My Brushes with Numismatic History PART 1

I have been a numismatic collector since 1964 and a dealer since 1981. Over the years, I’ve had a few opportunities to change the future of numismatics.

My most significant influence involved the work for determining the design of the 2004 Michigan Statehood quarter. I had talked with a handful of dealer friends who participated in the process of selecting the designs of earlier issues in the series and of attending the subsequent first strike ceremonies at the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia and public release ceremonies. For the collector in me, those experiences sounded like a lot of fun. In each state, the governor appointed a committee to recommend designs for the governor to submit to the Mint.

Steve Bieda, the designer of the reverse of the 1992 Olympic half dollar, was a Michigan state representative in the early years of this century. He supplied me the address to which I sent my resume to volunteer to work on candidate designs for the forthcoming 2004 Michigan Statehood quarter. In my application I noted that I was already working as the