August 18, 2011 – The International Association of Professional numismatists (I.A.P.N.) held its 60th General Assembly June 23-27, 2011 in Edinburgh Scotland. A total of fortythree of the world’s leading numismatic firms met to attend the diamond jubilee congress. Fourteen different nations were physically present, including Australia, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Monaco, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United States of America and Venezuela as well as several others whom participated via proxy.
The I.A.P.N. meets annually to conduct its congress, which is held in a different city and country as voted on by its members. This year the congress was hosted by the U.K. firm A. H. Baldwin & Sons Ltd. As an anniversary congress, it was conducted in the same location as the 24th general assembly some thirtyfive years ago hosted by the same firm “A. H. Baldwin & Sons Ltd”.
This was an important congress for the I.A.P.N., as it was an election year. Numismatic firms from around the world gathered, deliberated and voted on several matters during the business sessions. This included the election and appointment of a new president, vice president and executive committee. Members of the I.A.P.N. executive committee serve the organization for two year tenures. A list of the newly elected officials is as follows:
President:
Eric McFadden (Classical Numismatic Group, United States / United Kingdom)
Vice President:
Jim Elmen (World Wide Coins of California, United States)
Executive committee members:
Graham Byfield (A. H. Baldwin & Sons Ltd., United Kingdom)
Sandrine Dorey-Barre (Maison Platt, France)
Arne Kirsch (Kunker, Germany)
Mathias Paoletti (Bernardi, Italy)
Frederica Pastrone (Editions Victor Gadoury, Monaco)
Kent Ponterio (Ponterio & Associates, United States)
Fernando Segarra (Segarra Numismatica, Spain)
Tim Wilkes (Wilkes, United Kingdom)
Jean-Luc Van Der Schueren (Van Der Schueren, Belgium)
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Among the many topics discussed by the organization were the applications for new membership. A total of four firms were voted into the I.A.P.N. as new members. The I.A.P.N. is pleased to announce and welcome the following firms as new members:
Antikwariat Numizmatyczny
Pawel Niemczyk
ul. Zelazna 67, pawilon 22
00-871 Warszawa,
Poland
I.C.E.- Jerome Lacroix
Charter House
5 Pembroke Row, Dublin 2
Ireland
Nomos AG
Zahringerstrasse 27
8001 Zurich
Switzerland
HLS Stacks Rare Coins
18 Arlington Lane
Bayville, NY 11709
U.S.A
As is usual, several excellent numismatic publications were submitted for consideration for this year’s annual book prize. In custom with I.A.P.N. tradition, after voting the submitted books are donated to an institution or library in the country for which the congress is being held. The I.A.P.N. is pleased to have donated the submitted books to the University of Edinburgh where it hopes they will be put to good use for research and advancement in the field of numismatics. A total of nine new numismatic references were submitted this year, all of which received votes from the membership, some of which were ranked very closely in the final outcome of voting. The I.A.P.N. would like to recognize and thank all of the contributing authors for their hard work in publishing these excellent numismatic references.
First Place:
Christopher Eimer
British Commemorative Medals and Their Values
Publisher: Spink London
ISBN: 978-1-907427-06-0
Second Place:
Giulio Bernardi
Arabic Gold Coins Corpus I
Publisher: Edizione Universita Trieste & Giulio Bernardi S.R.L.
ISBN: 378-88-8303-285-1
Third Place:
Sergio R. Sucre Castillo
Los Billetes de Emision Centralizada de Venezuela
Publisher: Sergio R. Sucre Cstillio, Caracas
ISBN: 978-980-12-3438-8
Several important topics were discussed at this year’s congress; this includes reports from the various sub committees. The I.A.P.N. has been working diligently on several developments within the numismatic industry to better the hobby. This includes the establishment of the “Committee on International Trade” which presented an elaborate report on issues pertaining to import and export laws as well as cultural property laws. The committee is working diligently to preserve the rights of collectors within the numismatic community. Reports were also given by IBSCC and of the Anti Forgery Committees. The topic of discussing forgeries within the market place is no stranger to these meetings. The IBSCC and Anti Forgery Committees meet regularly to discuss and combat these issues.
For more information regarding the I.A.P.N. click here. You will find there a full list of I.A.P.N. members.