PCGS INDUCTS THREE TO COIN DEALER HALL OF FAME

Professional Coin Grading Service (www.PCGS.com) is enshrining the names of three new inductees to its time-honored PCGS CoinFacts Coin Dealer Hall of Fame. The honors, which have been awarded since 2010 and includes dozens of legendary numismatic figures, grow longer this year with the inclusion of Mid-American Rare Coin Galleries, Inc., founder Jeff Garrett, Legend Numismatics co-founder Laura Sperber, and wholesale market maker Lee Minshull.

"It's hard to imagine the modern numismatic marketplace without the likes of Jeff Garrett, Laura Sperber, and Lee Minshull," said PCGS President Stephanie Sabin. "Jeff, Laura, and Lee all play significant roles in shaping the culture and dynamics of the numismatic industry today," Sabin continued.

"Jeff has built what has become one of the leading rare coin firms in the United States," said Sabin. She added that Garrett has, "shared his incredible expertise and vast knowledge with countless others through the many books and other educational publications he has written and edited over the years."

Sabin also shared her admiration for Sperber, who "rose the ranks of the hobby at a time when few women were leading their own numismatic businesses." Sabin went on to say, "Laura redefined auction firms in the numismatic world and became an arbiter of quality not just by the coins she sold in her auctions but also the coins she helped procure for leading collectors."

As for Minshull, Sabin said, "there are few individuals in the numismatic sphere with the wholesale influence that Lee has. A major dealer across many actively traded areas of the marketplace, Lee's bidsheets and promotional campaigns have helped move entire genres of the American numismatic marketplace."

Jeff Garrett, who was born in Kentucky in 1958, started his numismatic journey as a child and attended his first American Numismatic Association (ANA) Convention in 1974 at the age of 16. Before long, he established Mid-American Rare Coin Galleries. He's been dubbed a "dealer's dealer" who serves as an authoritative voice in the hobby and has dedicated his time, talent, and treasure in giving back to the hobby.

Garrett has also authored, coauthored, and edited a multitude of numismatic books, including 100 Greatest U.S. Coins and Encyclopedia of U.S. Gold Coins 1795-1933, the latter of which he wrote with Ron Guth; Garrett also serves as the senior editor of the iconic A Guide Book of United States Coins, the annually revised volume popularly known as "The Red Book." Garrett has handled and authenticated some of the rarest coins. He has also worked with the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C., and serves on the museum's board of advisors. Garrett has served as president of the American Numismatic Association (ANA) and Professional Numismatists Guild. He also founded the Bluegrass Coin Club, which serves his fellow Kentuckian numismatists.

Laura Sperber launched her full-time professional numismatic career in 1978, becoming a fixture on bourse floors big and small around the United States. In 1986, she co-founded Legend Numismatics and, alongside her business partners George Huang and Bruce Morelan, helped the firm become one of the most successful of its time. Sperber's keen eye for quality earned her a client list that read like a "Who's Who" of the PCGS Set Registry Hall of Fame.

Among the collections Sperber helped assemble are the Bust and Trade Dollars of Bruce Morelan, the legendary Bob R. Simpson Collection, eye-appealing Shalor Collection of commemorative coins, and the Coronet Collection of Mint State Morgan Dollars. It was Sperber's eye for fine coins that compelled her to establish a boutique numismatic auction firm focusing on small-volume, high-quality lot marquees, which were offered under the Legend Rare Coin Auctions banner from 2012 to 2023. Amid her years at the top of the market, Sperber also served as an influential hobby figure who led the call for change in numismatics, including her fight against coin doctoring and advocacy for modernizing coin shows.

Lee Minshull was a prodigious young numismatist when he began his career as a coin dealer in 1973 at the age of 14. Among at least 20 other notable dealers born in 1959 (including fellow PCGS CoinFacts Coin Dealer Hall of Fame inductee Laura Sperber), Minshull netted $20,000 wholesaling bags of silver dollars he procured from banks during the decade's boom in silver prices and was named the American Numismatic Association's Young Numismatist of the Year in 1977. Minshull was a full-time mail-order dealer by the time he graduated from high school and soon joined Steve Ivy Rare Coins, where he ascended from working as a cataloger to becoming the head of the wholesale division. He later went on to work with fellow PCGS CoinFacts Coin Dealer Hall of Famer Kevin Lipton.

Ever the entrepreneur, Minshull eventually set out on his own to establish Lee Minshull Rare Coins, a firm now known as Minshull Trading that has international reach and handles transactions in market-making volume. One of Minshull's landmark campaigns happened in the wake of 9/11, when large hoards of coins were recovered from the Bank of Nova Scotia vaults located under the World Trade Center; Minshull is responsible for seven-figure donations to the World Trade Center Memorial Fund. Minshull's philanthropy extends to the educational realm, including his many contributions to "The Red Book" for more than 40 years and by providing a gold coin every year for the past 20 years to sponsor the ANA's Young Numismatist of the Year award. Minshull is currently pioneering the next generation of numismatic products as a partner in VaultBox, the industry-leading coin mystery box product, as well as through the launch of state-authorized Lone Star Coins and Gold Notes with the State of Texas.

For more information about these and other inductees in the PCGS CoinFacts Coin Dealer Hall of Fame, please visit https://www.pcgs.com/pcgscoinfacts/coindealerhof.

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