Coins We Love: An Interview with John Brush Part 2

As mentioned last week, I was asked several questions and thought they might make for a good CWL… or two (or three!) — so, here is Q&A with John Brush Part Two!

The US mint has made an “instant rarity” by striking 230 of the 2024 Gold Flowing Hair 230th anniversary $1 with a privy mark. The US Mint then contracted them for sale at auction — at the time of writing the first coin (with canceled dies) is bidding at $170K. Thoughts on this practice?

• I don’t want to make enemies with my comments on this, though they may be controversial. Of course, I will always state my opinion when asked. I loved the silver and gold coins that the mint produced. They were artistically beautiful and I loved the idea. I also liked the idea of placing privy-marked issues of the silver coins in random shipments. This was great! However, when the mint contracted the auction of the 230 gold issues, I was disgusted. This did nothing to help collectors and it only served to make the US Mint, the largest coin dealer in the world, more money. I have never seen a government mandate for the Mint to become more profitable, but this felt like a money grab. Yes, it allows those with the deepest pockets to secure the coins via auction, but what does this serve? It keeps coins out of the hands of the less wealthy and it doesn’t allow collectors to find something in their “hunt” for treasures. I have no problem with the company that was given the auction deal and I can’t blame them for accepting. But, the whole concept just reeks of greed and does nothing for the hobby.

What was your favorite numismatic activity for 2024?

• One of the things that just kind of ended up happening as the year went by was the opportunity to visit and tour a number of the US Mints with my son, Wes. We hit the Denver Mint with the ANA Summer Seminar, the old Carson City Mint due to some flight mishaps, and the San Francisco Mint due to our week at Witter Coin U. Denver was the most interesting as far as explaining the current situation of coinage: we lose money making cents and nickels, make a ton on dimes and larger, but it all evens out in the wash to a balanced budget for the mint — in other words, there’s no need for more profits (privy-excluded, I guess). The Carson City mint was fascinating, historically, and had a neat collection of CC coinage on display as well as the original minting equipment…and the San Francisco was the most unique as they don’t allow tours to the public. Seeing the die polishing room and actually roaming the production floor was really fascinating and a lot of fun! So, hitting up the mints was an absolute blast and something that I didn’t expect to do this year. I guess I have to find my way to a few more this year…

You can make one numismatic purchase for your own collection—money is not an object—what would it be and why?

• I’d love to buy the 1854-S $5 PCGS AU58 that I acquired for the Hansen Collection. It was sold in the first auction by Stack’s that occurred after the country was shut down due to COVID. Less than 10 dealers were able to attend the sale and I made the trip to California as this was a must-have acquisition for the collection. There’s a whole story about attending this sale and the coins that we bought there, but the unknown in the world added a huge level of stress to this event and the coin will forever hold a place in my memory due to the story behind it.

When did you know that you wanted to be a coin dealer?

• During my first year of grad school/seminary at Emory University. I did my first semester of classes and a required class internship as a Chaplain at the VA Hospital. The experience was sobering and enlightening for me, but I realized that my skills in life weren’t taking me to this calling. I loved people and helping people, but I learned that working with collectors was also another way that you could help others. And, you can do much in your church and community outside of the realm of “work” as well. However, I finished my first semester—I received a "B" in a class that I knew I deserved an “A” in—and as the 2nd semester began, I also worked on a few job interviews, all of which were productive. I had offers from Heritage, Bowers and Merena, and Spectrum Numismatics. I had interned at Heritage, which was a fantastic experience, but Dallas was a bit warm for my liking. I took the offer from Bowers (that was withdrawn a few days later due to some corporate issues that later became very clear…but it’s probably best that I didn’t end up in a small town in NH at age 22), and Spectrum proved to be the biggest wild card, but it was an opportunity to go to California, so I took that. It ended up being an incredible opportunity to learn and I’ll forever be thankful to Greg Roberts and the team there that gave me a chance.

What has changed the most with your business since its inception?

• Wow. This is a great question. I joined DLRC in 2006. It had already gone through a lot of changes, growing from a mail-order operation of a former collector to a massive, internet-based operation. I came on board shortly after the Richmond Auctions had concluded, so it was an interesting time for DLRC. I had the opportunity to work and learn from John Feigenbaum for 10 years before taking charge and buying the company (with my partner Dell Loy Hansen) 2 years later. In my earliest time there, we continued to focus on the retailer mindset of dealing with collectors and expanding the online auction focus, as well as going through the ups and downs of the 2009-2011 market adjustments. Since acquiring the company, the biggest changes have been learning how to manage a growing team of approximately 20 people, doing a complete redesign of our website and backend technology, and expanding the company to offering a weekly high-end boutique auction, the Red Carpet Rarity Series, that ends on Thursday nights. These events, along with working with some major collections—specifically the Hansen Collection, of which I’m the curator—have kept me on my toes. As we say, every day there is something different happening…and that’s what really energizes us to keep making DLRC better.

When not at work, what other hobbies or pursuits do you enjoy?

• I tend to see that hobbies change as we grow older. I used to love tennis and softball, but I’ve recently had shoulder surgery and some issues there that have stopped those activities. I still enjoy a game of chess on occasion, but my most frequent activities revolve around my wife and kids. One of my sons (Wes) has jumped into the world of numismatics, so he works with me 2 days a week while homeschooling — and when I get home, I get peppered with coin-related questions. My other son (Luke) is much more into technology, so I have him work on all of my computer issues and he tries to keep me up to date on what’s going on in the technology world — he also starts the dinner conversations about history, whether it’s Ancient Rome or Europe in World War 2. If there was a recording device in my house, I think it would confuse even the most seasoned 3-letter government agency! And to the chagrin of my understanding and kind wife, we wear a lot of orange in our house as we follow the University of Tennessee in all of the major sports.

World mints are producing an abundance of special limited editions and commemoratives. Certainly profitable for the mints, yet is this practice too much for the hobby to absorb?

• I attended the World’s Fair of Money in Berlin this past February and took an early dive into this world of limited-edition modern coins and commemoratives. It was a fascinating experience and one that I learned a lot from. I’m actually a huge supporter of these issues as collectibles as I love the ingenuity that is coming from these productions. I can’t speak for the long-term investment potential of these coins, but they are certainly popular amongst collectors and I think that’s what is important. I haven’t seen an issue with the hobby absorbing these as the offerings have been quite diverse. And collectors can collect what they want. I probably won’t be the person buying a set of Dr. Seuss coins, but I have to admit that I was intrigued by the Star Wars issues and the Major League Baseball issues. The important thing that we have to remember is that we need to focus on relevancy and what the collector wants. The collecting marketplace will tell us when we’ve gone too far or overproduced!

World and Ancient coins have been attracting much more attention and bringing record prices at major auctions. How have you integrated them into your inventory?

• I think that world coins and especially ancient coins are a new frontier in numismatics that has a huge opportunity for growth. We do offer some of the major types that we buy and sell, but we also offer quite a few of the lesser-valued pieces via auction. Many dealers like these, as there is less price discovery for collectors to investigate, so it’s a minefield for many collectors to enter unless they really are willing to do the research. I’m a supporter of the new inventory concept and of expanding these offerings to collectors, but I’m a slow adopter as I want collectors to learn about what they are buying to make them better collectors when entering into a new type of collectible.

Numismatically Yours,

John Brush

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