Bruce Bartelt’s exhibit “Coinage in Roman Egypt” captured the Best-of-Show exhibit award at the Central States Numismatic Society 77th annual convention, held April 25 to 30 in Schaumburg, Ill. 

The exhibit was part of a massive educational exhibit area consisting of 229 cases of competitive exhibits presented at the show from 36 exhibitors who entered 54 competitive exhibits. Three noncompetitive exhibits added 12 cases. 

Exhibitors came from 11 states and Canada to compete for gold coins in custom holders manufactured by United Trophy Manufacturing in Orlando, Fla. 

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Bartelt’s display presents an overview of the coinage of Roman Egypt including its origin, development and iconography. The exhibitor wrote in his introduction: “Egypt had the longest and most continuous series of Roman provincial coins. The designs placed upon these coins present a fascinating mix reflecting the intersection of Greco-Roman and Egyptian cultures. After a two-century hiatus, during which Alexandria struck coins that were part of an empire-wide currency system, a distinctive Egyptian coinage was revived under the Eastern Roman, ‘Byzantine,’ emperors.” 

A section on animals used on the coins included coins depicting a hippopotamus, crocodile, Apis bull, heron, serpents and an eagle. 

Jack D. Huggins Jr. served as exhibit chairman with Bob Fritsch, Fran and Ray Lockwood and Jim Moores serving as exhibit area assistants. Huggins also served as chief exhibit judge with Brett Irick volunteering as deputy exhibit judge. 

At the convention, Irick and Col. Joe Boling offered a class where participants could become an American Numismatic Association certified exhibit judge, and John and Nancy Wilson presented a talk on how to prepare an award-winning exhibit. 

As convention chairman Kevin Foley noted in his introduction, the exhibit area is a point of pride for CSNS and provides a place “where our guests can quietly study advanced fully documented displays across a wide range of numismatic specialty areas.”

Coins ancient & modern

Floyd Aprill won the U.S. Coins category with his display, “The United States Mint in Manila.” This exhibit also won the Joseph and Morton Stack Award for the Best Exhibit by a First-Time CSNS Exhibitor. His exhibit told the story of the U.S. Mint in Manila. The exhibitor wrote, “The only United States mint ever established outside the continental limits of the United States, the Manila Mint played an important role in America’s Nation Building in the Philippines.”

Steve Roach took second with “What is a Clipped Planchet: Selected Eisenhower and Susan B. Anthony Dollars” while Jeffrey Rosinia won third with “Colorful Lincoln Cents – Abraham Lincoln: A Legacy in Numismatics.” The award for this category was sponsored by Heritage Auctions. Rosinia also took the People’s Choice Award for his display. 

“Coinage in Roman Egypt” won the Foreign Coins Prior to 1500 category, followed by Donald Dool in second with “AD Dates Copper Coins of the Fifteenth Century” and Roach in third with “Numismatic Depictions of Power.” Sovereign Entities Grading Service sponsored the award. 

In Foreign Coins After 1500, Bruce Benoit won with “Canadian Fish Scales – A Comprehensive Look at the Five-Cent Silver,” followed by Tom Uram’s popular display “The Kings and Queens of England Through Maundy Money” and W. Thomas Corey’s “Silver Cobs of the Major Spanish American Mints” in second and third places. The award was sponsored by Professional Coin Grading Service. 

Benoit’s exhibit was notable for its large smiling fish model in the first case. He wrote: “The purpose of the exhibit is to educate the viewer with general information and a brief history of a selected group of silver five-cent pieces from the Province of Canada and the Dominion of Canada. These coins, relative to their size and thinness, were nicknamed ‘fish scales’ by local consumers and were not easily accepted by the public, due to their small size.” 

Paper money exhibits

Last year’s CSNS Best-of-Show exhibit winner Nancy Wilson won the U.S. Paper Money category — the Sandy Martin Memorial Award — with “A Selection of $2.00 Type Notes.” In second was Dany Rothfeld with “Selected One of a Kind Michigan National Banknotes,” and third was Mack Martin with “Georgia’s Risqué Vignettes.” 

Martin’s display was popular and one note showed a muscular Neptune with a busty Amphitrite, the wife of Neptune. Martin wrote, “Neptune, Triton and any other mythological gods of the sea were usually used by banks with aquatic names.” The $5 note displayed, however, was from the Chattahoochee Railroad and Banking Company, which operated from 1838 before failing.

Dool captured the Foreign Paper Money category — the Jack D. Huggins Sr. Memorial Award — for his exhibit “Nineteenth Century Latin American Scripophily,” with Mike Dennany’s display “Various Notgeld from Frankenstein, Germany,” coming in second. Rothfeld won third with “1955 Israeli Specimen Set. 

Tokens, medals and miscellaneous

Donald Dool won the Medals category with “LA Sociedad ‘LA Medalla.’?” Joe Paonessa took home second with “The Duplication of Coins and Medals by the Electrotype Process, its History and Methods Used” and Kathy Freeland won third with “ANA Women’s Convention Badges.” The award was sponsored by the Milwaukee Numismatic Society and South Shore Coin Club

The Tokens category was sponsored by the Des Moines Coin Club and was won by Thomas Casper for “Milwaukee Civil War Tokens.” Casper’s display contains the rarest of all Wisconsin Civil War tokens — the A.H. Filner store card. The variety (Fuld WI-510J-1a) is represented by perhaps five to 10 known examples but Casper wrote, “there is no explanation for why tokens from this merchant [are] so rare.” 

Mike Miller’s display “Timeline of Louisville Transportation Tokens and Exonumia” won second. His exhibit highlighted the history of Louisville, Ky., transportation tokens and the companies that issued them. The exhibitor acknowledged that the exhibit, while comprehensive, was not complete and asked for viewers help in assisting him with the completion of his collection. 

Diana Jellinek’s display “Exploder Control Tokens: Rise and Fall of Company Store Trade Money” took home third. 

The Miscellaneous category was sponsored by Brett Irick and first place was Thomas Havelka’s display “Classifying Exonumia (With Selected Examples).” The exhibit is based on the book Tokens and Medals – A Guide to the Identification and Values of United States Exonumia by Stephen P. Alpert and Lawrence E. Elman. The exhibit displayed an item to represent each of the book’s 66 chapters, which identify 66 broad categories of exonumia. 

Second went to David Hunsicker for “The Milwaukee Transit System” with third going to John Wilson’s display “Postage Scrip Notes.” 

James Zylstra’s exhibit “Commemorating Primitive Money in Central Africa” won the John Jay Pittman Most Educational Exhibit Award. 

In the Junior category, Jason Paonessa won the Mark Petty Memorial Award for “The David R. Cervin Ancient Coin Project.” The exhibit included coins received by the exhibitor as he participated in the American Numismatic Association’s program aimed at getting young people involved in the hobby.