Gravel, Clain-Stefanelli added to Numismatic Hall of Fame

Prominent numismatists honored during ANA Summer Seminar

Ludger Gravel and Vladimir Clain-Stefanelli were inducted into the Numismatic Hall of Fame during the first week of the American Numismatic Association’s Summer Seminar.

Gravel began collecting coins as a young man. By the mid-1890s, he was an active member and leader of the Numismatic and Antiquarian Society of Montreal in 1895.

Joining the ANA in 1908, Gravel helped organize the ANA’s 1909 convention in Montreal, the first held outside the United States. He also served as ANA librarian (1910-12), Board member (1921-22), chairman of the ANA’s second convention in Montreal (1923), second vice president (1923) and first vice president (1924).

Vladimir Clain-Stefanelli was the curator of the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History from 1956 to 1982. During his time there the museum’s numismatic collection grew from about 64,000 items to 800,000 items, which included gold coins from the Josiah K. Lilly Collection and Russian pieces from the Willis H. duPont-Georgii Mikhailovich Collection. The Hall of Monetary History and Medallic Art opened in 1964 under Clain-Stefanelli’s tutelage.

Clain-Stefanelli studied archaeology with a specialization in numismatics in Austria and pursued numismatics professionally in Berlin and Rome before coming to the United States in 1951. The ANA recognized him with an honorary membership in 1964.

Induction into the Numismatic Hall of Fame is the ANA’s highest honor. The Hall of Fame was the brainchild of Jack W. Ogilvie, a Hollywood film writer and editor who served as ANA historian from 1950-1970. It was created in 1964, and the initial inductees were named in 1969. The Numismatic Hall of Fame Gallery is located at the ANA headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colo. The gallery features photographs and brief biographies of those enshrined.

The American Numismatic Association is a congressionally chartered nonprofit educational organization dedicated to encouraging people to study and collect money and related items. The ANA helps its 25,500 members and the public discover and explore the world of money through its vast array of education and outreach programs, as well as its museum, library, publications, conventions and seminars. For more information, call 719-632-2646 or go to www.money.org.