David Akers
Expertise: All U.S. coins.
Specialties: Rarities and high-quality examples
David Akers stared collecting coins in 1949. After graduating from Notre Dame, obtaining a Masters degree in mathematics from Oregon State, and serving as a U.S. Army combat artillery officer in Viet Nam, David became a full time coin dealer in 1971. He was President of one of the largest and most influential dealerships of the 1970s and 1980s, Paramount International Coin Corp
Between 1975 and 1982, David Akers published a six volume analysis of U.S. gold coins that is considered one of the key references for the market. He conducted numerous very important auctions, including the three part 1997-99 sale of the legendary John J. Pittman collection. He is one of only two dealers to ever receive all three of the Professional Numismatists Guild's three top honors: the Robert Friedberg Literary award, the Abe Kosoff Founders award, and the PNG Lifetime Achievement award. David Akers is considered one of the top rare gold experts of all-time.
John Dannreuther
Founder, Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS)
Expertise: All U.S. coins.
Specialties: U.S. gold and type coins, counterfeit detection, and special strikings.
John Dannreuther grew up in the rare coin business. His father ran trade paper ads in the 1950s as V.J. Dannreuther and Sons. After graduating from the University of Mississippi with a degree in chemistry, John went back into the coin business, becoming a full-time dealer in 1973. Today he is considered one of the top rare coin experts of all time.
In 1986, John was one of the co-founders of Professional Coin Grading Service. In 1997, he was the principal text author of "The Official Guide To Coin Grading And Counterfeit Detection," the Numismatic Literary Guild's "Book Of The Year" award winner for 1998.
Ron Gillio
Expertise: All U.S. coins and currency, all World coins and currency
Specialties: Rarities and large hoards
Ron Gillio is prehaps the best known coin dealer in the world. He started buying and selling coins in 1961 and since 1970, he has traveled extensively throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia buying and selling U.S. and world coins and currency. In his career, Ron has handled many rarities, including two of the most famous U.S. coin rarities, the 1913 Liberty nickel and the 1894-S dime. He has been one of the largest importers of U.S. gold coins. Since 1970, he has imported more than 1,000,000 U.S. gold coins from various Swiss banks and Central Government Banks in Europe. In 1996, Ron found, negotiated and purchased the famous Wells Fargo hoard, the largest hoard of high quality U.S. $20 gold pieces in history.
Ron Gillio has owned auction companies in the United States, Hong Kong, and Singapore. He put on his first coin show in the San Fernando Valley in 1967 and was the owner of the very important Long Beach coin show (which he now runs on behalf of Collectors Universe) for many years. Ron has perhaps the broadest base of coin and currency knowledge of anyone in the world as he has handled an incredibly wide spectrum of rare coins and currency from virtually every country in the world. In 1983, Ron collaborated with Walter Breen in writing and publishing the standard reference book for California Fraction Gold. Today these historically important coins trade according to their BG (Breen-Gillio) numbers.
Ron was on the Board of the Professional Numismatists Guild for 17 years, serving in all of the PNG's officer positions, including President. In 1995, Ron Gillio was given the PNG's Abe Kosoff Founders Award for his significant contributions to the numismatic community.
Ron Guth
President, CoinFacts.com
Expertise: U.S. and World coins.
Specialties: Encased Postage, Exonumia, U.S. Colonial Coins, German Stamps, Civil War Commutation Money.
Ron Guth is a licensed Certified Public Accountant who has been involved professionally in numismatics for nearly forty years as a collector, dealer, researcher, and writer. For the past two decades, he served as an auctioneer for virtually every major numismatic firm, selling classic rarities such as the 1913 Liberty Head Nickel and the 1804 Silver Dollar. In 2001, Ron authored the award-winning
Coin Collecting For Dummies. In 2002, he co-authored United States Proof and Mint Sets 1936-2002, which won the Numismatic Literary Guild (NLG) Award for Best Numismatic Investment Book. In 2003, Ron co-authored the best selling book
The 100 Greatest U.S. Coins, which went on to win the Professional Numismatic Guild and the NLG Best Book of the Year Awards. In 2003, Ron received the prestigious President's Award from the American Numismatic Association in recognition for his numerous contributions to numismatics.
David Hall
President, Collectors Universe
Expertise: All U.S. coins.
Specialties: Top quality U.S. type coins, gold, silver dollars, commemoratives, and early 20th century coins.
