Acclaimed Coin Designer Emily Damstra Signs and Donates Eagles Artwork To ANA
(Rosemont, Illinois) August 12, 2021 – Acclaimed artist Emily Damstra, whose designs are now on 11 United States coins including the new reverse of the popular Type II silver American Eagle bullion coins, hand-signed a poster size canvas print of her eagle artwork and donated it to the American Numismatic Association (www.money.org). The signing and donation took place at the ANA’s Chicago World’s Fair of Money on August 11, 2021.

Coin designer Emily S. Damstra signs a canvas print of her artwork that she donated to the ANA. (Photo by Donn Pearlman.)
Three officials of the ANA witnessed the signing of the large, 30 by 42 inches artwork depicting images of an eagle in flight and an eagle perched: Executive Director Kim Kiick, 2019-2021 President Col. Steve Ellsworth and 2021-2023 President Dr. Ralph Ross. Kiick accepted the artwork on behalf of the association.

From left to right, Col. Steve Ellsworth, Emily Damstra, Kim Kiick and Dr. Ralph Ross. (Photo by Donn Pearlman.)
A participant in the United States Mint’s Artistic Infusion Program, Damstra has designed over 40 coins and medals for the U.S. Mint and the Royal Canadian Mint including the reverse of the new Type II 2021 silver American Eagle.
United States Mint Opens Sales for U.S. Coast Guard 2.5 oz. Silver Medal on Sale August 17
WASHINGTON – The United States Mint (Mint) will accept orders for 2.5 oz. silver medals honoring the U.S. Coast Guard starting on August 17 at noon EDT. This is the second release in the Mint’s United States Armed Forces Silver Medal Program. Production is limited to 10,000 medals, with orders limited to one per household for the first 24 hours.
The U.S. Coast Guard medal weighs 2.5 ounces, is two inches in diameter, and is struck in 99.9 percent fine silver. Each medal is encapsulated and comes with the Mint’s Certificate of Authenticity. The medal’s obverse (heads) design was created by United States Mint Artistic Infusion Program (AIP) Designer Richard Masters and sculpted by retired United States Mint Medallic Artist Michael Gaudioso. The design depicts a Coast Guard national security cutter at full throttle, speeding head-on toward the viewer. The inscriptions “U.S. COAST GUARD” and the Coast Guard motto “SEMPER PARATUS” (always ready) are arced around the upper border. The hull number identifies the cutter Hamilton, named for Alexander Hamilton.
The reverse (tails) design was created by AIP Designer Thomas Hipschen and sculpted by Mint Metallic Artist Renata Gordon. The design depicts two iconic symbols of the Coast Guard: a life preserver ring and the racing stripe mark, which is found on almost all Coast Guard craft. The racing stripes are depicted with a heraldic hatching tradition to indicate color, with horizontal lines indicating the color blue and vertical lines indicating red. The Coast Guard emblem, which is part of the racing stripe mark, is also in the center. Inscribed on the life preserver ring are the Coast Guard’s core values “HONOR,” “RESPECT,” and “DEVOTION TO DUTY.”
The Coast Guard Silver Medal is priced at $160. To set up a REMIND ME alert for this product, visit https://catalog.usmint.gov/us-coast-guard-2.5-ounce-silver-medal-S20MB.html (product code S20MB).
To view the Mint’s complete portfolio of medals, please visit https://catalog.usmint.gov/shop/medals/.
Note: To ensure that all members of the public have fair and equal access to United States Mint products, the United States Mint will not accept and will not honor orders placed prior to the official on-sale date and time of August 17, 2021, at noon EDT.
To reduce the risk of employee exposure to COVID-19 in the workplace, the Mint’s sales centers are closed until further notice. Please use the United States Mint catalog site at https://catalog.usmint.gov/ as your primary source of the most current information on product and service status.
PCGS Announces Key New Hires, Promotions
Longtime Pricing Specialists, Sales and Events Leaders, and a Microsoft Veteran Are Among the Recent Talent Acquisitions
(Santa Ana, California – August 10, 2021) – Professional Coin Grading Service (www.PCGS.com) has been growing at a tremendous pace over the past year, prompting a series of new hires and promotions. Among these are acquisitions of key talent from the numismatic world and other collectibles industries as well as notable in-house promotions.
“We’re bolstering staff in all areas of our company and at every level,” reports PCGS Interim President Stephanie Sabin. “For example, we’re tripling the size of the PCGS Price Guide team from two experts to six, bringing on new talent to help coordinate events, and expanding our sales and product development teams. We want to make sure that PCGS has the best experts on hand to handle the robust increases in our coin and banknote submissions over the past 18 months that is driving remarkable growth at our company.”
Among the newcomers is PCGS Director of Price Guide and CCE Justin Atkins, who is working directly with the PCGS Price Guide team to help expand pricing information, create insightful market analysis reports, and build the data available to users for free on PCGS CoinFacts (https://www.pcgs.com/coinfacts).“I am determined to facilitate growth while maintaining the integrity of our industry,” says Atkins, who served for 20 years as a coin dealer and has a diverse background in business and education. “My goal is to usher dealers and collectors into the new digital era by enhancing our trading platforms. In addition, my priority for PCGS is to grow and educate the new generation of collectors through the development of the products offered.”
