(Denver, Colorado) August 3, 2017 – With the help of nationally known television celebrity Rick Harrison and two Denver Broncos cheerleaders, prominent numismatists Michael “Miles” Standish, Jim Halperin and Orlando Rodrigo Lorenzana Williams got their heads shaved at the American Numismatic Association 2017 World’s Fair of Money® in Denver to raise money for two nonprofit organizations. The event on August 3 generated $10,000 in donations that will be evenly divided between the American Numismatic Association (www.money.org) and the Standish Foundation for Child & Family Centered Healthcare (www.sf4c.org).
Immediately after his head was shaved, Standish held up a t-shirt printed with the words: “BALD GUYS Never have a bad hair day.”
Standish is an award-winning numismatic author and Senior Grader and Vice-President of Numismatic Guaranty Corporation. Halperin is Co-Chairman of Heritage Auctions and also an author of numismatic books and futurist novels. Williams is Director of Sales at Coin Invest Trust in Liechtenstein.
Harrison, of the popular History’s Pawn Stars television program and the Las Vegas Gold & Silver Pawn Shop (www.gspawn.com), made the first pass of the electric cutter on Standish’s head and was among those who presented a donation check.
Additional cutting was performed on Standish by coin hobby personalities including Lee Minshull, ANA President Jeff Garrett and former ANA President Ken Bressett.
Broncos cheerleaders Brielle and Krista led cheers, signed autographs and posed for photos during the “Shave Miles” event.
A silent auction of a half dozen plaster sculptures by John Mercanti, who served as the 12th Chief Engraver of the United States Mint, also helped raise funds for the Standish Foundation and the ANA.
Miles’ wife, Andrea Mangione Standish, a certified child life specialist, launched the Austin, Texas-based foundation in 2010. The foundation assists healthcare providers around the world to provide the tools and training they need to minimize healthcare-related pain and suffering in children.
“The mission of the foundation is to have happy, healthy, resilient kids who haven’t been traumatized by healthcare experiences. This event was to help children get better care and to help an important hobby organization dear to me and to so many others, the American Numismatic Association,” he explained.
The 25,000-member American Numismatic Association, based in Colorado Springs, Colorado, is dedicated to educating and encouraging people to study and collect coins and related items. The ANA serves the academic community, collectors, and the general public.
A native of Michigan, Standish began collecting in 1973 at the age of nine. In 2011, he was honored with the “Director’s Coin for Excellence” by then-Director of the United States Mint Edmund Moy.
He is co-author with former Chief Engraving of the United States Mint, John Mercanti, of the 2012 reference book, “American Silver Eagles: A Guide to the U.S. Bullion Coin Program.” Standish’s 2014 book, “Morgan Dollar: America’s Love Affair with a Legendary Coin,” received the 2015 Numismatic Literary Guild award for Best Specialized Book.
Information about the Standish Foundation for Child & Family Centered Healthcare is at www.sf4c.org and information about the American Numismatic Association is at www.money.org.