ANS BIDDING ON MEDALLIC ART COMPANY ASSETS

By early February, I was ready to turn to some long overdue correspondence and administration, when my colleagues and I received an email that greatly alarmed us. We heard something new concerning the North West Territorial Mint (NWTM) chapter 11 bankruptcy proceeding. After an unsuccessful attempt to reorganize the business, the Trustee in charge announced that he would liquidate all assets. Why this matters so much to the Society is that NWTM also owns the Medallic Art Company (MACO), the longest-lasting and arguably most important private mint in the US. Like many other institutions, the ANS has long been using MACO to strike its medals, including the Huntington Award and Saltus Award medals.

Since its foundation in New York City in 1903, MACO has served generations of America's finest sculptors and other artists in the production of their work, as well as countless non-profit and for-profit institutions in their desires to produce various commemorative, award, and other medals. Because medals have long been recognized as a standalone art medium, and one that is that is far more affordable to acquire than larger sculptures or paintings, MACO has also served to put fine art into the hands of many Americans who might not otherwise have had the chance to own the original work of a great artist.

What was now proposed, and without much warning to the institutions or artists concerned, was a sale of the dies, galvanos, sample medals as well as, of course, all machinery and other assets. When I approached the Trustee in charge of the proceedings, we learned that the dies were considered to be simply tools and thus the property of MACO, not of the institutions or artists. It was then proposed that the ANS bid for the holdings of dies, galvanos and samples (although only those prior to 1997). At this point, ANS Trustee Mary Lannin and I decided to visit the company's facilities in Nevada in order to get a better idea of their holdings. What we saw there was an extraordinary archive of medallic art, covering the entire twentieth century, in which works of many of the most famous sculptors were represented. Further, the archives provide an extraordinary overview of a slice of American history from the perspective of companies, clubs, schools and so on, many of which are extinct today.

As often in bankruptcy auctions; the assets of a company might be dispersed, or, as a real threat in this case, leave the United States altogether. Losing the dies and archives as well as the extraordinary cataloguing work that has been put into preserving everything for the last 115 years would be a huge loss to future generations. Should these dies fall into the wrong hands, particularly those beyond the reach of US law enforcement, unauthorized medals could be produced confounding awardees, collectors, and the institutions themselves.

The Trustees of the American Numismatic Society therefore decided to place a bid for this material. At the time of writing, we are all waiting to see what the judge in this case decides. If successful, the ANS will be able continue its role as one of the stewards of medallic art in this country. We will keep our membership informed as this story develops!

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
NORTHWEST TERRITORIAL MINT ASSET SALES (http://www.coinbooks.org/v21/esylum_v21n10a15.html)

For an ongoing blog on developments, see:
http://about.ag/NWTMint.htm

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