Joining Atkins is Victor Bozarth, who becomes a PCGS Price Guide Editor after having spent more than 35 years as a coin dealer. “Ironically, the founding of PCGS in 1986 was very important in my entry into the rare coin business as a full-time dealer,” he recounts. “Professional coin grading by PCGS brought unprecedented business to the coin industry.”A self-described “coin wheenie,” Bozarth has been attending coin shows for more than five decades, including nearly a quarter century operating Bozarth Numismatics and several years with Heritage Auctions. He brings a wealth of numismatic marketplace knowledge in his role with the PCGS Price Guide. “Knowing markets and how both dealers and collectors react adds reliability and perspective to the PCGS Price Guide.”
PCGS Senior Events Manager Samantha Dark joins the company at a time when more and more coin shows are back on the calendar following many months of cancelations. Among these important events are the Long Beach Coin, Currency, Stamp & Sports Collectibles Expo held three times a year in southern California and the PCGS Members Only Shows, the latter occurring throughout the pandemic with all local, state, and federal COVID-19 safety protocols in place. “I’ll be overseeing all event logistics and operations for the Long Beach Expo and PCGS Members Only Shows,” Dark explains.“I hope to bring in new excitement and life to all our events especially coming off of a pandemic and not having the Long Beach Expo for 18 months,” she adds. “My goals are to bring back must-see attractions to these shows to help increase foot traffic while raising awareness about the shows in their local communities to come out and attend.” Dark also plans on increasing channels of communication with coin dealers and show visitors as well as bring the PCGS Members Only Shows to new and exciting locations.
Ryan Hoge joins PCGS parent company Collectors Universe as the organization’s first-ever Chief Product Officer, overseeing product management of PCGS and sports memorabilia grading subsidiary Professional Sports Authenticator (www.psacard.com). “Naturally, we’ll be looking at how [new] products can help the company achieve its business objectives,” says Hoge, a technology expert and longtime collectibles hobbyist.“I’m also excited to deliver new value to collectors to make the hobby more fun and engaging,” Hoge remarks, parlaying for Collectors Universe skills learned during his 16-year career with Microsoft. “Being able to bring new products to market or improve products that are literally used by billions of people every day is what makes Microsoft such a unique company. Now I’m excited to take the experiences I’ve had there to help build new products and improve existing services for collectors.”
In addition to the many new faces at PCGS, there is also the promotion of longtime company veterans, including Christopher Demoray, who now serves as PCGS Director of Sales. “My primary job at PCGS is to oversee and grow our Bulk Business all while building exciting programs for collectors and dealers alike,” notes Demoray of his new role.PCGS will soon be unveiling an exciting array of product offerings to further maximize security and value for the numismatic community and helping to spearhead these new opportunities for collectors and dealers will be Demoray. “I am proud to have been a part of this amazing company for the last eight years and I look forward to contributing toward PCGS’s future success.”
About Professional Coin Grading Service
Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS) is a third-party coin and banknote grading company that was launched in 1986. Over 35 years, PCGS has examined and certified more than 47 million U.S. and world coins, medals, and tokens with a combined value of over $46 billion. For more information about PCGS products and services, including how to submit your coins for authentication and grading, please visit www.PCGS.com or call PCGS Customer Service at (800) 447-8848.
PCGS Names Stephanie Sabin as Interim President
Professional Coin Grading Service Chief of Staff Stephanie Sabin Brings 15 Years of Experience at the Firm to the Role
(Santa Ana, California – August 6, 2021) – Professional Coin Grading Service (www.PCGS.com) has named Stephanie Sabin as its interim president. This move comes as former PCGS President Brett Charville departs and places Sabin, serving as the company’s chief of staff and reporting to Charville, in the head leadership role until a permanent president is announced.“We are absolutely thrilled to entrust the role of PCGS interim president to Stephanie,” says Collectors Universe CEO Nat Turner. “She has been with PCGS for more than 15 years and has expertly served in all of her roles, including her current position as chief of staff and senior director of international operations. She was also directly involved with launching the PCGS offices in Paris, Shanghai, and Hong Kong, which led to outstanding growth for our company over the past decade.”
Turner continues, “PCGS has an incredibly bright future, both here in the U.S. and internationally, and I am very excited to see how things develop over the next few years. We are looking to invest heavily into PCGS to support that future and we are deeply committed to the business.”
“I want to ensure the transition is seamless,” remarks PCGS Interim President Stephanie Sabin, who has in-depth experience at PCGS in roles that include finance, information technology, analytics, and logistics on both the domestic and international fronts. “We are already on an upward trajectory,” she adds. “I want to take this wonderful legacy that we have and continue it onward.”
Sabin, who hails from a family of numismatists and collectors, has worked in many leadership roles over the course of her career at PCGS. She began at the company in 2006 serving as a bulk dealer liaison. That role saw her handling everything from grading events in France to coordinating the import and export of bullion and valuable coins to and from the company, in addition to maintaining relationships with dealers around the world.
