The NCNA has instituted an exciting new award directed at recognizing the member coin clubs across the state of North Carolina. This marks the second consecutive year the organization has introduced a novel award following last year’s Lady Liberty award acknowledging outstanding women in our hobby. This brings the total number of awards presented at the general membership meeting during the NCNA Annual Convention and Show in Concord to eight awards!
Why is this new award important?
Starting this year, the “George O. Walton Club Award” will be awarded annually to one of the 25 clubs with NCNA membership. Traditionally the NCNA has presented various awards annually to NCNA members at its annual convention. But what about the clubs? Great strides have been made with the hard work and dedication of folks such as Bill Graves and Danny Freeman to stay in contact with our clubs. Much has been done also to involve our clubs with the annual convention. We have many clubs, from the east coast region to our state’s western mountains that are doing a terrific job promoting numismatics and in deserve additional recognition for their efforts. We are hopeful that this award will help “ALL” clubs realize their valued standing within the NCNA family.
Why name it the “George O. Walton Club Award?”
George Walton was very much like John J. Pittman. He was a collector’s collector. Ask him about a coin and he would spend hours talking about it. He was not a very wealthy man. Walton worked for a consortium of banks in the mid-atlantic and southeastern region as an estate appraiser for a fee, yet just as Pittman did, he amassed a collection that even today’s billionaires would find difficult to assemble. Born in Rocky Mount, VA, Walton settled into the Selwyn Hotel on West Trade Street in Charlotte, NC to conduct his travels up and down the eastern seaboard. In the 1950’s and early 1960’s he focused on Bechtler, Charlotte, and Dahlonega gold. Unfortunately, Walton died in a car accident while in route to a coin club meeting near Wilson in 1962 to show his 1913 Liberty Head nickel that he had bought from a collector in Winston-Salem in 1945. Nearly everyone in the hobby today is familiar with the story regarding the Walton specimen of the famous 1913 Liberty Head Nickels. Following his death, Stack’s would catalog and sell his collection. Harvey Stack has stated that Walton had almost 500 Bechtler gold coins! Stack’s sold the prime examples by private treaty to their best client list and then put the rest in their auction that bears Walton’s name.
The George O. Walton Club Award will be presented to one NCNA member club that is especially noteworthy each year. There are various club and member activities that are factored in selecting the winning club (see the questionnaire on the Coin Clubs page). A representative of the winning club will be requested to be in attendance at the annual convention to receive the award. The winning club will also receive an award certificate and a dozen of the latest edition, spiral bound Redbooks. The Redbooks can be distributed in any way the winning club sees fit.
The NCNA wants “EVERY” club to feel that they are a part of the NCNA! Our hope is that this annual award will contribute to creating that feeling.
