Help Fill in the Gaps in the Oriental Numismatics Collection of the Harry W. Bass Jr.Library

The American Numismatic Society not only houses one of the largest collections of Oriental coinsin the world, it also publishes books on Oriental numismatics, including a soon-forthcoming majorstudy of Kashan coinage and a study of the banknotes of the Imperial Bank of Persia. Naturally, theSociety's Harry W. Bass Jr. Library would like to keep pace. But it is difficult for the staff toidentify what has been published in Oriental numismatics without input from specialists in Islamic,South Asia, Southeast Asian and East Asian numismatics.

That is where Prof. Jere L. Bacharach comes in. Prof. Bacharach, an ANS Trustee as well as amember of the Oriental Numismatic Society, has been diligently checking each issue of the Journalof the Oriental Numismatics Society (JONS) and then consulting with the Bass Library staff to helpidentify what items the library is missing. The effort is rewarding: a review of the past fourissues of JONS, for example, revealed that there are 13 recently published works the library doesnot own.

Still, identifying such missing items is not quite enough. There remains the critical issue ofsecuring the funds to acquire them.

And that is the point at which Dr. Ute Wartenberg Kagan, Executive Director of the ANS, entersthe picture. Dr. Wartenberg Kagan has found an anonymous donor who will contribute up to $1,000 inmatching funds, in blocks of $50, to buy books listed in JONS that the ANS does not have. That is,for each U.S. tax-deductible gift of $50 to the ANS "Oriental Numismatic Book Fund," that donorwill contribute another $50 to buy books exclusively in this field. These resulting $100 blockswill ensure that the Harry W. Bass Jr. Library can purchase books on Oriental numismatics in atimely fashion, while they are still available in the market, from a fund dedicated to theiracquisition.

Dr. Wartenberg Kagan is thrilled with this initiative, and she hopes it will encourageenthusiasts in other numismatic specialties to consider launching their own dedicated funds.

Those dedicated to Oriental numismatics, though, now have no need to wait. If you would like tosupport scholarship in the field, please send a check made out to "American Numismatic Society-Oriental Numismatic Book Fund," and mail it to the American Numismatic Society, 75 Varick Street,Floor 11, New York, N.Y. 10013 USA, or donate online at the ANS web site. Be sure to note that yourgift is for the "Oriental Numismatic Book Fund."

To visit the ANS web site, see:
www.numismatics.org