David Hall arguably understands collectibles markets and how they work better than anyone in the world. He became a full-time rare coin dealer in 1972 and was quickly one of the major players. In the 1980's he was the man behind the major market innovations of the decade; guaranteed buy/sell markets, electronic trading, and his piece de resistance, the Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS). In 1990 David Hall was named Orange County "Entrepreneur Of The Year" by
Inc. Magazine. The February 20, 1996 issue of
Numismatic News called him "the man who changed the rare coin market forever." The July, 1999 issue of
Coinage Magazine named David Hall one of the top "Numismatists of the Century." Contact David at
dh@collectors.com.
Jim Halperin
Expertise: All U.S. coins.
Specialties: Rarities and high-quality coins
Jim Halperin is Co-Chairman and an owner of the world's largest rare coin firm, Heritage Auction Galleries. Jim and the traders under his supervision have transacted billions of dollars in the rare coin business. In the 1970s, Jim was founder and owner of New England Rare Coin Galleries, one of the most influential firms of the decade. In 1983, Jim's business merged with that of his friend and former archrival Steve Ivy to create Heritage Auction Galleries, which would became the world's largest rare coin firm and the third-largest auctioneer (of all things) in the world.
Jim Halperin's coin buying and selling skills are such that he is considered one of the top coin traders of all-time. PCGS founder David Hall once described Jim as the "Michael Jordan of rare coins." Jim's grading skills are such that when PCGS conducted an "open-to-all" "World Series of Grading" contest, Jim finished first in the ultra competitive dealer's division.
Jim's firm Heritage sells more than $700 million a year. Information about Heritage is available at
www.HA.com.
Jaime Hernandez
PCGS Price Guide Editor
Expertise: U.S. coins.
Specialties: Copper Coins, Type Coins, and Modern Coins
By the time he reached his early twenties, Jaime Hernandez was successfully buying and selling coins with some of the most prominent dealers and collectors in the country. He became well-known for finding pricing niches in the coin market and being able to capitalize on them. He joined PCGS in 2005, primarily as the modern coin pricing Editor for the PCGS Price Guide. Jaime has written numerous articles on U.S. coins and is also the editor of the PCGS eCollector e-newsletter. He has contributed his numismatic knowledge and interviewing skills to a number of PCGS videos.
Contact Jaime at
JHernandez@collectors.com.
Ron Howard
Director of Grading, Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS)
Expertise: All U.S. coins.
Specialties: U.S. type coins, gold, and rarities.
Ron Howard has been a collector/hobbyist since 1959. He received his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Mississippi in 1970 and became a professional numismatist in 1972. Up until 1986, when he joined PCGS as the first grader hired, he was a coin buyer and cataloguer for several major numismatic firms, examining, purchasing, or cataloging virtually all major U.S. collections during that period. He has attended over 300 numismatic conventions. Ron has authored a book on silver dollars and many articles, and has contributed to numerous auction catalogues, including at least four American Numismatic Association auction catalogues.
Don Kagin
CoinFacts Expert
Expertise: All U.S. coins.
Specialties: Pioneer gold, patterns, and varieties
Don Kagin has literally spent his whole life in the coin and currency market. His father, Art, and uncle, Paul, were partners in one of the most influential firms of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, Hollinbeck-Kagin's. Don grew up in the coin and currency market with two of the world's top dealers as his teachers. Don later became the first PhD in numismatics.
Don is the author of Private Gold Coins and Patterns of the United States, the definitive reference work for this important area of the rare coin market. Don has handled virtually every Pioneer gold coin and has helped assemble some of the greatest collections of all-time. Don is considered to be the number one authority on Pioneer gold.
Don's inventory of Pioneer gold and other rare and esoteric coins and currency is available for viewing at
www.kagins.com.
Julian Leidman
Numismatic Expert
Expertise: All U.S. coins.
Specialties: U.S. colonial coins, patterns, ultra-rarities, die varieties, Hard Times tokens.
Julian Leidman began his career as a professional numismatic dealer and consultant over 40 years ago. Julian boasts an unbroken record of attendance at every major U.S. coin auction since 1968, where he represented not only himself but as many as 25 bidders at a time. Along the way, Julian handled some of the most important U.S. coins. He assisted in the completion of the finest collection of double eagles ever assembled, he was involved with the 1973 sale of the renowned Wilkison collection of gold pattern coins, and he assembled specialized collections of all early U.S. coins by die variety. Julian consults with corporations, dealers, and collectors to build world-class collections and to promote numismatics. He received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Professional Numismatists Guild, of which he is a proud member. Contact Julian at
Julian@JulianCoin.com or visit his website at
www.juliancoin.com.
Kevin Lipton
Expertise: All U.S. coins.
