Numismatic firm Kagin?s, Inc. of Tiburon, Calif., will celebrate the company?s 75th anniversary during the American Numismatic Association World?s Fair of Money in Baltimore, Md. Visitors to the Kagin?s booth (#531) can enter a random drawing, and one lucky winner will receive a free half-ounce American Eagle platinum coin valued at more than $1,300.
Kagin?s was founded in 1933 by Arthur M. ?Art? Kagin.
?This is our platinum anniversary, so it?s appropriate we give away a platinum coin to celebrate,? said Donald H. Kagin, son of the founder and numismatic researcher and dealer of pioneer gold and U.S. paper currency. Kagin has managed the company since 1988.
?At 75 years, I believe we are the second oldest family-owned rare coin dealership in the United States,? Kagin said. ?The tradition continues with my sister, Judy, who can be seen at major currency shows, and my nephew, Jeremiah, who is taking an active role with the company.?
Art Kagin, widely known as the ?Dean of American Numismatics,? passed away in 2005. He started collecting as a youth while selling newspapers and magazines when a woman gave him an 1883 ?No Cents? Liberty Head nickel.
At the age of 13 he began working part-time selling coins, stamps and paper money in Minneapolis, Minn. Later he worked for more than 30 years with his brother, Paul, buying and selling coins nationally through auctions from Des Moines, Iowa. At one point they had five offices in the Midwest, including one in Omaha, Neb., managed by another brother, Julius.
?Dad cataloged more auctions than anyone else, almost 350,? Kagin said.
As a national goodwill ambassador for the hobby for decades, Art Kagin frequently emphasized, ?Numismatics is like a marriage. It has to be shared to be enjoyed.?
He organized and developed the first numismatic college courses in the nation at Roosevelt University in Chicago, and he and Don started the Foundation for Numismatic Education that continues to fund numismatic research projects.
The family?s philosophy of promoting numismatic education continues with Don teaching and lecturing at schools, service organizations and ANA Summer Seminar programs. He has performed his entertaining and educational one-man shows, ?The Oldest Living Pioneer? and ?Colonial Man,? for thousands of collectors and non-collectors around the country.
Both Art and Don served on the ANA Board of Governors and as Chairman of the Education Committee.
Under Don?s management, Kagin?s moved its headquarters in the 1980s to Tiburon, just north of San Francisco, Calif. In 2006, the company acquired Holabird Americana of Reno, Nev.
Kagin?s specializes in pioneer gold, patterns, U.S. colonials, American paper currency, California fractional gold, errors, early type coins, classic rarities and Western Americana. It has taken a lead role in raising more than $4.75 million for the renovation of the Old San Francisco Mint Museum.
?Throughout the years, numismatics has not been just a business to us, but rather a passion and a way of life,? said Don Kagin. ?We don?t just build collections, we build relationships.?
