked and what was right,” ANA Governor Clifford Mishler said. “He always has time for the individual collector seeking information, or a marketplace for buying or selling coins. It doesn’t matter if the object is a proof set or an 1804 dollar.”

The ANA Numismatist of the Year Award is given annually for career achievement in the field of numismatics. Past winners include John Dannreuther (2007), Mark Salzberg (2006), Adna G. Wilde (2005) and Kenneth E. Bressett (2004).