Specialties: Rarities and high-quality examples
Kevin Lipton started buying and selling coins at age thirteen and within a few years earned a reputation as one of the great numismatic prodigies. At only 16 years old, he was the full-time numismatic buyer for Steve Ivy Rare Coins of Dallas (the firm that became Heritage). At only seventeen years of age, he started his own company, Kevin Lipton Rare Coins, and was one of the major players in the rare coin market, handling some of the rarest U.S. coins and being involved of many of the largest deals of the era. In 1989, Kevin Lipton was the chief advisor to the American Rare Coin Fund L.P., Kidder Peabody's $25,000,000 rare coin limited partnership. In 2000, Lipton was the recipient of the Professional Numismatist Guild's "Sol Kaplan Award" for his help in cleansing the profession of fraud and thievery.
For PCGS CoinFacts, Kevin Lipton is one of the four members of the pricing committee for the Million Dollar Coin Club, the PCGS CoinFacts listing of the approximately 200 U.S. coins now worth a million dollars or more. Kevin is obviously one of the most qualified persons in the world to offer guidance on the pricing of these ultra rare coins.
Kevin Lipton is one of the greatest coin traders of all-time and has handled most of the important United States coin rarities. He has sold over one billion dollars worth of high quality rare coins. Today he remains one of the largest and most active buyers and sellers of U.S. rare coins. He attends every major coin show and participates in every major coin auction. He is one of the top buyers of U.S. coin rarities. Those interested in selling (or buying) U.S. coin rarities can contact Kevin at his office weekdays at 310-712-8118.
Denis W. Loring
Numismatic Expert
Expertise: All U.S. coins
Specialties: U.S. Large Cents, particularly Sheldon varieties and Proofs, Capped Bust Quarter Dollars by Browning variety.
Denis W. Loring has been specializing in large cents for over 40 years. He is a founding member of the Early American Coppers club, and currently serves as its President. He is a Consulting and Contributing Editor for
Penny-Wise, the bimonthly journal of EAC, and the author of numerous articles. His cataloging credits include such well-known large cent auctions as Ruby, Norweb, Rasmussen and Husak. He wrote the grading standards for large cents found in the standard ANA grading guide. He is a member of ANA, ANS, NLG, JRCS, NBS and the Rittenhouse Society, and an ANA exhibit judge for both U. S. coins and numismatic literature.
When not working pursuing his numismatic interests, Denis is a Senior Vice President with RGA Reinsurance Company, the nation's largest life reinsurer. He is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries, a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries and an ARIAS-certified arbitrator. He is married to Donna Levin, a cruciverbalist, and lives in Singer Island, Florida.
John Love
Expertise: Morgan and Peace Dollars
Specialties: All Morgan and Peace Dollars
John Love has handled more Morgan and Peace dollars than anyone in the world. He is quite simply "Mr. Silver Dollar." From his shop in Cut Bank, Montana, John began selling silver dollars in the early 1960s. In the 1970s, he was the world's largest silver dollar dealer and was known for two things, selling very high quality and correctly graded silver dollars, and being able to handle exceptionally large deals.
Over the years, John Love has been involved in most of the largest and most famous silver dollar deals. He was one of the three distributors of the incredible 484,000 coin LaVere Redfield dollar hoard in the 1970s. And John has handled many of the finest known examples of all of the important dates in the Morgan and Peace dollar series.
John Love is still active today, buying and selling high quality Morgan and Peace dollars...one at a time, or in huge quantites. John can be contacted at 800-801-4260.
Greg Roberts
Spectrum Group International
Expertise: All U.S. coins
Specialties: Ultra Rarities, gold & silver bullion coins, silver dollars and Walking Liberty half dollars
Greg Roberts is CEO of one of the largest coin and collectibles companies in the world, Spectrum Group International. The Spectrum Group family of companies include numismatic auction powerhouse Stacks Bowers, one of the country's largest rare coin wholesalers Spectrum Numismatics, and one of the country's largest gold and silver dealers A-Mark.
Here's what PCGS founder and CoinAge Magazine Numismatist of the Century David Hall has to say about Greg Roberts. "When Greg was a 15 year old sophomore in high school (1977) his mom used to drive him to the Glendale coin show where he sold me Gem BU Mercury dimes, Walkers, and silver dollars he had bought around town. Then I watched him become a significant buyer/market-maker for dollars and Walkers. In the 1990's, he graduated to Ultra Rarities and bought and sold 1913 Liberty nickels, 1804 dollars, etc. Today, I believe he buys and sells (though his several dominant companies) more U.S. coins than any other person/firm in this country. I have been somewhat of a mentor to him, giving him advice along the way, and doing a ton of business with him. Now I ask him for advice. The student has become the master!"
