ANS Long Table 259 on January 23, 2026: Using Natural Language Processing to Improve Coin Searches
The American Numismatic Society (ANS) announced Long Table 259, a talk scheduled for January 23, 2026, at 1:00 PM ET. Ethan Gruber, the ANS Director of Data Science, will discuss current work to apply Natural Language Processing (NLP) to descriptions of obverse and reverse types in order to improve searchability.
Correction (Oct 13, 2026): We rewrote the headline, summary and body to match the source. We removed unsupported claims about links to NGC and PCGS grading data, market pattern analysis, millions of specimens, a history of numismatic research methods, trends at overseas museums, an online or discussion format, and advice to collectors, and stated the date of the talk (January 23, 2026) and its content as the source gives them. The previous headline was "ANS Natural Language Processing Transforms Rare Coin Database Access."
This article is based on an event notice the American Numismatic Society (ANS) posted on January 13, 2026. The talk is scheduled for January 23, 2026, at 1:00 PM ET.
The ANS will hold Long Table 259, "Natural Language Processing and the ANS’ Online Resources," as part of its Long Table series.
The speaker is Ethan Gruber, the ANS Director of Data Science.
Making type descriptions easier to search
Gruber will discuss Natural Language Processing (NLP), which the notice describes as an "artificial intelligence" concept.
The ANS is working to apply NLP to textual descriptions of obverse and reverse types in order to improve searchability. The talk will cover that work.
Three online resources as a test case
The presentation will focus on tools applied to three online resources:
- Online Coins of the Roman Empire - Coinage of the Roman Republic Online - Hellenistic Royal Coinages
The ANS is using these as a test case before proceeding to the full ANS collection.
"Snake" and "serpent"
According to the notice, numismatists may use interchangeable terms, such as "snake" and "serpent," in descriptions. NLP makes it possible to refine searches based on compatible concepts rather than the literal choice of words.
Source: American Numismatic Society, "Long Table 259. Natural Language Processing and the ANS’ Online Resources" (January 13, 2026).
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