LIBERTY COIN SERVICE - Key Persons
I have always been fascinated with coins, and when a coin shop opened up near my high school, I'd often stop by and look at coins. In 1972 I became the first LCS employee, sorting coins and waiting on customers after school. I've worked mostly for LCS since then, with breaks for college and a two year stint working for coin wholesalers in California.
The extensive network of dealer contacts I've built through the years are put to use everyday. Sometimes it seems I'm on the telephone so much with retail and wholesale customers that our staff often jokes that the phone is attached to my ear.
This year I served on a committee of board members from the Industry Council for Tangible Assets which worked on making a recommendation to the White House for nomination of candidates for U.S. Mint Director.
I'm a life member of the American Numismatic Association, Central States Numismatic Society, and Michigan State Numismatic Society as well as a member of many other collector organizations.
His daughter Mary has served customers at Liberty for several years. His son Dan, adopted from the Marshall Islands, received a lot of publicity when he also participated in the Michigan Quarter Ceremonial Strike Ceremony at the Denver Mint in 2004. According to the U.S. Mint Press Office, Dan is the youngest person they know of to ever strike a U.S. coin.
Job Titles:
- General Manager, Editor of Liberty 's Outlook Newsletter, and Gold Market Commentator
Job Titles:
- Inventory Manager and Senior Numismatist
- Life Member of the American Numismatic Association
Paul became a professional coin dealer at the age of 14 when he set up his own booth at a coin show. Paul first started working at LCS in 1972, the company's second employee, while attending high school. He is the author of several articles on coin errors and tokens and exonumia. He also wrote the book "Lansing's Money." Paul is listed as a contributing researcher in several token and paper money catalogs. His ever changing variety of numismatic interests have led to his encyclopedic knowledge on almost any monetary subject. Paul earned the Roethke Memorial Award for the Best Mich-Matist Article of 2002. This research article, titled Michigan Lumber Tokens, was 30 pages long.
One example of Paul's expertise happened when he took the American Numismatic Association course on "Advanced Detection of Counterfeit and Altered Coins" in 1983 and found two mistakes in the teaching materials!
Paul is regularly consulted by other dealers on questions of authenticity and quality of coins, paper money, tokens, and medals.
Paul's current collecting interests include U.S. Territorial Gold Coins, Indian and Post Trader tokens, Michigan-related tokens and paper money, Hellenistic (Greek) kingdoms and Roman coins issued from Julius Caesar to Commodus, and Civilian Conservation Corp tokens.
Paul is a life member of the American Numismatic Association and Michigan State Numismatic Society as well as being a member of a number of other numismatic organizations. Paul is also an Associate Member in the Professional Numismatists Guild (PNG). He is the past president of the Michigan Token and Medal Society (MICH-TAMS) and is currently the editor of the MICH-TAMS newsletter.
Job Titles:
- C.E.O
- Chief Executive Officer
I consider myself blessed to have a career that is so enjoyable and satisfying. My work entails numerous and diverse new challenges every day. My satisfaction comes from working with colleagues and interacting with customers who have many shared interests. I have had the opportunity to forge many lifelong friends in this business and consider them part of my extended family.
I love to share my collecting interests with people. I hope that I can instill in others an appreciation for the value of entertainment and knowledge learned through numismatics. I am especially excited to encourage young numismatists to join the hobby. This is not only crucial to the future of the hobby, but also an excellent and rewarding way for kids and young adults to learn about our world. I have fostered a kid-friendly culture at our store where questions are welcome and encouraged and interesting and historic material is always on display for all to see.
I have also been a mentor to several people who have gone on to pursue a career in numismatics. I am always happy to share what I know with others to further their knowledge about coins and aspects of dealing with them. I have also introduced many customers to new collecting interests and helped them with suggestions and ideas to work on their collections.
As an avid student of history, I often like to build numismatic collections around historic novels or non-fiction I have read. Coins have the potential for intrigue as conduits to the past. I can hold a Roman Denarius of Titus, for example, and imagine myself at the opening of the Coliseum. My coins have taken me to such places as the Parthenon, Colonial New England, the halls of Versailles, and my ancestor's home town of Hull, England. I have traveled with the armies of Alexander, Peter the Great, Napoleon, Grant and Lee. I visited the magnificent White City of Chicago and walked along its Court of Honor. I imagined the great hardships faced by the Ibo tribe in Nigeria in its bid to become an independent nation. No destination in time or distance is too great for one who possesses an open mind, some good literature, and - a coin! I want to inspire everyone to think about numismatics this way. I believe that anyone can find something within the hobby that will offer a personal connection to their life and become richly rewarding to them and their friends and family at the same time.