ROGER BLAND AWARDED ROYAL NUMISMATIC SOCIETY MEDAL

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V18 2015 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 18, Number 3, January 18, 2015, Article 23

This article from the web site of the University College London describes the latest award of the Royal Numismatic Society's silver medal. -Editor

Roger Bland (Institute alumnus and Honorary Lecturer) has been awarded the Royal Numismatic Society's silver medal for 2014.

This is the premier international award in its field, and was awarded to Roger both for his own numismatic work and for his achievements in transforming the UK law on antiquities through the Treasure Act 1996 and the Portable Antiquities Scheme, which has just recorded its 1,000,000th object.

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.

Roger, who is Keeper of the Departments of Prehistory & Europe and Portable Antiquities & Treasure at the British Museum, undertook his PhD research at the Institute with Richard Reece (who himself received the Royal Numismatic Society medal in 2009) on 'The Coinage of Gordian III from the mints of Antioch and Caesarea'.

Roger is also a recipient of the French Numismatic Society's medal, being awarded this distinction two years ago.

The article didn't picture the medal, but I found some images online. -Editor

I was present at the meeting and Roger showed it to me. It was presented at the December meeting of the RNS held at the premises of Spink & Son. It is an impressive hunk of silver.

Below is some more information on the medal from the Society's web site, which lists winners from 1883 to date. An impressive bunch, including:

F. Imhoof-Blumer (1888),
Ernest Babelon (1892),
Barclay V. Head (1907),
Edward T. Newell (1925),
Agnes Baldwin Brett (1943),
Sydney P. Noe (1949),
Theodore V. Buttrey (1983),
Eric P. Newman(1991),
Mark Blackburn (2008) and
Alan Stahl (2010).

Mark Blackburn donated his medal to the Fitzwilliam; it's illustrated above. -Editor

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 Medal is presented at the Annual General Meeting in December, at which the Medallist will give a lecture.

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.

To read the complete article, see:
The Society’s Medal (http://numismatics.org.uk/medals-honorary-fellowship-prizes/the-societys-medal/)

To read the Fitzwilliam catalog listing, see:
Royal Numismatic Society Medal (http://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/197057)

There are images of the earlier medal (obverse & reverse) on Google Images. I think it had to be replaced when the die cracked.