Howland Wood | |
|---|---|
| Born | May 30, 1877 New Bedford, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Died | January 4, 1938 (aged 60) Flushing, Queens, New York, U.S. |
| Occupations | Numismatist, author |
| Years active | 1900–1938 |
| Known for | Numismatic scholarship |
| Notable work | The Canadian Blacksmith Coppers |
Howland Wood (May 30, 1877 – January 4, 1938) was an American numismatist and former chairman of the American Numismatic Association (ANA).
Wood was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, in 1877. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from Brown University in 1900. He lived in Boston, where he had a photo engraving business.

Wood had a long association with the American numismatic community. He served as general secretary of the American Numismatic Association from 1905 to 1909, and then as governor and chairman from 1909 to 1912. While serving as ANA secretary, Wood corresponded with President Theodore Roosevelt concerning the new United States gold coinage designed by Augustus Saint-Gaudens. In a letter dated November 21, 1907, Roosevelt expressed his pleasure with Wood's favorable comments on the new double eagle design and wrote that securing "a great artist like Saint-Gaudens to design our coinage" had been "a chance not to be mist [sic]," adding, "What a loss his death has been!"
Wood was secretary of the Boston Numismatic Society from 1908 to 1913. He became an associate editor of The Numismatist from 1909 to 1910, and was an associate editor and later editor of the American Journal of Numismatics from 1910 to 1920.
Wood's work for the American Numismatic Society took him to New York City in 1913. He served as curator of the American Numismatic Society Museum from 1913 to 1938.

Wood was the author of several numismatic publications, including:
Wood received the Archer M. Huntington Award from the American Numismatic Society (ANS) in 1920. He served as president of the New York Numismatic Club (NYNC) from 1930 to 1933, and the club honored him with a presidential medal designed by Jonathan M. Swanson. He was a Fellow of the American Numismatic Society and the Royal Numismatic Society (RNS).
Wood married Elizabeth Marvin in 1913, and they had two daughters, Elizabeth and Sylvia Howland. He died of pneumonia in Flushing, Queens in early 1938.

Within Canadian numismatics, Wood is best remembered for his work on blacksmith tokens, which he first systematically described in a 1910 publication. While other Canadian numismatists had commented on them before, Wood was the first to categorize them. His numbering system is still used today.
Beginning in 1952, the ANA presented the Howland Wood Memorial Award for Best-of-Show Exhibit, its most prestigious award for numismatic exhibitors. The ANA presents the award at its annual summer convention, now known as the World's Fair of Money, held in cities throughout the United States. The recipient is selected from among the first-place winners of the ANA's judged class-level exhibit competition. Through 2026, the award has been presented 74 times to 55 exhibitors, including 54 individuals and one organization.
The recipients and titles or subjects of their winning exhibits are listed below. ANA exhibit rules were changed around 1970 to require exhibitors to display exhibit titles inside their cases. Earlier reports often did not record exhibit titles, so for most early winners only the subject is known, indicated with quotation marks; for others, neither the title (if present) nor the subject has been recovered.
