Last week I received (in absentia) a wonderful honor-a Numismatic Ambassador Award.

I remember first reading about these awards when I was a young collector back in the 1980s. About 400 ambassadors total have been named since 1974 when Krause Publications and Numismatic Newsbestowed the first such recognition. Florida United Numismatists took over the administration of the awards with the 2015 nomination and election cycle.

Anyone can nominate a numismatist to receive the ambassadorship, and in recent years I've been pleased to fill out forms recommending friends and colleagues. I had no idea someone nominated me for2017. "Thank you" to whoever that was! And thanks also to the body of current ambassadors, who voted to approve my membership in their ranks.

This recognition is especially significant to me because I know each of my five 2017 co-awardees personally. I'm proud to have worked closely with most of them on many numismatic projects over theyears.

I remember meeting the father-and-daughter team of Steve and Ray Feller in Memphis at the Authors Forum of the International Paper Money Show in 2009. Fred Reed and I were there giving apresentation on Reed's new book, Abraham Lincoln: The Image of His Greatness. The Fellers were discussing the subject of their recent book on the civilian camp money of World War II, SilentWitnesses. Even back then they were well known and very active in the hobby community, and it was an honor to meet them. Of course, since then Steve and Ray have continued to add to their list ofcontributions to numismatics, writing, speaking, and organizing for many clubs

To read the complete article, see:
Numismatic ambassadorship: Inspiration to keep serving the hobby(news.coinupdate.com/numismatic-ambassadorship-inspiration-to-keep-serving-the-hobby/)