The Society’s Medal

The Society’s Medal was instituted in 1883, to be awarded annually to ‘some person highly distinguished for services to Numismatic Science’, as elected by the Council.

The dies for the original silver medal were given to the Society by Sir John Evans in 1883. A new cast silver medal commissioned from Ian Rank-Broadley was first presented in 1993. By 2019, stocks of the Evans medal were running low, leading the Society to commission a new design in silver from Bob Elderton. This was first presented to the Society’s medallist for 2022.

The new medal (2022-) by Bob Elderton, featuring on its obverse the seal of the Society emerging from an open shell; on the reverse, a coin-collecting octopus, inspired by similar representations on Ancient Greek coins.

Winners of the Society’s Medal

  • 1883 Charles Roach Smith
  • 1884 Aquilla Smith
  • 1885 Edward Thomas
  • 1886 Alexander Cunningham
  • 1887 John Evans
  • 1888 F. Imhoof-Blumer
  • 1889 Percy Gardner
  • 1890 J.P. Six
  • 1891 C. Ludwig Müller
  • 1892 R. Stuart Poole
  • 1893 W.H. Waddington
  • 1894 Charles Francis Keary
  • 1895 Theodor Mommsen
  • 1896 Frederic W. Madden
  • 1897 Alfred von Sallet
  • 1898 W. Greenwell
  • 1899 Ernest Babelon
  • 1900 Stanley Lane-Poole
  • 1901 S.E. Baron Wladmir von Tiesenhausen
  • 1902 Arthur J. Evans
  • 1903 Gustave Schlumberger
  • 1904 His Majesty Victor Emmanuel III, King of Italy
  • 1905 Sir Hermann Weber
  • 1906 Comm. Crancesco Gnecchi
  • 1907 Barclay V. Head
  • 1908 Heinrich Dressel
  • 1909 Herbert A. Grueber
  • 1910 Friedrich Edler von Kenner
  • 1911 Oliver Codrington
  • 1912 Max von Bahrfeldt
  • 1913 George Macdonald
  • 1914 Jean N. Svoronos
  • 1915 George Francis Hill
  • 1916 Théodore Reinach
  • 1917 L.A. Lawrence
  • 1918 Not awarded
  • 1919 M. Adrien Blanchet
  • 1920 H.B. Earle-Fox and J.S. Shirley-Fox
  • 1921 Percy H. Webb
  • 1922 Frederick A. Walters
  • 1923 J.W. Kubitschek
  • 1924 Henry Symonds
  • 1925 Edward T. Newell
  • 1926 R.W. Maclachan
  • 1927 Adolphe Dieudonne
  • 1928 Sir Charles Oman
  • 1929 Jules Maurice
  • 1930 Edward A. Sydenham
  • 1931 Helen Farquhar
  • 1932 H. Nelson Wright
  • 1933 Kurt Regling
  • 1934 George Cyril Brooke (posthumously)
  • 1935 Behrendt Pick
  • 1936 John Allan
  • 1937 Victor Tourneur
  • 1938 J. Grafton Milne
  • 1939 J.W.E. Pearce
  • 1940 R.B. Whitehead
  • 1941 Harold Mattingly
  • 1942 E. Stanley G. Robinson
  • 1943 Agnes Baldwin Brett
  • 1944 Leonard Forrer
  • 1945 Charles Seltman
  • 1946 George Galster
  • 1947 Eduard von Zambaur
  • 1948 Jocelyn M.C. Toynbee
  • 1949 Sydney P. Noe
  • 1950 Karl Pink
  • 1951 H.L. Rabino (posthumously)
  • 1952 Lodovico Laffranchi
  • 1953 A. Alföldi
  • 1954 C. Humphrey V. Sutherland
  • 1955 A.R. Bellinger
  • 1956 John Walker
  • 1957 George C. Miles
  • 1958 Philip Grierson
  • 1959 Oscar Ulrich-Bansa
  • 1960 C. Wilson Peck
  • 1961 Henri Seyrig
  • 1962 Michael Grant
  • 1963 Willy Schwabacher
  • 1964 Anne S. Robertson
  • 1965 Jean Lafaurie
  • 1966 Derek F. Allen
  • 1967 Margaret Thompson
  • 1968 Paul Balog
  • 1969 Christopher E. Blunt
  • 1970 Pierre Bastien
  • 1971 Herbert A. Cahn
  • 1972 Robert A.G. Carson
  • 1973 H. Enno van Gelder
  • 1974 George Le Rider
  • 1975 G. Kenneth Jenkins
  • 1976 J.-B. Colbert de Beaulieu
  • 1977 P. Lal Gupta
  • 1978 Colin M. Kraay
  • 1979 Peter Berghaus
  • 1980 Patrick Bruun
  • 1981 Michael Dolley
  • 1982 Otto Mørkholm
  • 1983 Theodore V. Buttrey
  • 1984 Michael H. Crawford
  • 1985 Paul Naster
  • 1986 Brita Malmer
  • 1987 D. Michael Metcalf
  • 1988 Peter R. Franke
  • 1989 Leandre Villaronga
  • 1990 JohnP.C. Kent
  • 1991 Eric P. Newman
  • 1992 Martin J. Price
  • 1993 Andrew Burnett
  • 1994 Cècile Morrisson
  • 1995 Maria Alföldi
  • 1996 Lord Stewartby
  • 1997 Jørgen Steen Jensen
  • 1998 Jean-Baptiste Giard
  • 1999 Joseph E. Cribb
  • 2000 Richard Doty
  • 2001 Ulla Westermark
  • 2002 Nicholas Mayhew
  • 2003 Gert and Vera Hatz
  • 2004 Michel Amandry
  • 2005 Peter Spufford
  • 2006 François Thierry
  • 2007 Wolfgang Hahn
  • 2008 Mark Blackburn
  • 2009 Richard Reece
  • 2010 Alan Stahl
  • 2011 Marion Archibald
  • 2012 Lucia Travaini
  • 2013 Michael Alram
  • 2014 Roger Bland
  • 2015 Bernd Kluge
  • 2016 Pere Pau Ripollès
  • 2017 Lutz Ilisch
  • 2018 Johan van Heesch
  • 2019 Sam Moorhead
  • 2020 Keith Rutter
  • 2021 François de Callataÿ
  • 2022 Carmen Arnold-Biucchi
  • 2023 Shin’ichi Sakuraki
  • 2024 Helen Wang