Hello everyone, Earlier this evening I had the pleasure of attending the 150th anniversary of the Boston Numismatic Society, and what I great time I had. The meeting was held by three different group in and around Boston. They were the Boston Numismatic Society, The Boston Collectors Club, and the Boston Currency Club. Many of the members belong to more then one group. I arrived at about just shy of 6pm, and was fashionably early, by oh an hour and a half, lol. I got to spend time with members from all three groups and was made aware of some others I had not known about, as this was my official first meeting as a member of the BNS. Of importance in this was that I got to meet ziggy9 and ziggy9.2 , ziggy9's son in person, both of whom are gentlemen. The meeting started at about 730pm, and was opened by a BNS member reading the minutes of the first ever BNS meeting in 1860. That was real nice treat. Not something I was expecting. Afterward there was a lecture on the MOU, and all members where informed on who to contact and dispute the current issue. Following that members brought forward many different papers, articles, and coins to discuss and teach us about them, all of which where quite interesting. ziggy had an amazing collecting of clipped planchets and errors he had found while roll searching, I believe. I am sure he will let me know if I misunderstood that. Additionally there was a display of an 1806 New Hampshire newspaper that showed counterfeit currency of the time. There were others but i am not going to write a book here. Once all members had finished there displays we took a break where everyone was talking about coins, paper, etc. This also let me get to talk to more members. Prior to getting the meeting restarted pictures where taken for the special occasion. Follow the break there was a very interesting show and lecture on currency that displayed the battle of 1812. Quite an interesting topic and well done. Most of the currency was from the 1813 to 1817 period and showed some amazing art work. This was a very interesting meeting and one I thoroughly enjoyed. On a low note, I was informed prior to the meeting the Q. David Bowers was supposed to attend but had to cancel due to some personal issue. Nothing serious however. I would have liked to of met him, as I am reading one of his books. During the evening I was informed of the 150th BNS Medals that are on sale and I am planning on buying one of each, there are two total. I believe they are copper and bronze. I will put pictures up once I have them, unless another BNS member does so first. I found out there are at least three CT members that are also BNS members. If anyone that was present noted any errors in this, please let me know so it can be corrected. Regards, Stan
Very nice write up Stan. Sounds like you had a great time. Thanks for sharing with us and I can't wait to see your new medals.
one minor correction. My son is Ziggy 9.1 not 9.2, but he doesn't post very often anyway. The medals, while commemorating our 150th, is actually being released for the upcoming ANA show in Boston, We are the host club. If anyone is interested in a set PM me. It was nice to meet you Stan and I look foreward to seeing you at future meetings Richard
150 years ? That's amazing. The US is a relatively new country, so coin collecting is relatively new here as well. 150 years of history is worth getting excited about. Congratulations ! :high5:
We believe that the Boston Numismatic Society is the oldest continuously meeting club in the country.
Believable. Congrats ! You have much to be excited about. Are there any records tying the founding of this club to the post-1857 coin collecting fad ? Any memoirs by the founders / organizational notes / newspaper clippings ?
I do know last evening they read the minutes of the first ever club meeting. So Yes there is something, not sure to what extent however. Regards, Stan
The BNS was one of the original publishers of the American journal of Numismatics for the ANS. I think that might qualify. Richard
Older BNS Medal My way of comparrison, here is a medal from BNS's 85-th anniversary View attachment BNS.BMP