| Year | Exhibitor | Exhibit Title or Subject | Convention Location | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1952 | J. Hewitt Judd | "United States patterns, trial or experimental pieces, and types of early United States coins" | New York City, NY | |
| 1953 | William A. Philpott, Jr. | "United States Currency and Texas Currency" | Dallas, TX | |
| 1954 | New York Orders and Decorations Society | "World orders and decorations" | Cleveland, OH | |
| 1955 | Burton H. Saxton | [title/subject unpublished] | Omaha, NE | |
| 1956 | Robert F. Schermerhorn | "Die proofs of the 1896 $1.00 to $50.00 notes, national bank first and second charter notes, silver certificates, coin notes and legal tender notes" | Chicago, IL | |
| 1957 | Amon G. Carter, Jr. | "U. S. and Canadian currency" | Philadelphia, PA | |
| 1958 | August F. Hausske | [title/subject unpublished] | Los Angeles, CA | |
| 1959 | Clifford L. Liss | "Coins of the Philippines under U. S. and coins commemorating Declaration of Independence" | Portland, OR | |
| 1960 | Patricia M. Nestor | "Massachusetts money" | Boston, MA | |
| 1961 | Robert Earl Cox, Jr. | "Patterns, complete regular issues and commemorative" | Atlanta, GA | |
| 1962 | Gaston DiBello | "United States and foreign gold coins" | Detroit, MI | |
| 1963 | Julius Turoff | "Collection of United States coins" | Denver, CO | |
| 1964 | Fred R. Marckhoff | "Obsolete paper money of Indian Territory" | Cleveland, OH | |
| 1965 | Robert E. Medlar | Republic of Texas, 1836–45 | Houston, TX | |
| 1966 | George L. Podlusky | Orders, Decorations and Medals of Bavaria | Chicago, IL | |
| 1967 | Julio M. Ruiz Laabes | "Coins and bills of Puerto Rico" | Miami, FL | |
| 1968 | Opal H. Morris | U. S. Silver Commemorative Coins in Historical Arrangement | San Diego, CA | |
| 1969 | Lelan G. Rogers | [title/subject unpublished] | Philadelphia, PA | |
| 1970 | Margaret Frantz | A Study of the Cobs of Colonial Spain | St. Louis, MO | |
| 1971 | David R. Cervin | Pre-1500 (Anno Domini) Dated Coins | Washington, DC | |
| 1972 | Frank O'Sullivan | Great Rarities in Ancient Bronze | New Orleans, LA | |
| 1973 | Raymond A. Byrne | [title/subject unpublished] | Boston, MA | |
| 1974 | Emil Voigt, Sr. | Sculptors and Their Medals | Miami, FL | |
| 1975 | Peter E. Brander | Nueva España Silver and Copper Types | Los Angeles, CA | |
| 1976 | C. Radford Stearns | Colonial Georgia Paper Money of 1776 | New York City, NY | |
| 1977 | Maurice M. Burgett | Great Rarities of Obsolete U. S. Currency and Scrip | Atlanta, GA | |
| 1978 | Stephen R. Taylor | U. S. $1 Notes, 1862–1929 | Houston, TX | |
| 1979 | Sammy L. Whipple, Sr. | The Gold Coinage of King George III | St. Louis, MO | |
| 1980 | Jean A. Bullen | Victorian Coinage of the Present Canadian Maritime Provinces from 1861 to 1900 | Cincinnati, OH | |
| 1981 | Jack D. Huggins, Sr. | St. Louis World's Fair Elongated Cents | New Orleans, LA | |
| 1982 | Denis W. Loring | The United States Cents of 1794 | Boston, MA | |
| 1983 | Frank M. Rose | The Wonderful World of Chopmarks on Chinese Dollars | San Diego, CA | |
| 1984 | Nancy Opitz Wilson | Type Set of Second Issue U. S. Fractional Currency | Detroit, MI | |
| 1985 | Robert F. Kriz | British Sovereigns, 1817 to 1982 | Baltimore, MD | |
| 1986 | Jean A. Bullen | The 50-Cent Decimal Coinage of Canada and Newfoundland — 1870–1985 | Milwaukee, WI | |
| 1987 | R. Wayne Colbert | Agricultural Medals of Great Britain | Atlanta, GA | |
| 1988 | William F. Spengler | The Satamana System, South Asia's Oldest Coinage | Cincinnati, OH | |
| 1989 | John E. Page | Coins of India: Punchmarked Coins, 6th Century to 2nd Century B.C. | Pittsburgh, PA | |
| 1990 | Thomas H. Law | 500 Years of English Sovereigns — A Type Set | Chicago, IL | |
| 1991 | Gene Hessler | Max Svabinsky — Czechoslovak Designer, His Complete Works | Chicago, IL | |
