LIFE MEMBER PROFILE
Lee Minshull: Blazing the Trail
Lee Minshull has gotten where he is in life by setting his own course. His numismatic journey started as a young collector, leading him to become the ANA's first numismatic intern and later to start his own business, Lee Minshull Rare Coins.
It all began in 1971 when he attended a Michigan coin show with a family friend. Armed with $20, 11-yearold Minshull started buying key dates for his Whitman folder. Soon, he was working odd jobs to earn money to buy coins. Two years later, he noticed silver prices were starting to climb. So, Minshull exchanged all his money for silver coinage at his local bank every week. Once he had a bagful, he'd sell it to a coin dealer.
"Eventually, I was making $500 a week," says Minshull. "That lasted for six or seven months, until the rest of the world figured it out."
In the summer of 1976, Minshull received a scholarship to the ANA Summer Seminar. He enjoyed himself so much that he wrote to Ed Rochette, then ANA executive vice president, and pitched the idea of being an ANA intern. During his 2Y2-month adventure in Colorado Springs the following year, Minshull worked in every ANA department, assisted in teaching a counterfeit detection course at the Summer Seminar and spent a few weeks with the ANA Certification Service. In many ways, he set the direction for future ANA interns.
Minshull's 18th year was particularly memorable: he graduated from high school, became an ANA life member and accepted a job with Steve Ivy Rare Coin Company as a cataloger and consignment coordinator. Five years later, Ivy and Jim Halperin formed Heritage Rare Coin Galleries in Dallas. "Working with Steve and Jim was a wonderful experien'ce," Minshull says.
After 1,1 years with Ivy and Heritage, Minshull spent three years with Kevin Lipton Rare Coins, then forged out on his own, incorporating what he had learned from his mentors. Unlike some dealers who chase big, high-profile sales, he steadily moves merchandise. "I don't go for the home run on every sale, I just make singles," he says.
Today, his business specializes in U.s. branch mint coins, particularly $20 Liberty Head gold pieces. "The stories behind the branch mint coins and the history they convey make them very intriguing," says Minshull.
Over the years, Minshull has taken an interest in pre-1800 maps and globes. Since he was a young man, he eagerly explored his atlas, often wearing it out. So in the late 1980s, when he spotted a 3-inch "Minshull's Terrestrial Globe" in a Christie's auction catalog, he had to have it. "Minshull's was a retail store that sold travel materials," says the California collector, who now has a room filled with 25 vintage globes.
This collecting passion merges nicely with Mi.nshull's other love: travel. Along with his wife, Sandii, and 10-year-old son, Max, he spends about 80 days a year exploring the world. Recent trips have taken them to Norway, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, France, Fiji, Turkey, Greece and the Ukraine.
To celebrate the "Big 5-0" in December 2009, Minshull is planning a special trip with his son to Antarctica aboard a private ship. "I tell my friends, if they can find me on my 50th birthday, they can throw me a party."
-RyAnne Scott
www.money.org NOVEMBER 2008 • THE NUMISMATIST
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