Six Receive Glenn Smedley Memorial Awards
Six American Numismatic Association members were honored with Glenn Smedley Memorial Awards during ceremonies today at the ANA World’s Fair of Money in Chicago.
Don Bonser, Blenda and Wendell Brush, Ricardo de Leon Tallavas, John J. Kraljevich, Jr. and Tom Mulvaney were each acknowledged for their positive attitudes, strong communication skills, cooperation and dependability, and for demonstrating the spirit of the late Glenn Smedley, an ANA member and hobby enthusiast regarded as a “collector’s collector.”
Bonser, a life member from Florida, is a former ANA intern and coin grader/authenticator for the ANA Certification Service. He has taught “U.S. Coin Grading” at the ANA Summer Seminar since 1989 and authors a column for The Numismatist. He received an honorary Doctorate of Numismatics in 2010 and a Presidential Award in 2000.
Blenda and Wendell Brush of Virginia Beach, VA, have been active in the hobby since 1974, the year they married. Both have served as club officers for numerous South Carolina hobby organizations, including the Greenville Coin Club, Parker Coin Club and South Carolina Numismatic Association. Both have served on the SCNA Board of Directors and are recipients of its Outstanding Numismatist Award. Blenda was the Tennessee State Numismatic Society’s secretary/treasurer, a position she now holds with the Blue Ridge Numismatic Association. Wendell serves as BRNA treasurer.
Tallavas, a Houston elementary school teacher, regularly instructs classes on Mexican coinage at Summer Seminar. A former secretary of the Sociedad Numismatica de Monterrey A.C. in his native Mexico, he won a numismatic contest for youth in Mexico City and his research was published by the state government of Nuevo Leon. He is an ANA life member and member of the Bellaire Coin Club, Greater Houston Coin Club and United States Mexican Numismatic Association.
An expert on Early American money, Kraljevich writes about the subject in a quarterly column for “The Numismatist.” He was the ANA Young Numismatist of the Year in 1993 and regularly teaches classes on Early American currency at Summer Seminar. An ANA life member, he owns John Kraljevich Americana in New York City and is a consultant to the Smithsonian Institution, Monticello and Colonial Williamsburg.
Tom Mulvaney of Lexington, Kentucky, is one of the foremost photographers in the hobby and, since 1995, shares his knowledge of the subject by leading a class at the Summer Seminar. An ANA life member since 1973, Mulvaney is a recipient of the Association’s Medal of Merit (2006), Presidential Award (2009) and Exemplary Service Award (2010).
Originally Release Date: August 19, 2011
ANA Contacts: Phone: 719-482-9814
Email: pr@money.org