The American Numismatic Society (ANS) has launched the Collier Prize in Ancient Numismatics, to be offered for the first time in 2021, in memory of the late Professor James M. Collier.
The Collier Prize includes what the ANS calls “a substantial monetary prize” awarded biennially to the best single- or multi-authored book, catalogue or online digital work in the field of ancient numismatics (650 BCE–300 CE).
A jury of five senior numismatists, including a senior ANS curator, will be appointed biennially by the society’s president to select the recipients. The winners will receive a prize of $20,000 US, which will be split equally in the event of a multi-authored work. For the initial prize, eligible publications will be limited to works published in 2019 or 2020. The jury will announce its selection in late 2021.
To apply for the Collier Prize, fill out the application form and forward it to prize secretary Dr. Peter van Alfen at pvanalfen@numismatics.org. The application deadline is Jan. 15.
In addition to his numismatic research, Collier is an accomplished painter. Photo by James Collier via jimcollier.nl.
PROF. JAMES COLLIER
The Collier Prize honours the life of Professor Collier, who was born in Bellingham, Wash., and completed his Ph.D. in art history at the University of Michigan in 1975.
Collier served as a tenured professor and department chair of Auburn University’s art history department. Over the course of his academic career, he lectured widely and published on the Italian Renaissance and Early Netherlandish perspective, which was the subject of his doctoral dissertation.
In addition to his scholarship, Collier actively pursued other interests: he travelled widely and met his wife Carole Anne in the Sacristy of Santa Croce in Florence, Italy, and visited 84 countries (in 2012, he sailed with a crew of three on a 15-metre sailboat from South Africa to Brazil).
In 1990, Collier and his wife moved to the Netherlands, where he was a self-sufficient artist until the end of his life. His paintings cover a range of topics, including portraits, dogs, views of Amsterdam, Italian architecture, ships and fantasies, many of which can be found on his website, jimcollier.nl.
Collecting ancient coins was the foundation of his broad fascination with art, history and culture. His collection of almost 1,000 Greek and Roman coins gave him immense pleasure, continually inspiring him by their beauty and depictions of famous monuments and portraits of Hellenistic and Roman rulers.
A complete profile of Collier will be included in the spring 2021 issue of the ANS Magazine, published quarterly by the society.