John West Dannreuther was born on May 5, 1948 in Canton, Mississippi. His father introduced him to coin collecting early in life, persuading him to convert from stamps to coins by gifting him a hundred U.S. silver dollars. Soon after, he and his father bought a shoebox full of Indian Head cents from a retired postmaster and his numismatic career began in earnest. Their mail order company, V.J. Dannreuther and Sons, introduced him to the commercial side of numismatics, as they advertised in weekly coin publications.
After graduating college in 1970, Dannreuther was employed as a professional musician. In 1973, he became a full-time coin dealer and began traveling the numismatic show circuit. He joined New England Rare Coin Galleries of Boston in 1976 as director of wholesale. Dannreuther became the head trader for Numismatic Investments of Florida in 1977 and held that position until he reestablished John Dannreuther Rare Coins (JDRC) in January 1979. That year, he moved to Memphis, Tennessee, and maintained JDRC until he relocated to Fullerton, California, in the fall of 2017. In 2020, he moved to North Hollywood, California, where JDRC is currently located.