Board of Governors
Michael S. Fey, Ph.D., Chairman, Founder
Dr. Fey is a professional member of all the most recognized grading services (PCGS, NGC, ICG, ANACS and others), and has been engaged as a consult to the grading services at times. He maintains membership in dozens of numismatic specialty organizations, and has published extensively on new variety discoveries in U.S. and foreign coins. (see references at http://www.rcicoins.com).
In 1997, along with mentor and noted silver dollar expert Jeff Oxman, he published The Top 100 Morgan Dollar Varieties: The VAM Keys, which is now in its 4th Edition. The coin market, grading services, auction houses, dealers and collectors enthusiastically accepted and followed the Top 100 Morgan dollar varieties which led to publication of dozens of other Morgan and Peace silver dollar references.
He published a quarterly newsletter, Top 100 Insights and Value Guide, with trading values used by Coin World and Numismatic News and Coinage magazine. In 2008, this was published in a reference book titled A Decade of Top 100 Insights. In 2020, he published The Complete Virtual Guide to Pricing Your Morgan Silver Dollars in e-book at Amazon Kindle. He has given dozens of numismatic talks in public venues and has taught, as the senior instructor, advanced Morgan dollar courses at American Numismatic Association’s Summer Conferences. His books have become ground-breaking references for advanced silver dollar collecting. He also assisted several other authors with editing and publication of their numismatic reference books. Dr. Fey has conducted numerous Ultra Rarity auctions through his company Rare Coin Investments (RCI), and has brought consignors record prices for their rare die varieties and collections.
Dr. Fey donated much of his time to the coin collecting hobby. He is a past member of the Board of Governors of the American Numismatic Association (ANA; 2005-2007), a member of several ANA Presidential appointed committees, and served on the ANA Consumer Protection and ANA Mediation Committees. He currently serves as a member of the American Numismatic Association Advisory Board, and as a member of the founding Board of the Society of Silver Dollar Collectors (SSDC). He served as President of the New Jersey Numismatic Society (2002), and is currently serving the Combined Organizations of Numismatic Error Collectors or America (CONECA) as attributor of Trade, Morgan and Peace silver dollar varieties.
The hobby has recognized Dr. Fey’s efforts in numismatics with an ANA Glen B. Smedley award, three ANA Presidential awards, the ANA Medal of Merit, the National Silver Dollar Roundtable Presidential Award, the New Jersey Numismatic Society Charles F. Nettleship Award as well as dozens of certificates and awards for speaking and teaching engagements.
Dr. Fey was a founder and President of New Life Health Products Corp., was awarded two patents and a trademark for a drug he developed to help people quit smoking cigarettes, and received grants from the National Heart Lung & Blood Institute. He was Chairman and founder of Venture Match of New Jersey, and a founder and Board member of the Venture Association of New Jersey, two not-for profit organizations, and was a Director of the Rutger’s University Technical Assistance Program.
Jeff Oxman
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Executive Director
John Baumgart
A software engineer by trade, John has been an avid collector for most of his life, becoming interested in die varieties in the mid-'90s, focusing on Morgan dollars. He developed the Attribution Wizard software with Jeff Oxman for attribution of various popular Morgan and Peace dollar VAMs. He is also the founder of Variety Slabbing Service, which serves as a third-party variety attribution service, specializing at first in attributing Morgan and Peace dollar varieties, but later branching out into varieties for other types. He is also an avid numismatic photographer.
John has served as president of the Society of Silver Dollar Collectors and has taught Collecting and Investing in Morgan Dollars at the ANA Summer Seminar several times. He is the administrator for the popular VAMWorld website and has also taken over review of new varieties and maintenance of the Morgan dollar varieties listed in the Comprehensive Catalog and Encyclopedia of Morgan & Peace Dollars by Leroy Van Allen and A. George Mallis.
Advisory Board
Mike Faraone
Collector of dollar varieties since 1976. Worked for Roger Bryan of Bryan Ltd while in the Air Force, retired after 26 years as a Lt Col and in 1994 was hired by ANACS as a grader. In that role, I greatly expanded my ability to authenticate US Coins thanks to Mike Fahey. I was editor of the National Silver Dollar Roundtable (NSDR) Journal from its origin in 1982 until the summer of 2004 and president of the NSDR from 1998-2002. In 2004 I was hired by PCGS as a grader and helped them establish their Variety Attribution program. I retired from PCGS in October, 2016, after spending 23 years as a grader at ANACS and PCGS. I currently own and operate Mike Faraone Rare Coins. I am a life member of numerous numismatic organizations.
R.W. Julian, Historian
R.W. Julian has, since the late 1950s, been doing research on United States mints and coinages, with special emphasis on the 18th and 19th centuries. Beginning in 1961 he has published numerous articles on this numismatic period. Many of these articles have dealt with silver dollars in detail, especially the Morgan variety. As a result of this research he was elected to the ANA Hall of Fame in 1998 and was Numismatist of the Year in 2012.
John Roberts
John Roberts was introduced to the world of coin collecting as a 10-year-old when he received some old coins and a Red Book from his brother as a Christmas present. Over the years, Roberts focused on collecting Morgan Dollars varieties listed as in the Comprehensive Catalog and Encyclopedia of Morgan & Peace Dollars by Leroy Van Allen and A. George Mallis. Through his work with VAMs, he has discovered a number of previously unknown varieties.
As a soldier and engineer in the US Army, Roberts traveled to several countries, developing an appreciation of foreign cultures and economies, as well as their coinage. After his military service, the former sergeant became a professional numismatist. He worked in a leading coin store in the Columbus, Ohio area before beginning his own business as a coin dealer focusing on varieties. In 2003, he joined the ANACS staff and is now the Director of Attribution Services.
Roberts is regarded as an expert in Morgan Dollar variety attribution. He is an avid collector of numismatic literature and is fascinated with the story behind the coins, particularly methods of manufacture and the politics of the day. He is a member of a number of numismatic organizations from the local to national level. He serves on the Board of the National Silver Dollar Roundtable and is the current President of the Society of Silver Dollar Collectors. Roberts’ articles and coin photography have been featured in a number of numismatic publications. He is the author of About VAMs, a long running monthly column in Coin World.