Coin Dealers

Coin Collecting For Dummies

The most important choice you make as a coin collector is deciding on which dealers to do business with. Certainly there are more good dealers than just the ones in the following list, but these offer a few good places to start:

Heritage Auction Galleries (phone: 800-872-6467): Home of numismatists James Halperin and Steve Ivy, Heritage sells as many coins to collectors as anyone.
Swiss America Trading Corp. (phone: 800-289-2646): Swiss America invites U.S. investors and collectors to rediscover gold coin and rare coin collecting for financial safety, privacy, and profit. It offers knowledge, timing, and quality products from its famous, world-class coin buyer.
Tangible Investments, LLC (phone: 888-655-9255): Silvano DiGenova, one of the world’s best coin traders, sells coin rarities primarily to serious collectors.
Neil S. Berman, Inc. (phone: 914-763-0678): Neil purchases rare coins, primarily representing serious investors, both private and institutional.

About This Article

About the book author:

Neil S. Berman is an expert numismatist and professional rare coin dealer with over 50 years’ experience. He’s been published in Barron’s, Trust and Estates, National Law Journal, The Financial Planner, Pension World, and Executive Jeweler. He has appraised coins for the United States Postal Service, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Ron Guth is a jack-of-all-trades and master of one — numismatics. Ron is a certified public accountant (CPA), a licensed auctioneer, and a writer, but the bulk of his time is spent on his true love — coin collecting and dealing. Ron’s battle with coin fever began when he was 12 years old, and he’s never gotten over it. After a decade of collecting, Ron went professional in 1976, when he began working for a local coin shop in Tampa, Florida. In 1978, he partnered with David Goldsmith and purchased the Bay Area Coin Exchange in Tampa. Ron and Dave blasted through the silver boom, and then split up in 1981, when Ron moved to Evansville, Indiana (his wife’s hometown), where he set up shop on First Avenue. In 1984, Ron formed Mid-American Rare Coin Auctions with Jeff Garrett of Lexington, Kentucky. The company quickly established itself as an innovative leader in the industry and, within the first year, became the fifth largest rare coin auction company in America. In 1988, Ron sold his interest in the company, went back to school to finish his bachelor’s degree in accounting and finance, and has since become a numismatic consultant and a major dealer in German coins.
In 1984, Ron won the American Numismatic Association’s Wayte and Olga Raymond and Heath Literary awards. He has written many coin-related articles and is listed as a contributor to several books, including Walter Breen’s Encyclopedia of United States Coins, Krause Publications’s Standard Catalog of German Coins, Roger S. Cohen’s American Half Cents, Walter Breen’s Encyclopedia of United States Half Cents, and others. Ron has served as a numismatic consultant for many rare-coin companies, including major firms such as the Professional Coin Grading Services, Heritage Numismatic Auctions, and Early American History Auctions.