about us

nomos ag, numismatists

Nomos AG was founded near Lucerne, Switzerland in 1972 by Dr. Roland Maly who ran it until his unexpected death in 2005. Dr. Maly had begun collecting and working with coins in the early 1950s and he helped form many collections of classical coins that were exemplary for their quality and interest. After his death his collection was sold in Zürich, but the firm itself and its invaluable photo file was acquired from Dr. Maly’s heirs by a long-time collector of ancient coins, Dr. A. Peter Weiss, who had decided to continue the business. The recreated firm’s first price list was produced in the United States in late 2007; a second came out the following year. In 2008, an office was acquired in the historic old town of Zürich, and following renovations it opened in February 2009.

Since its re-foundation, Nomos AG has specialized in rare and beautiful ancient, medieval and early modern coins and medals, presented in our price lists or at auction, or by direct sale; it is a matter of pride that a number of major institutional clients, in Europe, the United States and the Middle East, have acquired important items for their collections from us, including the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the Harvard Art Museums, and Princeton University among many others.

Among the firm’s other partners are Victor England and Eric McFadden, well-known professional numismatists formerly owners of the Classical Numismatic Group, and Dr. Alan Walker, who joined Nomos AG as Director. Dr. Walker, who has a degree in Classics from the Johns Hopkins University and a doctorate in Classical Archaeology from the University of Pennsylvania, joined Nomos AG after 28 years with the numismatic department of Bank Leu and its successors. He received field training in archaeology in England; later in Athens he worked, under the auspices of the American School of Classical Studies, on the coins from the Agora Excavations. In his years in Zürich, Dr. Walker was responsible for researching and writing some of the world’s finest numismatic auction catalogues.

Dimitrios Gerothanasis, a PhD candidiate in History & Archeology from the University of Thessaloniki, Greece, joined Nomos AG in 2017 initially as a Numismatist. Dimitri is completing a significant die study on the entire coinage of Mende. His deep knowledge of both Greek and Roman coins, honesty and complete integrity makes him a perfect fit with the Nomos team. He speaks Greek, English and German as well as some French and Italian. As of last year, Dimitri has taken over the role of Director with Alan continuing as the Senior Numismatist.

Johannes Stelzhammer, with a soon-to-be triple degree from Vienna Uni- versity (BA in Ancient History, MA in Numismatics and a forthcoming PhD on Pescennius Niger and the Eastern Coinages of Septimius Severus), is our newest colleague. Not only does he have a strong numismatic background, he has also spent some ten years in banking, and his varied experience is now at the service of Nomos’ clients. Born in Austria, he speaks German, Wienerisch, English, Dutch, and some Italian, and he is a zealous resear- cher and cataloguer. We expect he will provide us with some true viennese numismatic rigor.

Our Zurich office is staffed by Claudia de Capitani, Head Office Manager, and Christina Hornung, Associate Office Manager. Claudia has been with Nomos for many years and understands the working requirements of the business very well. Christina has been a great help especially around auction sales helping manage the bidders and shipments.

Cataloguers and researchers around the world

John C. Lavender is an old hand within the ancient coin collecting fraternity. He earned a degree in Classical History from the University of Georgia and worked for many years as an auction cataloguer and internet sales specialist for Classical Numismatic Group. After leaving CNG in 2002, John worked primarily as a numismatic consultant, providing cataloging and photography services to several auction houses and independent dealers, including CNG, Heritage, Stack's-Bowers, Goldberg, and Numismatica Ars Classica, among others. In addition to his consulting work, John also ran his own internet auction company, Triskeles, for several years. John is excited to be joining the Nomos team and over the next couple of years will focus his efforts on growing our auction sales.

Jared Clark is an ordained minister who holds a BA from California Lutheran University, MA in Biblical Studies from The Master’s University, and is completing a MDiv from the Master’s Seminary in Los Angeles. Jared worked at Freeman and Sear with specialized interests in first century Roman provincial and Judaean coinage. He possesses an extensive collection of such coins with many listed in RPC online and various other major reference works. Jared has lectured for at local college and universities for both graduate and undergraduate level classes on coins and antiquities related to the New Testament. Jared will provide dedicated cataloguing to our future auctions.

Lastly, working on a part-time basis for Nomos is Dr. John Voukelatos, Numismatic Researcher. John is an Australian cardiologist who earned his medical degree from the University of Melbourne in 1985 and continues to work in the private and public hospital sectors. He has expertise in provenance research using his superb library with several publications on collection history and will assist Nomos in researching ancient coin provenances via several databases.

Dimitrios, Johannes and John will also be attending most major international auctions and larger coin fairs and are available to provide expertise and representation for interested collectors; Nomos AG is already serving a wide spectrum of private and institutional clients.