Greg's companies can be checked out at
stacksbowers.com and
spectrumnumismatics.com.
Greg Rohan
Expertise: All U.S. coins.
Specialties: Rarities and high-quality collections
Greg Rohan is President (and an owner) of the world's largest rare coin firm, Heritage Auction Galleries. At Heritage, Greg oversees the firm's private client group and works with top collectors in every field in which Heritage is active. Actively involved in numismatics for over 35 years, Greg has personally overseen many of the rarest items and most important collections ever handled by the firm, including the purchase and/or sale of the Ed Trompeter Collecction (the world's largest numismatic transaction according to the Guiness Book of World Records), the legendary 1894 San Francisco dime, the 1838 New Orleans half dollar, and the 1804 Silver Dollar (on multiple occasions). During his career, Greg has handled more than $1 billion of rare coins.
For PCGS CoinFacts, Greg is a member of the four person pricing committee for the PCGS CoinFacts Million Dollar Coin Club, a listing (with prices and condition census) of the approximately 200 U.S. coins now valued at $1,000,000 or more. As PCGS founder David Hall said, "Greg Rohan is probably better qualified than anyone in the world to answer the all important question, 'What would this million dollar coin sell for at auction?'"
Greg's firm Heritage sells more than $700 million a year. Information about Heritage is available at
www.HA.com, and Greg can be reached at
Greg@HA.com.
Mike Sargent
Head Verifier, Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS)
Expertise: U.S. & World counterfeit coinss
Specialties: U.S. gold coins, territorial gold coins
Mike Sargent is the Head Verifier at PCGS and is a leading expert on counterfeit detection in both US and World coins. He maintains a large database of known counterfeits and is constantly looking for new pieces to add. When Mike could find the extra time, he authored many articles on counterfeit detection for the "Rare Coin Market Report". He enjoys all early US gold coins especially territorial gold coins after spending 8 years working with Harlan White, from San Diego, while receiving valuable experience handling such pieces. Since joining PCGS early in 1989, Mike has graded over 5 million coins for PCGS and is considered one of the top grading experts in the world.
Mike Sherman
Expertise:U.S. coins.
Other Areas: Rare Records, Phonographs, Radios, TVs, Vintage Automobiles.
Mike Sherman came to Collectors Universe in 1999 after serving 18 years as General Manager of the nation's largest rare coin wholesaler. A 1977 graduate of the University of Virginia, he went on to earn an MBA from Washington University in St. Louis. Since 1979, he has been involved in the rare coin business full time as a manager, market analyst and writer. He has won numerous awards for writing and publishing, and has conducted educational seminars for the American Numismatic Association and local clubs. He was a longtime contributor to the Guide Book of United States Coins (Red Book) and served as editor of Legacy Magazine from 1988 through 1990. Mike is a member of most leading numismatic organizations, including the Numismatic Literary Guild, the American Numismatic Association and the Florida United Numismatists. In addition, he is a professional, licensed auctioneer, and has conducted auctions across the country since 1988. Besides U.S. coins, Mike is also an expert in rare records (author of several books on 78rpm records), rare radios, rare TVs, and vintage cars.
Laura Sperber
Expertise: High quality U.S. coins.
Specialties: Gem quality type coins
Laura Sperber became a full-time coin dealer in 1979. Today she is Co-President of Legend Numismatics. Laura's firm is one of the industry leaders in the acquisition and sales of high quality U.S. rare coins, including ultra rarities. Laura has handled many of the rarest and most famous United States coins including the unique 1870-S Liberty Seated half dime, the 1885 Trade dollar, the 1804 silver dollar, and the famous 1894-S dime, of which she has handled three different specimens. She has owned two of the five known specimens of the legendary 1913 Liberty nickel. Laura and Legend Numismatics have helped build some of the finest sets of U.S. coins in existence.
For PCGS CoinFacts, Laura lends her expertise to helping us price the ultra rarities for the PCGS CoinFacts Million Dollar Coin Club. The fine quality coins Legend Numismatics specializes in can be viewed at their website,
www.legendcoin.com.
Mitchell Spivack
Expertise: Modern U.S. coins.
Specialties: All modern U.S. coins.
