"The American Numismatic Association Recognizes the New Jersey Numismatic Society with 90-Year Club Award"

In August 2024, the American Numismatic Association recognized the New Jersey NumismaticSociety (NJNS) for 90 years of continuous membership dating to 1934. The NJNS received abeautiful acrylic engraved plaque to mark this special occasion. In addition, the NJNS was listedin the 90-Year Clubs section of the "Membership Anniversaries" in The Numismatist, August 2024, p. 59.

At our October 2024 meeting, Ray Williams, NJNS Vice President, showed the in-person andonline Society members the ANA award and explained how the plaque featured the engravinginside the acrylic.

The NJNS was founded in 1933 and joined the ANA in 1934.

Postscript: Focus on Ernest E. Keusch (1916-2000), Authority on U.S. Assay CommissionMedals

Notable NJNS member Ernest Keusch started collecting coins in childhood and graduated from Princeton University in 1938. "He was especially drawn to offbeat collectibles, including assay medals, U.S. pattern coins, miniature Mint medals of the 1920s and '30s, sutler tokens and paper scrip. His personal collection of Assay Commission medals was one of the finest ever formed." (Ed Reiter, "New Jersey Numismatist 'Ernie' Keusch Dies at 84," PCGS article, March 13,2000).

Keusch was a life member of the American Numismatic Association. He also was a member of the American Numismatic Society, the Numismatic Literary Guild, the New Jersey Numismatic Society (NJNS) and the New York Numismatic Club. From 1982 to 1992, he served as a club officer in the NJNS. Ernest has the distinction of being the only NJNS member to receive the Charles F. Nettleship Award for Service to the NJNS twice, in 1985 and again in 2000 (Pour Merite).

"Keusch not only possessed a broad range of numismatic knowledge, but also shared it freely, frequently assisting new collectors." (Reiter PCGS article). In a recent article, Edward Van Orden explained that Keusch's and Robert W. Julian's guide, "[t]he 1989 Token and Medal Society publication Medals of the United States Assay Commission 1860-1977, provides the basis of the classification system used for Assay Medals today. This definitive work includes 123 die combinations and attributes them by Julian Keusch Assay Commission numbers (JK-AC)." (Van Orden, "A Survey of Presidential Assay Commission Medals," PCGS article, October 2, 2024). Keusch was aided by his own collecting prowess, as he "amassed 141 medals across 96 dates[.]" (Van Orden PCGS article). In November 2008, Stack's conducted a sale of the Ernest E. Keusch Collection of United States Assay Medals, 1860-1977.

For more information about Ernest Keusch and his numismatic background, refer to the Newman Numismatic Portal.

Jeff adds:

Acknowledgements:
I want to thank Ray Williams for providing images for this article.