 | I've been a full time coin dealer since 1980, but the process of shaking the rust off the Rusty Pennies is a group effort of me, Alexander Basok, my immediate family: wife Esther, son Levie, daughter Gaby, springer spaniel Jonny, and many good friends whose help make things possible. |
We handle wide scope of material from very inexpensive coins for
the beginners to some world renown rarities, but our goal is to make
coin collecting more than a source of education, to make sure that it
is a lot of fun as well. I've sold coins to some major museums as well
as to some little kids in the area. I am available to help and I am
always willing. An assistant in building your collection is where I
would like to see myself, or perhaps a "numismo-therapist".
My formal education, was far from numismatics. However, the
years in the First Pavlov Medical Institute in Leningrad, one of
the most prestigious medical schools in the Soviet Union, proved
to be good basic training for my memory (especially all the Latin
names for every bump on every bone). I can’t tell you that
I’ve been collecting coins since I was 2 years old because I
have not, and my interest in coins during adolescence was a mild
one and just one among many others. Sculpture, paintings, and
graphic and applicable art were my main interests. They kept me
hanging around museums, especially the Hermitage, a good part of
my free time.
I came to the United States in 1976. At the age of 22, young
and free. I had a chance to follow my heart. When a position at
the Coin and Currency Institute’s Chicago store opened up, I
started my new profession. Seven months later, in June of 1977,
after that store’s ownership changed hands, I went to work
for the Rare Coin Company of America. Those years at Rarcoa
provided me with an education that very few people in my
profession are privileged to experience. The amount of material
the company was handling at that time was greater than many in
this business are likely to see and handle in their entire life.
In addition, I was fortunate enough to be assigned to work on the
research for Rarcoa’s auction catalogs with an unparalleled
reference library at my disposal, which made me familiar with
many serious numismatic works and made me an addict to serious
research.
The silver boom and its effects on numismatics left many of us
with a sense of emotional exhaustion. I felt a need to change my
professional position and downscale to a one-man operation with
more personal customer contact and more time for research. In
November of 1980, I started a full-scale mail order business
under the name of Arthur Webb Numismatics, Ltd.
In 1989 I offered my services as a consultant to Harlan J. Berk,
Ltd., who at that time had just bought Rarcoa’s old store in
Chicago, which was so familiar to me. Because of the
company’s increased spectrum of interests, there was an
urgent need to build non-ancient foreign coins and currency
departments, which virtually did not exist before my arrival. I
was actively buying at many auctions in the U.S. and abroad on
behalf of the company. Soon after I started work at Harlan J.
Berk, Ltd., modern foreign coins began to appear regularly in the
firm’s catalogs. But the demands of such a big company were
requiring my full attention, and after devoting four years to it
I decided to go back to my own business. I left the company with
one of its best inventories, a high volume of sales, a good
listing of coins in every sale and several specialized bank note
sales to my credit.
When I left in 1993, I realized that after 17 years in this business many people were still not familiar with my name, and since then I have conducted business under my own name. Over the past several years, I have issued 21 buy or bid sales and sale catalogs with 750 to 1,000 lots per sale. My catalogs have been praised by Jean-Paul Divo in the IAPN’s publications, the highest compliment I can hope for. I’ve written many articles that were published in the Journal of the Russian Numismatic Society, Celator and World Coin News. Currently, I am a co-editor of the RNS’ journal. My achievements are especially high in the field of Russian numismatics. I am on close personal terms with the staffs of both major museums in Russia: the Hermitage in St. Petersburg and the State Historical Museum (GIM) in Moscow. I am in constant contact with many Russian numismatists, including such giants of numismatics as Zander, Jilian, Uzdennikov, Melnikova, Kalinin and Potin. Several of my research projects are going to be published as a definitive catalogs in the near future. I was an official Russian consultant to the American Numismatic Association’s Authentication Bureau.
I am a Life Member of The American Numismatic Association since 1989.
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Alexander Basok
ANA LM 5834 |
Four years ago I became a member of the most prestigious professional
organization: International Association of Professional Numismatists.
It is the highest honor and the highest degree of recognition by the
colleagues to be accepted as a member.
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International Association of Professional Numismatists(IAPN) |