Christopher Maisano of Ramsey, New Jersey is the winner of the Professional Numismatists Guild’s 2015 Young Numismatist Scholarship competition.
Courtesy of PNG, Maisano will now attend one of the week-long 2015 ANA Summer Seminar sessions in Colorado Springs, Colorado. PNG will provide tuition, dormitory accommodations, meals and airfare.
"I am so happy and grateful for this opportunity! It still hasn’t sunk in yet," Maisano said.
Maisano started collecting two years ago while on vacation with his parents when he saw coins in the window of an antique shop. Family members and friends soon responded to his interest in numismatics.
"My grandmother gave me her father’s coin collection. It included mostly Morgan dollars. None of the coins were very valuable but I found it so interesting to research them and learn about how my great-grandfather loved collecting coins," he explained.
He also credits Ridgewood Coin & Stamp in Ridgewood, New Jersey for nurturing his interest in coins and mentoring him about buying and selling.
Last October his parents took him to the PNG show in New York City where he met PNG member-dealer Donald Kagin and associate member David McCarthy of Kagin’s, Inc. who showed him gold coins from the Saddle Ridge Hoard. McCarthy and another PNG associate member, John Brush of David Lawrence Rare Coins, told him about the annual ANA Summer Seminars.
Maisano will be a senior this fall at Don Bosco Preparatory High School. He wants to get an internship with a coin dealer/auction house when he attends college. He plans on majoring in accounting.
This year is the 11th consecutive year for the PNG YN Scholarship.
"Young collectors are the future of the hobby," said PNG President Terry Hanlon. "The annual ANA Summer Seminar is an excellent way to learn more about the hobby. Congratulations to our latest scholarship recipient."
Money for the scholarship is provided by PNG’s Gerald Bauman Memorial Fund. Bauman, who died in 2001, was an active and prominent coin dealer for many years with Manfra, Tordella & Brookes in New York City.
The Professional Numismatists Guild is a nonprofit organization composed of many of the top rare coin and paper money dealers in the U.S. and seven other countries. For additional information, visit the PNG’s website at www.PNGdealers.org.