Mitchell Spivack is one of the nation's leading experts in the area of Modern United States coinage (1932-date) having focused his study in that area of numismatics for the past (25) years. Over the past ten years, he has assisted collectors in building top/world class sets of Mint State or Proof Memorial Cents, Jefferson Nickels, Roosevelt Dimes, Washington Quarters (silver and clad), State Quarters, Franklin Half Dollars, Kennedy Half Dollars, Eisenhower Dollars, Susan B. Anthony Dollars, Sacagawea Dollars, Presidential Dollars, Silver and Gold Modern Commemoratives and all Gold Eagle and Platinum Statue of Liberty coins, to name just a few. Yet, Mitchell's numismatic expertise crosses over to classic coins as well, where he has assisted collectors with building world class/"Hall of Fame" sets of Two Cent pieces, Shield Nickels. Liberty Nickels, Standing Liberty Quarters, Silver Classic Commemoratives, patterns and classic rarities, such as acting as agent for the purchase and sale of the finest known PCGS graded 1894-S Dime for a record $1,900.000 in 2008. Mitchell is an avid collector as well with (70) PCGS registry sets ongoing at this time spanning a variety of coin series from patterns through Presidential Dollars. Mitchell has been PCGS' outside Modern expert for the Price Guide since 2007 and serves as a member of PCGS' Advisory Board. Mitchell received his B.A. from Rutgers University in 1980 and his Juris Doctorate from the University of Maryland School of Law in 1983 and is currently an inactive member of the California State Bar. Mitchell's web site is
www.wondercoins.com.
You can contact Mitchell at
mjcapc@aol.com.
Miles Standish
Senior Grader and Vice-President of Business Development, Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS)
Expertise: All U.S. coins.
Specialties: U.S. Coins and Memorabilia.
Miles Standish has graded and authenticated many coins, from the finest 1913 Liberty Nickel to the "Holy Grail" of 1804 Dollars. He was a co-founder of Collectors Universe and was the first full time coin grader at PCGS. He served as Vice President of PSA; authenticating Mark McGwire's 70th homerun ball and Hank Aaron's 714th bat and ball.
Miles' programs have substantially increased the number of graded coins in the marketplace. He provides strategic advice to coin dealers, insight to serious collectors; collaborates with publishers, mentors young hobbyists, presents expert testimony at trial and introduces successful coin packaging programs for a variety of modern coins.
He spearheaded the development of limited edition commemorative coin and autograph holders for former Presidents Bush and Ford, Lance Armstrong, General Tommy Franks, Kathy Sullivan, Jessica Lynch and former U.S. Mint Directors Donna Pope, Jay W. Johnson and Philip Diehl. In fact, it was a result of the personal recommendation of President Ford that President Bush met with Miles and committed to the program.
Don Willis
President, Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS)
Expertise: U.S. type coins and early issues.
Specialties: Capped Bust half dollars.
Don Willis started collecting coins in 1961 and assembled all the usual sets mostly from circulation. He did some vest pocket dealing in the 1970s and 1980s while pursuing a corporate career in Information Technology and Management. He was a Senior Vice President at a multi-billion corporation until 1995 when he founded an Internet software company. He sold that company in 2002 and became a full time dealer and the owner of Premium Numismatics. While at Premium Numismatics he specialized in pre-1840 U.S. coins. Don joined PCGS as President in October of 2008. He is a life member of the ANA, CSNA, FUN and CSNS.
Doug Winter
Professional Numismatist, Researcher and Author
Expertise: U.S. gold coins
Specialties:Branch mint gold coins
Doug Winter is one of the nation's leading experts in the area of United States gold coinage. He is a dealer who specializes in the branch mint issues from Carson City, Charlotte, Dahlonega and New Orleans and he has written the standard reference books on all of these subjects. Doug is the owner of Douglas Winter Numismatics and his website,
www.raregoldcoins.com, is consistently ranked as one of the best in the coin industry. DWN is an authorized PCGS dealer and he resides in Portland, Oregon. You can contact Doug via email at
dwn@ont.com.
Gordon Wrubel
Senior Grader, Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS)
Expertise: All U.S. coins.
Specialties: U.S. gold coins and early copper.
Gordon Wrubel, Senior Grader at Professional Coin Grading Service , is a well-known expert in rare U.S. coins specializing in top quality rare U.S. gold. He is in charge of our inventory acquisitions and consults with clients who are building some of the world's finest collections. In 1974, he became a full-time coin dealer and has sold over $50,000,000 in valuable coins during his career. He holds a life membership in the American Numismatic Association and in 1980 became a member of the Professional Numismatists Guild. In 1986, Gordon was one of the founders of the Professional Coin Grading Service and served as Director of Grading until 1995. He is also one of the world's top experts in rare "rock and roll" records. Contact Gordon at
WrubelG@collectors.com.
