Washington, DC, Jan. 10, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The United States Mint announced today that the Deputy Secretary of the Treasury has appointed Dr. Peter van Alfen as the next Chairperson of the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee (CCAC), effective January 30, 2024. By statute, the CCAC Chairperson is appointed from among the current members and serves a one-year term.
Dr. van Alfen was appointed to the CCAC in 2020 as the member specially qualified in numismatic curation.
Dr. van Alfen is Chief Curator at the American Numismatic Society (ANS), where he has served for more than 20 years. Dr. van Alfen was initially hired as curator of ancient Greek coinage, and his curatorial responsibilities were later expanded to include the medallic art section. For more than a decade, Dr. van Alfen has served on the J. Sanford Saltus Award committee, which bestows awards to living artists for achievement in medallic art. In recent years, he has been involved in the creation of several of the ANS’s online resources, including the Hellenistic Royal Coinages project funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Art of Devastation, a site devoted to the medallic art of the First World War.
Dr. van Alfen has been instrumental in leading and developing the ANS’s flagship educational program, the Eric P. Newman Summer Graduate Seminar, and has served for 15 years as editor of the ANS’s quarterly, ANS Magazine. Dr. van Alfen’s publications include more than a dozen books and scores of articles on ancient coinage and monetary systems, as well as on U.S. and European medallic art, particularly in the 19th and 20th centuries. In 2019, Dr. van Alfen received the Burnett Anderson Memorial Award for Excellence in Numismatic Writing.
Dr. van Alfen holds a Ph.D. in Classics from the University of Texas at Austin, an M.A. in Anthropology (Nautical Archaeology) from Texas A&M University, and a B.A. in Classics from the University of Utah. He has participated in several ancient shipwreck excavations and surveys in Turkey and Egypt and continues to be an Affiliated Scholar with the Institute of Nautical Archaeology.
About the CCAC
The CCAC was established by an Act of Congress in 2003. It advises the Secretary of the Treasury on theme or design proposals relating to circulating coinage, bullion coinage, Congressional Gold Medals, and other medals produced by the United States Mint. The CCAC also makes commemorative coin recommendations to the Secretary and advises on the events, persons, or places to be commemorated, as well as on the mintage levels and proposed designs.
The CCAC is subject to the authority of the Secretary of the Treasury. The United States Mint is responsible for providing necessary and appropriate administrative support, technical services, and advice. The CCAC submits an annual report to Congress and the Secretary of the Treasury, describing its activities and providing recommendations.
About the United States Mint
Congress created the United States Mint in 1792, and the Mint became part of the Department of the Treasury in 1873. As the Nation’s sole manufacturer of legal tender coinage, the Mint is responsible for producing circulating coinage for the Nation to conduct its trade and commerce. The Mint also produces numismatic products, including proof, uncirculated, and commemorative coins; Congressional Gold Medals; silver and bronze medals; and silver and gold bullion coins. Its numismatic programs are self-sustaining and operate at no cost to taxpayers.
