Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due

It's Oscar time again!

The nominees are in, the ballots are going out -- and on March 26, millions of us will be planted on our couches for one very long but entertaining night as Hollywood honors its own in the annual Academy Awards telecast.

Others think of March in terms of lions, lambs and St. Patrick, but Oscar's the guy for me. His annual TV spectacular may be an extended pat on the back for Hollywood, and an expanded view of the front for Hollywood's women, but to me it's still the television highlight of the year.

If coin collecting had the numismatic equivalent of Oscar night, the show would be dominated this year by the 50-state program of Washington quarters. During 1999, the statehood quarters bestrode the coin hobby much the way "Titanic" reigned supreme in Hollywood several years ago.

We don't have such a night, of course, but this might be a good time to pause just the same and recognize some of the people who brought the 50-state program to fruition. I don't have statuettes to bestow upon the winners -- but just for the fun of it, why don't we give these awards a special name: Let's call them the Georgies, after George Washington, since his coin is the showcase for the program.

I'll start with a special Georgie for Q. David Bowers, a longtime dealer, prolific author and veteran observer of the numismatic scene, for being perhaps the first key hobby leader to propose such a program in a major numismatic periodical. Way back in the March 1993 issue of COINage Magazine, my monthly column ("My Two Cents' Worth") detailed Bowers' proposal for a series of 50 Kennedy half dollars honoring each of the nation's 50 states.

"The U.S. Postal Service makes millions every year by selling commemorative stamps for 29 cents apiece -- stamps that collectors simply set aside and never use," Bowers said. "The U.S. Mint could do the same. And a program such as this would foster state pride, as well as greater interest in numismatics -- including the many products offered for sale by the Mint on a regular basis."

Obviously, the quarter is an even better vehicle from the standpoint of public exposure (and obviously, too, the price of stamps has been rising in the intervening years). But it seemed quite unlikely in 1993 that Congress, the Treasury or the Mint would permit the use of a coin so vital to everyday commerce.

Bowers' proposal was inspired by the "Canada 125" program in 1992, during which the Royal Canadian Mint issued a series of 13 commemorative coins -- one 25-cent piece for each of that country's 12 provinces and territories, plus a special $1 coin honoring Canada as a whole on the 125th anniversary of Canadian confederation. Our Canadian neighbors clearly deserve a Georgie award, as well, for giving us this successful working model.

Another prominent coin dealer, Harvey G. Stack of New York, is my nominee for Best Supporting Actor. Stack spoke up at a hearing in the House of Representatives in July 1995, in the midst of discussions on abuses in U.S. commemorative coinage, and suggested that what this country really needed were circulating commemoratives, possibly to honor the 50 states. His was a cameo role, but a crucial one.

Stack's felicitous, seemingly spontaneous remark was seized upon by David L. Ganz, another hobby witness at the hearing, who pointed out to subcommittee chairman Michael Castle that the congressman's home state of Delaware -- the first state to ratify the U.S. Constitution -- would be the logical choice to start the series. Castle, in turn, embraced the concept and -- with major assistance from staff aide John Lopez -- transformed it into enabling legislation, which he then steered skillfully through Congress. Castle should be honored as Best Director.

Mint Director Philip N. Diehl is my pick as Best Producer, for he not only facilitated production of the coins once the legislation was approved (partially by beating back resistance at the Mint) but also removed a major -- perhaps insurmountable -- roadblock to the project by putting the Mint behind it in the first place.

That brings me to the Georgie for Best Actor. And here, I agree with Director Diehl: More than any other person, New York City attorney David L. Ganz -- an enthusiastic collector, prolific author and dedicated numismatic activist -- was the driving force who brought the 50-state program into being.

Ganz, a past president of the American Numismatic Association, had been lobbying for circulating commemoratives for years as a member of the Citizens Commemorative Coin Advisory Committee. It was he who converted Diehl, by Diehl's own admission, from a skeptic to a believer. And once the ball got rolling, it was he who kept pushing it, more than anyone else -- publicly and behind the scenes, as well -- up the hill and finally over the top.

There you have them -- my 50-state Georgies. The envelopes are open and the balcony is closed. And I've saved the best for last: This is one award ceremony where you don't have to listen to any acceptance speeches!

Ed Reiter is senior editor of COINage and author of the award-winning column "My Two Cents' Worth," which appears in the magazine each month. He wrote the weekly Numismatics column in the Sunday New York Times for nearly a decade, and also is former editor of Numismatic News.