| 1992 | Thomas H. Law | The Gold Coin Types of George III | Orlando, FL | |
| 1993 | Thomas H. Law | The Large Milled English Gold Coin Types | Baltimore, MD | |
| 1994 | Herbert H. Espy | Martin Luther — A Medallic Biography | Detroit, MI | |
| 1995 | Joseph E. Boling | Building a National Currency — Japan, 1868–1899 | Anaheim, CA | |
| 1996 | Peter C. Smith | The Challenging Literature of A. M. Smith | Denver, CO | |
| 1997 | Kenneth R. Hill | Double-Struck Capped Bust Half Dollars | New York City, NY | |
| 1998 | Georg H. Förster | Latin American Silver in Worldwide Circulation from the 16th to the 20th Century | Portland, OR | |
| 1999 | Thomas H. Law | The Guineas and Milled Sovereigns of England | Chicago, IL | |
| 2000 | Lawrence Sekulich | Arethusa: A Numismatic Muse | Philadelphia, PA | |
| 2001 | Thomas H. Law | 104 Rare English Gold Coins, 1344–1839 | Atlanta, GA | |
| 2002 | Samuel D. Deep | The Exonumia of Higher Education | New York City, NY | |
| 2003 | Leonard Vaccaro | A Selection of U. S. Mint Medals from the War of 1812, Engraved by Moritz Fuerst | Baltimore, MD | |
| 2004 | David Menchell | Medals of Conflict, Medals of Conquest: The Numismatic Legacy of the French and Indian War | Pittsburgh, PA | |
| 2005 | Steven J. D’Ippolito | The ‘Little Gray Coins’: Russia’s Experiment with Circulating Platinum Coinage, 1828–1845 | San Francisco, CA | |
| 2006 | Steven J. D’Ippolito | A Selection of Romanov Portrait Rubles | Denver, CO | |
| 2007 | Steven J. D’Ippolito | Russian Coins of Conquest | Milwaukee, WI | |
| 2008 | Mack Martin | State of Georgia Currency Certificates, 1861–1865 | Baltimore, MD | |
| 2009 | Christopher Marchase | The Personal Coinage of Joseph Lesher | Los Angeles, CA | |
| 2010 | Brett D. Irick | Canadian Coins of 1947–1948 | Boston, MA | |
| 2011 | Robert Rhue | A Complete Collection of Regular-Issue North American Horsecar Tokens | Chicago, IL | |
| 2012 | David Menchell | Taking Care of Business: A Selection of Early Philadelphia Merchant Tokens Issued prior to the Civil War | Philadelphia, PA | |
| 2013 | Lawrence Sekulich | Hwenne Gold Was Smite in Coign | Chicago, IL | |
| 2014 | Mack Martin | Baby Bonds | Chicago, IL | |
| 2015 | Lawrence Sekulich | They Flap, Flutter and Float: Various Winged Immortals Appearing on Coins from Ancient to Modern Times | Chicago, IL | |
| 2016 | Michael T. Shutterly | In the Beginning... When Man Created Coins | Anaheim, CA | |
| 2017 | Robert Rhue | The Colored Seal Notes of Colonial Georgia | Denver, CO | |
| 2018 | Michael T. Shutterly | Golden Portraits of Byzantium: Every Picture Tells a Story | Philadelphia, PA | |
| 2019 | Michael A. Kodysz | Virtus & Victoria: Coins Relating to the Severan War Against the Tribes of Caledonia | Chicago, IL | |
| 2020 | Exhibit competition not held; convention canceled due to COVID-19 pandemic | Pittsburgh, PA (canceled) | ||
| 2021 | Michael A. Kodysz | Prince of Youth: Coinage Traces the Rise and Fall of Publius Septimius Geta | Chicago, IL | |
| 2022 | Michael T. Shutterly | Shining Lights in an Age of Darkness | Chicago, IL | |
| 2023 | Michael A. Kodysz | I Was a Teenage Emperor: Decoding Denarii from the Eastern Mints of Elagabalus | Pittsburgh, PA | |
| 2024 | Michael A. Kodysz | Lands Across the Sea: Connections to the African Continent on Coinage of the Later Roman World | Chicago, IL | |
| 2025 | Michael T. Shutterly | Tragic Dynasty: The Heraclians of Byzantium | Oklahoma City, OK | |
| 2026 | Michael A. Kodysz | Last Years of Caracalla: Numismatic Propaganda and the Path to the East 214–217 CE | Pittsburgh, PA | |
Wood was inducted into the American Numismatic Association's Numismatic Hall of Fame in 1969, as one of its first nine inductees. The Hall of Fame, established in 1964 to honor important figures in numismatics, is located at the ANA headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where plaques commemorate the honorees.