By Joshua McMorrow-Hernandez
Q. David Bowers Award of 2025 Given at Central States Convention
One of the country’s most prominent numismatists received another prestigious honor. The Central States Numismatic Society (CSNS) presented its annual Q. David Bowers Award this year to long-time professional numismatist, award-winning author and hobby leader Jeff Garrett of Lexington, Kentucky. The CSNS Bowers Award recognizes the contributions made by numismatic professionals in the hobby.
Garrett founded Mid-American Rare Coin Galleries, served as president of both the American Numismatic Association (2015-2017) and the Professional Numismatists Guild (2005-2007), authored or co-authored a half-dozen award-winning numismatic reference books and is a consultant to the Smithsonian Institution’s National Numismatic Collection in Washington, D.C.
Since 2019, he has served as senior editor of The Official Red Book: A Guide Book of United States Coins. “Jeff Garrett certainly deserves this award for his unselfish devotion, scholarly contributions and the investments of time and resources made to the hobby by a numismatic professional,” said CSNS President Mitch Ernst.
Grateful for the award, Garrett stated about its namesake: “Dave Bowers has been one of the most important mentors of my career. He taught me so much about numismatic writing and the importance of numismatic knowledge. Our work together on the ‘Red Book’ over the years was inspiring and motivated me to try to educate others as Dave did so well over the decades. His contributions to the hobby will never be matched, and being given an award that is connected with him is truly humbling.”
Recipients of the Bowers Award, named after the celebrated dealer, esteemed author and numismatic scholar Q. David Bowers, are selected by members of the Central States Numismatic Society Board of Directors. For additional information about the Central States Numismatic Society and its annual convention, visit www.CSNS.org.
Mentoring Talent Timothy Chen Receives 2025 Summer Seminar Scholarship
An honors college graduate who served internship positions at two major coin companies under the Professional Numismatist Guild’s (www.PNGdealers.org) nexGen Mentorship Program is the recipient of the PNG’s 2025 scholarship and is attending a week-long session of the American Numismatic Association (www.money.org) Summer Seminar in Colorado.
Timothy Chen of Los Angeles graduated last year Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration degree from the University of California, Riverside, with a concentration in finance and a minor in psychology. In the summer of 2021, he was a sales and marketing intern at Alhambra (California) Coin Center and in the summer of 2023 worked as a wholesale trading and business operations intern at Heritage Auctions in Dallas, Texas.
Chen, who speaks English and Mandarin as well as conversational Spanish, founded Winged Liberty Rare Coins, Inc., in Los Angeles this past October. “Timothy Chen is a rising star in the hobby and marketplace. The PNG is happy to assist him increase his numismatic knowledge with a scholarship to one of the two ANA 2025 Summer Seminar sessions,” said PNG Executive Director John Feigenbaum.
This year’s sessions on the campus of Colorado College near ANA headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colorado, are being conducted June 21-26 and June 28-July 3.
The PNG scholarship will cover airfare, tuition for one of the week-long sessions, meals and dormitory accommodations.
Launched in 2023, PNG’s nexGen Mentorship Program assists young and future coin dealers. “The nexGen mission is to guide youth to success in the numismatic profession by connecting interested young adults with mentors and using PNG’s respected influence to build relationships with numismatic organizations worldwide,” said PNG President James Sego.
For additional information about PNG, visit online at www.PNGdealers.org or call (951) 587-8300. For information about the PNG’s nexGen Mentorship Program, visit www.PNGdealers.org/png-nexgen. For information about the annual ANA Summer Seminar, visit www.money.org/summer-seminar.
New Medals Honor Julius Rosenwald and Booker T. Washington
The Jewish-American Hall of Fame issued art medals in May 2025 honoring philanthropist Julius Rosenwald, who appears along with his friend and associate Booker T. Washington, a prominent figure of the Progressive Era. These Renaissance-style high relief medals are the 56th in the longest continuing series of art medals in America.
No more than 100 3½-inch bonded bronze medals will be hand made by former U.S. Mint engraver Jim Licaretz and hand-patinated by medalist Eugene Daub. Daub won the American Medal of the Year Award in 2024 and Licaretz won the Award in 2023. The Rosenwald-Washington medals can be ordered for the special price of $160 each by calling the Jewish-American Hall of Fame at (818) 225-1348 and mentioning COINage.
Mel Wacks, director of the Jewish-American Hall of Fame, says, “There is probably no person other than Rosenwald, the most important philanthropist you never heard of, who is more deserving of this honor.”
Julius Rosenwald was born in 1862, just a few blocks from Abraham Lincoln’s residence in Springfield, Illinois. By his 16th year, Rosenwald was apprenticed by his parents to his uncles in New York City to learn the clothing trades. Together with his younger brother, Rosenwald started a clothing manufacturing company. In 1895, he became a part owner of Sears, Roebuck & Co., and in 1908 Rosenwald was named president.
Booker T. Washington was born a slave on April 5, 1856, in Franklin County, Virginia. Between the ages of 10 and 12, he worked in a coal mine while attending school. At the age of 16, Washington entered Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute in Virginia, where his belief was reinforced in an educational system that emphasized practical skills and self-help.
In 1880, a bill that included a yearly appropriation of $2,000 was passed by the Alabama State Legislature to establish a school for Blacks in Macon County. Washington was named as principal. By Tuskegee’s 25th anniversary, Washington had transformed an idea into a 2,000-acre, 83-building campus that, combined with such personal property as equipment, live stock and stock in trade, was valued at $831,895. Tuskegee’s endowment fund was $1,275,644, and training in 37 industries was available for the more than 1,500 students enrolled that year.
Booker T. Washington wrote 40 books, including an autobiography, Up From Slavery, which, thanks to happenstance, was read in 1910 by Julius Rosenwald. A friendship sparked, resulting in the building of nearly 5,000 schoolhouses in Black communities across the South, where existing facilities, in Washington’s words, were “as bad as stables”—if there were schools at all. Rosenwald contributed up to half of the cost (totaling about $4.4 million, equivalent to $78 millio
