Bio

• Born in San Francisco, California. Graduate of the College of San Mateo. Employed as senior design drafter with Pacific Gas & Electric 1980 to 1994. Married to Alba Iris Acosta on August 18, 2001 (divorced 2012). They issued a commemorative wedding token.

  He began collecting about 1965. Served as president of the Pacific Coast Numismatic Society 1988-89, Liberty Numismatic Society 1988-89 California State Numismatic Association 1993-94 and New Jersey Numismatic Society 2000-01. Member of the Rittenhouse Society and Mensa. Fellow of the Pacific Coast Numismatic Society.

  He discovered the two reverse hub types of 1900-01 Barber quarters a variety of 1883/2 Shield nickel, the high relief circulation strike 1922 dollar, the high relief word GOD on 1926 dollars and the second known examples of dime varieties 1796 JR-7 and 1802 JR-1. He has specialized in Seated Liberty half dollars, coins and paper currency of the USA/Philippines 1903-45, and the coinage of Great Britain 1816-1970.

  He designed commemorative medals for the Liberty Numismatic Society in 1987, 1988 and 1990. Served in 1994 on “M.I.N.T.” (Maintain and Improve a Numismatic Treasure), the mayor’s committee to save the Old San Francisco Mint Museum.

  Contributed the "Back to Basics" column and "No Worse for Wear" column to The Numismatist 1988 to 1992, “From One to 70” 1996 to 2002 and “USA Coin Album” after 2002. He has also had articles published in The Asylum, Calcoin News, Coin World, The Commemorative Trail, The Gobrecht Journal, Numismatic News, Penny-Wise, Rare Coin Review and others. He served as editor of The Bulletin of the Pacific Coast Numismatic Society 1984-86 and The Journal of the Pacific Coast Numismatic Society 1986-88. His column “The Bookworm” ran in this publication 1984-92. He is a contributor to the “Red Book” and has written articles for the U. S. Mint website.

  Author of The Complete Guide to Buffalo Nickels (1992), The Complete Guide to Mercury Dimes (1993), The Complete Guide to Lincoln Cents (1996), History of the United States Mint and Its Coinage (2005), A Guide Book of Modern U. S. Proof Coin Sets (2005). Author with Richard S. Montgomery of Grading Guide for Modern U. S. Coins (2004).

  He researches and collects coin boards, folders and albums and the people who produced them. Under his own publishing imprint, PennyBoard Press,™ he wrote and published Coin Collecting Boards of the 1930s & 1940s (2007) and Coin Collecting Albums – A Complete History and Catalog, a multi-volume series of books detailing the history of coin albums of American publishers. Volume One (2013) covers the products of The Beistle Company, Wayte Raymond, Inc. and M. Meghrig & Sons, Inc., and Volume Two (2016) features the coin albums of The Coin and Currency Institute (Robert Friedberg). He issues Coin Board News quarterly.

  Director of numismatic research for NGC after November 16, 1994. In 2009, at age 51, he received the ANA Lifetime Achievement Award.

  bio by correspondence, 1993; email 2006, email 2016, 2009

  profile: NN/WWH 12/3/91 (photo), COINS 8/94 (photo), COINage 6/08 (photos).

Date of birth

• 1958-08-29

Place of birth

• San Francisco, California

Relationships