ndustry Council for Tangible Assets directors Kim Kiick (American Numismatic Association) and Patrick Heller (Liberty Coin Service) and chief operating officer David Crenshaw were honored during the Numismatic Ambassador Awards Breakfast at the Florida United Numismatists Convention in Orlando, Florida, on January 10, 2020, as the recipients of three out of five new Numismatic Ambassador awards for 2019.

The Numismatic Ambassador Award was started in 1974 by Cliff Mishler of Krause Publications. The service award is given to “unsung heroes” at the grassroots level of coin collecting, as well as nationally known numismatists, who have dedicated countless hours of support to local, regional, or national organizations. Numismatic News sponsored the award through 2014; FUN has backed the program since 2015. Every January a new group of ambassadors are announced during the annual FUN Convention at the Numismatic Ambassador Awards breakfast. The award is presented by Dave Harper, past editor of Numismatic News.

Anyone can nominate a potential ambassador. Names and biographies for each the nominees are sent to all previous living ambassadors for a vote. The ambassadors vote for between 1 and 5 of the nominees, and the five nominees with the greatest number of votes are then awarded the Numismatic Ambassador Award in January. Each receives a plaque and a lapel pin.

There are currently over 200 award recipients still alive of the approximately 400 previous winners. In 1974, thirteen ambassadors were chosen, and between 1975 and 2000, an average of ten were chosen every year. Today, five are chosen each year. You can nominate a future Numismatic Ambassador here.