Coins We Love: Why the Future of Numismatics Is Brighter Than Ever!
It’s Thursday afternoon, and I can guarantee that I haven’t recovered from last week and the 10 days on the road. But when I look back, I can also smile because of what a great week it was. For the 6th year in a row, I spent the last week in San Francisco teaching numismatics to young people at the 2026 Witter Coin University. This year I was joined by my trusty sidekick Wes, who took the Advanced Class, as well as our newest team member, Eli (in the advanced class), and Maximo, who took the introduction class.
As in past years, it was a jam-packed week full of numismatic education, speakers, guests, surprises, and a little bit of the flavors of San Francisco. I’m not sure that I can handle seeing any more In-N-Out for a while, but since it was the only quick-service restaurant nearby, we certainly had our fair share of it during lunch breaks.
This year’s event was highlighted by a new evening session (After Dark) that occurred each night with slightly less decorum than the day’s lessons. These 9- 11 pm sessions were a fun cap to the evening, though I have to admit there were one or 2 that my East Coast internal clock didn’t like so much.
Instructors this year included representatives from many of the leading numismatic firms. John Dannreuther, David McCarthy, Dr. Kevin Kauffman, Jim Stoutjesdyk, Max Brand, Seth Chandler, and Bianca Bart, with even more industry leaders coming in as guest speakers. These were headlined by Brett Charville, Kevin Lipton, Ryan Carroll, and Bob Campbell. While this year’s version was less grading-heavy, as the grading services weren’t able to spare instructors this year, the focus in numismatics as a business and how to establish a company was a high priority. I have to admit that one of my favorite parts of the week was listening to stories from coin dealers in the evening sessions from past years. While the stories generally predate my 25 years in the business, there was one being told by an instructor that answered a mystery of a deal that I had 2nd shot on about 15 years ago…at 2:30 am…Now I know who got the coins before me!
Of course, my favorite part of the week is teaching the young people in attendance. We had 40 attendees age 14-20, with 19 first-timers. However, of the 19 first-timers, only 11 were in the introduction class. This goes to show that the folks who are entering into the hobby and business are far more advanced than we’ve seen in the past. And while the age ranges may defy logic, the older folks are far more talented and promising than even many grizzled numismatic veteran dealers. As I’ve said previously, “the future is bright!”
Overall, I can only say that the week was fantastic. But exhausting. I know that the future is indeed bright for numismatics, and I look forward to another venture hopefully occurring in 2027!
Another highlight for the week was the attendance of our keynote speaker, the US Mint Director, Paul Hollis. Paul was able to attend the final day and did a Q and A with the students and instructors to conclude the week of instruction. Paul’s attendance at so many of the recent major coin shows and related events has been a breath of fresh air for the numismatic community, and we were honored to have him join us…and to top it off, he gave each of the young folks a privy-marked quarter from the recent release and a hand-signed note of congratulations on their graduation. It was quite a nice move, and it was just another highlight for the week!
Numismatically Yours,
John Brush
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