Michigan collector Lawrence Sekulich won the 2015 American Numismatic Association’s Howland Wood Memorial Best-in-Show exhibit award for his display “They Flap, Flutter and Float: Various Winged Immortals Appearing on Coins from Ancient to Modern Times.” 

In this display at the August ANA World’s Fair of Money, Sekulich — who also teaches the exhibiting course at the annual ANA Summer Seminar — presented a survey of coins that use images of flying immortals as symbolic, religious and decorative objects. 

These top awards were presented at the banquet on Aug. 14 at the World’s Fair of Money in Rosemont, Ill., which ran from Aug. 11 to 15. 

This year’s educational exhibit hall included 36 exhibitors showing 60 competitive exhibits, along with six noncompetitive exhibits. 

Sekulich also won second runner-up best-in-show honors for his display “Faces of Gold: A Small Gallery of Coin Portraits from Ancient Greece to 20th Century America,” which presented a small gallery of portraits on gold coins that epitomized the major epochs of western art. 

His two displays won first place honors in Class 18: General, Specialized, and Topical, Robert Hendershott Memorial award; and Class 15: Gold Coins, Gaston DiBello/Melvin and Leona Kohl Memorial award, respectively.

Sekulich has received the ANA’s top exhibiting award at summer ANA conventions in 2000 and 2013. Additionally, he came close in 1999, 2004, and 2011, where he won first-runner-up honors. 

When asked about his secret to a good exhibit, Sekulich said that an excellent exhibit takes a lot of time and extensive preparation, paired with a love of sharing knowledge and telling a good story. He adds, “I have found that people who create an educational numismatic exhibit are very passionate about coins as a springboard to numerous related areas.”

Santa Claus exhibit

Winning the Radford Stearns Memorial Award for Excellence in Exhibiting, presented to the best-in-show first runner-up, was Nancy Wilson for “Santa Claus Obsolete Notes & Vignettes.” Wilson recently took top exhibit honors at the Central States Numismatic Society’s convention in Schaumburg, Ill. Her ANA exhibit topped her category, winning the Sidney W. Smith/William Donlon Memorial Award for Class 2: United States Fiscal Paper. She displayed a complete type set of Santa Claus obsolete notes and their matching vignettes. 

Melissa Gumm and Paul Hybert shared duties as collector exhibits chairmen and Joseph Boling served as chief exhibit judge. 

Special awards

The Thos. H. Law Award for the best exhibit by a first-time exhibitor went to Michael T. Shutterly for “Sacred Images: Numismatic Representations of Belief in the Divine,” which also topped Class 9: Coins Issued Prior to 1500 A.D., Dr. Charles W. Crowe Memorial Award. 

Shutterly’s exhibit sought to provide examples of how societies and cultures have used coins to express religious beliefs. 

He added, “It also provides examples of how a meeting of cultures can cause a group to mint and use coins that express religious beliefs that its people do not hold and perhaps absolutely reject.”

Carl Waltz Jr. received the Ira & Larry Goldberg Award for the best exhibit of “Coins that Made History” for “A Study of Matte Proof Lincoln Cents 1909 to 1916.” This display also won the Lelan G. Rogers Memorial first place award in Class 1: United States Coins. His display featured a complete set of Matte Proof Lincoln cents from 1909 to 1916 and showed an example struck from each die, as well as thoughts about how Matte Proof Lincoln cents were minted and a brief history of the Lincoln cent. 

The Rodger E. Hershey Memorial People’s Choice Award, selected by convention attendees, was won by two individuals, as two exhibits were tied after four days of voting. 

2015 American Numismatic Association convention Host Chairman Jeffrey J. Rosinia’s exhibit “Abraham Lincoln: A Legacy in Numismatics,” and Thomas J. Uram’s display “The U.S. Two Cent Piece 1864-1873 with Major Varieties” split the popular vote and both took home the award. 

Rosinia’s exhibit also topped Class 19: Convention Theme, Clifford Mishler Award, while Uram’s exhibit won second place honors in Class 1: United States Coins.

Uram also received the Women in Numismatics award for his exhibit “The Kings and Queens of England through Maundy Monday.” This exhibit won the Class 12: Numismatics of Europe, John S. Davenport Memorial award. Uram’s exhibit “Under the Dome” won the first place John R. Eshbach Memorial award for Class 4: Modern U.S. Coins and Modern Medals.

Rosinia also won Class 20: U.S. Commemorative Coinage, Society for U.S. Commemorative Coins Award, for his exhibit titled “The Sacagawea and Native American Commemorative Dollar Coin Program.” 

John A. H. Siteman received the Derek Pobjoy Award for Best Exhibit of Modern Circulating Commemorative Coins for “Let the Games Begin — Coins of the Modern Olympic Games.” This exhibit also won third place in Class 4.

YN wins big

The Charles H. Wolfe Sr. Memorial Award for the Young Numismatist Best-of-Show exhibit was presented to Gavin Bjorn Burseth for “Celebrating a Century of Honor — Boy Scout Medallions and Coins.” His display took top honors in YN Class 5, Medals and Tokens, Charles “Cheech” Litman Memorial award. 

Another of his exhibits, “The Sea & British Patriotism — History of Cayman Island Currency,” won first place in YN Class 3, Paper Money, Kagin Family Award. His exhibit showed how the colorful official currency of the Cayman Islands — introduced in 1972 — reflects the nation’s maritime and cultural heritage. 

Bernie Wang captured the first place YN Class 1: United States Coins, Edgerton-Lenker Memorial Award, for “A Doomed Denomination: The Twenty Cent Piece.”

Three wins for Kuritzky

Simcha Laib Kuritzky won first-place awards in three categories. He won Class 5: Tokens, B.P. Wright Memorial award, for “Boy for Sale? Tokens for the Redemption of the Firstborn Son.” 

He also took first place in Class 7: Engraved Coins, Love Token Society Award, for “Engraved Coins of the Ba’al Shem Tov Amulet.” 

Finally he won Class 13: Numismatics of Africa and the Middle East, the Menachem Chaim and Simcha Tova Mizel Memorial award, for “Creating Modern Israel: The History of Zionism Shown through Numismatics.”

Other first-place winners in ANA convention exhibit competition included: 

??Class 3: Medals, Orders, Decorations and Badges, Burton Saxton/George Bauer Memorial Award, Mitch Ernst, for “The Sower, an Enduring Symbol of Hope.”

??Class 8: Elongated Coins, Dottie Dow Memorial Award, Cindy Z. Calhoun, for “State Flags on Elongated Cents.”

??Class 10: Regional U.S. Numismatics, William C. Henderson/Fred Cihon Memorial Award, Scott A. McGowan, for “Medals of Chicago — Four Years of ANA Medallic Art.”

??Class 11: Numismatics of the Americas, Henry Christensen/John Jay Pittman Sr. Memorial award, Donald H. Dool, for “A Selection of San Martin Medals that are Big, Bold and Beautiful.”

??Class 14: Numismatics of Asia and the Pacific, William B. Warden Jr. Memorial Award, Floyd Aprill, for “The United States Mint in Manila.”

??Class 17: Numismatic Literature, Aaron Feldman Memorial Award, Mark Wieclaw, for “Roman Coins and Their Values: The Evolution of the Most Used Reference on Ancient Roman Coinage.”