As I was growing up in Silver Spring, Maryland, I would frequent a local coin shop called Bonanza Coins which was used as an office by Julian Leidman, a top nationally known numismatist at the time. Often, I would observe him buying and selling rare coins and Peace Silver Dollars.
I used to hang out in the shop for hours every day and loved watching the banter between the coin collectors and Julian – kind of like a bar, which my father was in simultaneously. I dreamed of one day starting my own coin company and selling coins to other dealers.