Medal by Eugene Daub (obverse) & Mel Wacks (reverse), 2009, 40th Anniversary of The Jewish-American Hall of Fame and 70th Birthday of Mel Wacks, founder.

The Jewish-American Hall of Fame (Founded 1969)
The Jewish-American Hall of Fame is currently the longest series of art medals being issued in the United States! These works of medallic art have been called “one of the most important series of medals issued in America in recent years” in the 1990 catalog of the Congress of International Federation of Medallic Art, held in Finland. They are prized by collectors around the world, and are in the collections of The British Museum, the American Numismatic Society, the National Museum of Monetary History (Sweden), the Smithsonian Institution’s Archives of American Art, the American Jewish Historical Society, the Magnes Museum, etc. Sales of these medals have made possible the award-winning educational web site www.amuseum.org, that is visited by over a million students and others from around the world every year. The Jewish-American Hall of Fame plaques are on permanent exhibit at the Virginia Holocaust Museum in Richmond.

Jewish-American Hall of Fame founder Mel Wacks was born in the Bronx on July 10, 1938. He began collecting at the age of 10, after his father gave him a pouch of old coins. Mel earned Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Electrical Engineering at CCNY and NYU, respectively, but found his true calling in the world of numismatics.

Mel founded the Jewish-American Hall of Fame at the Magnes Museum in 1969, to honor the unique contributions made by Jewish Americans to all phases of the American way of life. Mel is proud that he has designed the reverses of the medals honoring Houdini, Isaac Bashevis Singer and Elie Wiesel, as well as this medal.

Mel is also an expert in ancient Judaean coins, and is the author of The Handbook of Biblical Numismatics that is available free on the internet at www.amuseum.org/book and is available on Kindle. In addition, he served for over three decades as a Board member and later President of the American Israel Numismatic Association.

Sculptor Eugene Daub works on bust of Harvey Milk.
Photo: Dan Nicoletta