By 2013 her role was shifting increasingly to operations as PCGS expanded beyond the United States, with Sabin overseeing the opening of the PCGS China office in Shanghai while she continued fielding grading events overseas. Before long, she was managing operations of the Shanghai office and scouting new opportunities for the expansion of PCGS into other international markets.
In 2015 she became international operations manager leading innovations in PCGS client services and information technology systems. Rising to chief of staff and senior director of international operations in 2019 and 2020 respectively, Sabin manages day-to-day and long-term projects while piloting tactical and strategic operations alongside the PCGS president; this entails everything from company finances and investment opportunities to coordinating interoffice and external communications.
This dynamic role capitalizes on Sabin’s many strengths as a multidisciplinary leader capable of guiding operations for PCGS across its horizons. “My primary goal is to collaborate closely with Nat and the rest of the Collectors Universe team during this period of rapid growth,” explains Sabin. “The team is very excited about PCGS in general and we are investing heavily in hiring and technology – it is an exciting time to be at the helm.”
“We want to invest in the growth of PCGS while listening to internal and external feedback so that we can do everything we need to for our customers.” Sabin also says she puts great faith in what her PCGS colleagues relay to her. “I trust our team of experts, both in the grading room and across our other departments and offices around the world. They are incredibly knowledgeable and passionate people.”
She goes on to say, “PCGS in its 35 years has accomplished so much, and it’s because of the people both here and abroad that are working together to help our customers and help all involved in numismatics. Numismatics is a way for people who are passionate about our hobby to come together – it’s wonderful for all of this to be possible.”
About Professional Coin Grading Service
Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS) is a third-party coin and banknote grading company that was launched in 1986. Over 35 years, PCGS has examined and certified more than 47 million U.S. and world coins, medals, and tokens with a combined value of over $46 billion. For more information about PCGS products and services, including how to submit your coins for authentication and grading, please visit www.PCGS.com or call PCGS Customer Service at (800) 447-8848.
Whitman Authors Will Sign Books at the ANA
Whitman Authors Ken Bressett and Jeff Garrett Will Autograph Books at the American Numismatic Association World’s Fair of Money
Whitman Publishing Will Debut
A Penny Saved: R.S. Yeoman and His Remarkable Red Book

The hobby’s popular “Red Book” is celebrating its 75th edition this year. In A Penny Saved, Kenneth Bressett presents a history of the groundbreaking book and a biography of author R.S. Yeoman, who helped ignite a boom in coin-collecting starting in the 1930s and 1940s by promoting innovations including coin boards, folders, and new books.
Ken Bressett is editor emeritus of the Guide Book of United States Coins (popularly known as the “Red Book”), which celebrates its 75th edition this year, and of the Handbook of United States Coins (the wholesale-pricing Blue Book) and Mega Red (the 1,504-page expanded version of the Red Book).
His newest title is A Penny Saved: R.S. Yeoman and His Remarkable Red Book, which makes its public debut at the ANA show. This richly illustrated volume tells the history of Whitman Publishing and the Red Book, along with a biography of its original author, R.S. Yeoman, and an autobiography of Bressett himself.
Jeff Garrett, a professional numismatist and former president of the ANA, took over from Bressett as senior editor of the Red Book and the Blue Book in 2018. He also serves as valuations editor of Mega Red, which is edited by another hobby legend, Q. David Bowers.
- Kenneth Bressett autographing a copy of the 1,504-page Mega Red for Caleb Noel, then news editor (and now editor) of the ANA’s Numismatist magazine. (2017)
- Senior Editor Jeff Garrett signing copies of the Red Book at the 2018 Whitman Baltimore Expo.
The collectible hardcover 75th-edition Red Book features a special silver-foil cover to mark its milestone anniversary. More than 25 million copies of the book have been sold since it debuted in 1946. Many hobbyists collect the Red Book itself, including varieties and special editions.
“Whitman book-signing sessions give collectors a rare chance to meet some of our favorite hobby authors in person,” said Whitman publisher Dennis Tucker. “Bring your camera and take a selfie with Ken Bressett and Jeff Garrett. You’ll always take home amazing memories from the ANA World’s Fair of Money.”
Whitman Publishing is located at booth #429, at the end of the Ultra-Premium section, near the display of the Tyrant Collection of rare coins. Bressett and Garrett are scheduled to autograph books at 11:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. Thursday, August 12, and Friday, August 13.
- Bressett tells the story of publishing giant Western Printing & Lithographing Company and follows the development of its offshoot, Whitman Publishing, from 1916 to today.
- R.S. Yeoman and the Red Book revolutionized coin collecting by presenting, for the first time, an impartial, professional catalog of average prices dealers were charging for every U.S. coin. It made the hobby accessible to people of all ages, interests, and budgets.
- In A Penny Saved, Ken Bressett has compiled never-before-released documents from the Whitman Publishing archives. He also shares a treasure trove of family photos, corporate memorabilia, and personal recollections about the Red Book and the coin dealers, collectors, researchers, and others who have made it so remarkable.
- Bressett, who worked alongside Yeoman, also shares his own life story in and out of numismatics. Both men have left indelible imprints on the hobby and on publishing in the United States.














