ANA honors Neil Shafer, Leroy Van Allen with Lifetime Achievement Awards
Noted numismatists Leroy C. Van Allen and Neil Shafer are the 2007 recipients of the American Numismatic Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of their outstanding contributions to numismatics. Both men will be presented their awards Aug. 10 during the ANA Membership Award Presentations at the World’s Fair of Money® in Milwaukee, Wis.
Van Allen, of Sidney, Ohio, is one of the country’s foremost authorities on Morgan & Peace dollars. In 1965 he published his first book, Morgan and Peace Dollar Varieties. He began collaborating with A. George Mallis in 1966, and the moniker VAM (after Van Allen and Mallis) became a numismatic household name. Their books include The Comprehensive Catalog and Encyclopedia of Morgan & Peace Dollars, now in its fourth edition. In 1973, he was a consultant to the General Services Administration for the sale of Carson City Morgan dollars, and, along with Mallis, examined the mint’s silver dollar holdings for varieties.
Van Allen also wrote a Proof-Like Guide in 1981 and designed a die-rotation gauge, called the RotaFlip. Van Allen is still going strong today, cataloging new varieties, writing reference publications and pamphlets as well as listing and reporting new Morgan and Peace dollar varieties.
Shafer began his numismatic writing career in the 1950s while assigned as a viola-playing member of the U.S. Air Force Symphony stationed at Bolling Air Force Base in Washington, D.C. His work on U.S.-Philippine numismatics paved his way to professional numismatic writing with a series of articles in Numismatic Scrapbook Magazine, which Whitman reprinted as a book.
Shafer worked as a consultant and co-editor of the Standard Catalog of World Paper Money, edited the New England Journal of Numismatics, and wrote Standard Catalog of Depression Scrip of the Unites States. He continues to write articles for Bank Note Reporterand Numismatic News. He also exhibits at coin conventions around the country and is a certified ANA Judge.
Currently, the Milwaukee resident is completing a book about Panic Scrip of 1893, 1907 and 1914, and is involved in several other projects.
Originally Release Date: August 7, 2007
ANA Contacts: Phone: 719-482-9821
Email: pr@money.org