François de Callataÿ was awarded with the Medal of the Royal Numismatic Society 2021.
Mr. de Callataÿ is Head of Department at the Royal Library of Belgium, professor at the Université libre de Bruxelles and directeur d’études at the Ecole pratique des Hautes Etudes, Paris. He is also a member of the Royal Academy of Belgium (in the Class of Letters), of the Academia Europaea, and a corresponding member of the Institut de France (Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres). His extensive list of publications touches upon almost every aspect of ancient numismatics, with particularly outstanding contributions to the study of ancient Greek and Hellenistic royal coinages, their finances, quantification, and circulation.
Mr. de Callataÿ studied Archaeology and Art History at the Université catholique de Louvain and went on to specialise in the study of ancient Greek money, presenting a doctoral dissertation in 1988. In 1991 he was appointed to the medals collection of the Royal Library of Belgium, made Director of the collection in 1994. In 2006 he was appointed Head of the patrimonial collection of the Royal Library. Among his Honours are:
- 1992 Colin Kraay award
- 1998 Bodin prize
- 2005 Member of the Royal Academy of Science, Letters and Fine Arts of Belgium
- 2006 Jeton de Vermeil
- 2007 Francqui Prize
- 2008 Archer Huntingdon Prize
- 2008 Commander in the Order of Leopold II
- Member of-the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres
According to the Royal Numismatic Society website, the Society “exists to support the study of numismatics and to promote scholarship on any subject related to numismatics.” The Society’s Medal is awarded annually since 1883 to “some person highly distinguished for services to Numismatic Science”, as elected by the Council of the Royal Numismatic Society.
The original medals were designed by Sir John Evans in 1883. Since 1993, the new cast silver medals by Ian Rank-Broadly are used.
A very prestigious award goes to a truly distinguished numismatist. Heartily compliments from the CoinsWeekly staff, François de Callataÿ!
More Information about François de Callataÿ are available in our Who is Who section.
He can also be found on Wikipedia and Academia.
Visit the homepage of the Royal Numismatic Society.
The long and impressive list of winners of the RNS-Medal can be found here.
