2024 MCA AWARD MEDALS

 

Medal Collectors of America will be presenting the winners of the Carl Carlson and Georgia Stamm Chamberlain awards for 2024 at the January 2025 New York International Numismatic Convention (NYINC). Congratulations to Robert Lewis Fagaly for earning the Carl Carlson award, and to Robert Rodriguez for the Georgia Stamm Chamberlain award. NYINC will be held January 16th to 19th, at the Intercontinental New York Barclay, 11 East 48th St, New York City, NY 10017.

The MCA meeting will take place January 18 th, between 11:30am and 1pm, at the Astor Suite 1. For more information on the show: http://www.nyinc.info.

About the Recipients

Robert Lewis Fagaly
A native of Nantucket, Massachusetts, Dr. Robert Lewis Fagaly received his B.S. in Chemistry from San Jose State, an MBA from the University of San Diego, and a Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Toledo. He is the author of over 120 publications in cryogenics, quantum interference, fusion energy, and medicine, in addition to another eight in numismatics. He is a Fellow of the Institute of the Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and a recipient of the IEEE's Swerdlow medal for contributions to the field of superconductivity. He served on the Department of Commerce's Technical Advisory Committee for nearly three decades and was Treasurer of the Episcopal Diocese of San Diego. He is a member of the International Electrotechnical Commission, the American Society of Hematology, and the Society of The Cincinnati, serving on its Museum Committee.

He was the lead author for the Grading Guide for Early American Copper Coins, which was awarded the Numismatic Literary Guild's Book of the Year in 2015. He has been a Merit Badge Counselor for both the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. He is a member of numerous numismatic organizations, including the ANA, ANS, C4, EAC, OMSA, and the Medal Collectors of America. His current interests are focused on the Comitia Americana medals, the medals of the Marquis de Lafayette, and the Continental Dollar. 

Robert L. Rodriguez
In 2016, I retired from the investment management field after forty-five years that included thirty-two years with First Pacific Advisors, LLC, where I lead in building it into a $35 billion investment management firm. For twenty-six years, I managed equity and fixed income funds, along with institutional separate accounts. Morningstar, the leading evaluator of mutual funds, named me its Mutual Fund Manager of the Year three times, one of only two, and the only one to receive it for both equity and fixed income management. When I stepped down from active investment management at the end of 2009, my equity fund, FPA Capital Fund, was ranked number one for over twenty-five years, worldwide, by Morningstar.

In 2013, I became reacquainted with coin collecting, after a fifty-two-year absence, when an article about a 1792 silver half disme, the Starr Specimen, caught my attention in a local newspaper. After eight months of researching the field, I re-entered it in 2014. Six-months later, I was able to acquire the Starr Specimen, for my newly named Resolute Americana Collection, out of the August 2014 Heritage auction.

While investigating the half disme, one of the finest bronze Libertas Americana Comitia Americana medals caught my attention. The following year, my acquisition of the bronze Diplomatic medal brought me into contact and friendship with John Adams and Anne Bentley. From then on, not only did I acquire other great numismatic rarities, but more importantly, enduring friendships.

Returning to numismatics has allowed me to redirect my research investigative talents into this new field. During the past ten-years, my collecting pursuits have focused on early federal and colonial coinage, historic medals, British hammered, and Spanish colonial coinage. Quality, rarity, and historical importance have been the key attributes I have used in selecting numismatic additions for the Resolute Collection. I am truly humbled and honored to be the recipient of the 2024 Georgia Stamm Chamberlain Award.

For more information on the Medal Collectors of America, see:
https://www.medalcollectors.org/

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