CCG Expertise in the Spotlight During World's Fair of Money Awards

The American Numismatic Association (ANA) honored two experts from the Certified Collectibles Group® (CCG®) with awards during the World's Fair of Money in Pittsburgh in August 2023. CCG President Max Spiegel received the Glenn Smedley Memorial Award, while the late David W. Lange, who worked for CCG's Numismatic Guaranty Company® (NGC®) for many years, was posthumously honored with the Burnett Anderson Memorial Award.

Max Spiegel

Since 2020, Spiegel has served as president of CCG, which includes NGC and Paper Money Guaranty® (PMG®), the leading third-party grading services for coins and banknotes, respectively. NGC has certified nearly 60 million coins, medals and tokens, while PMG has certified nearly 10 million notes.

With an enduring passion for numismatics, Spiegel received the Young Numismatist of the Year Award in 2005 and joined CCG in 2010. He has served on the Board of Directors of the National Coin and Bullion Association (NCBA) and the Marketing Committee of the ANA. Spiegel has been named by Coin World as one of the Most Influential People in Numismatics. The Glenn Smedley Memorial Award recognizes "outstanding and dedicated service to the numismatic hobby."

Click images to enlarge.

David W. Lange

The Burnett Anderson Memorial Award recognizes researchers, authors and journalists for their career contributions to numismatics. Lange was NGC Research Director until he passed away in January 2023, and wrote 10 books on US coinage. Lange's USA Coin Album was a beloved regular feature in The Numismatist, the ANA's monthly magazine. The ANA previously honored Lange with its Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009 and Numismatist of the Year Award in 2017.

The Numismatic Literary Guild (NLG) also presented its awards at the World's Fair of Money. In honor of Lange's many contributions to the field of numismatics, the NLG award for best book has been renamed the David W. Lange Memorial Book of the Year. (The first honoree is "Eagle Poised on a Bank of Clouds: The United States Silver Dollars of 1795-1798" by Harry A. Salyards.)

Meanwhile, PMG was honored with an NLG award for Best Column or Article for its Collection Inspiration column in the monthly PMG eNews. The regular feature looks at world banknotes with a common theme that could serve as the basis for a collection. To explore the Collection Inspiration columns, click here.