The American Numismatic Society held a Stack Family Coinage of theAmericas Conference dedicated to Saint-Gaudens and his Numismatic Legacy onSaturday, October 10, 2009, at its headquarters in New York City. Over thirty membersattended the event, at which experts on Saint-Gaudens and interested collectors, scholarsand dealers discussed the master sculptor's medallic productions.

One of the surprisesof the conference was the presentation of a new Saint-Gaudens find in the collections ofthe ANS. Robert W. Hoge, the Curator of North American Coins and Currency, gave anoverview of the ANS Saint-Gaudens holdings entitled "Saint-Gaudens at the AmericanNumismatic Society: A Collection Survey" in which he presented an unusual piece offascinating ephemera. During the search of the trays, ANS curatorial assistant SylviaKarges had come across a bronze printing block and a leather pouch, which wereapparently specifically made for Saint-Gaudens' 1905 Theodore Roosevelt SpecialInauguration Medal.

These had been part of an important purchase made by the ANS in 1961, of itemsthat had come through the family of Augustus' Saint-Gaudens' brother Louis.

Among the ANS holdings on view to the COAC participants were the originalplaster models, electrotypes and trial strikes made to Saint-Gaudens' order for hisassistant Henry Hering, who coordinated the work with the new coin designs during andafter the master's final days. These had been acquired from Hering's estate and donated tothe ANS in 1949 by Martin Kortjohn.

Michael Moran, the author of the recent book Striking Change, gave a paperabout the relationship between Augustus Saint-Gaudens and Charles Barber, entitled"Augustus Saint-Gaudens and Charles Barber: Unbounded Egos � Unbounded Conflict,"in which he re-examined their famous feud. In Moran's assessment, Barber's role hasbeen underappreciated, as Saint-Gaudens' side of the story has been more prominentlyfeatured in later accounts. Roger Burdette gave a short, thought-provoking paper onTeddy Roosevelt's relationship with Saint-Gaudens, entitled "The Lion's Pride: Collecting America's Best Sculptor."