Women in Numismatics, per a press release on June 12th, will no longer be moving forward after the end of 2022. Founded in 1991, the non-profit organization that has been a home for networking for women working in different areas of numismatics. According to the press release, they have accomplished all of its objectives, citing that they had “fulfilled their original mission” in providing a networking space and helping to promote women within numismatics.
WIN first came about in October of 1990 after three women met at the Long Beach Expo and came to the conclusion that women needed an organization aimed at supporting women in the numismatic industry. Those three women, Sondra Beymer, Mary Sauvain, and Teresa Darling, felt that “women who attended coin shows, whether on the business side or from collector ranks, often did not know each other.” Former Coin World editor Beth Deisher shared from a 2016 article celebrating WIN’s 25th Anniversary that a way to address the issue, they believed, “would be to have an organization whose primary function would be to provide opportunities for members to network as friends as well as professionals. They saw a need to provide education and professional development.” WIN was born shortly after in early 1991.
When the group was established, they identified five areas or goals that the organization wanted to meet:
- Raise the professional status of women in numismatics
- Provide a networking forum for women in numismatics
- Provide educational opportunities to women in numismatics
- Gain recognition for women within the industry
- Assist women in obtaining positions within the industry
According Cindy Wibker, the secretary of Florida United Numismatist (FUN) and a charter member and board member of WIN, after attending a WIN board meeting over a year ago, she came to the realization that they had fulfilled all of their goals after trying to come up with a new mission for the organization. “We all took several months to ponder the question and none of us could think of anything.”
In an email interview with Coin World, the president of WIN, Charmy Harker, shared the following: “I feel Women in Numismatics has played a strong role in guiding and helping women navigate the wonderful world of numismatics and, with the population of women in participating in the numismatic community growing each year, the WIN board felt that the time has come where a female-oriented numismatic organization is no longer necessary.”
WIN’s final meeting will take place at the World’s Fair of Money in Rosemont, Illinois on Wednesday, August 17th. The organization is set to formally dissolve on December 31st.
Source: Coin World