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Barry Stuppler

Founder

We at PQ Approved by Stuppler have been selling high quality Gold and Silver coins since 1960! In that 50+ Years of experience we have handled hundreds of millions of dollars worth of investment quality rare coins. In addition, we have built hundreds of the finest collections for our clients, with many valued well into 8 figures! We know what a Premium Quality (PQ) coin looks like. Our goal is to protect both new and experienced collectors by providing them with a true expert’s opinion of a high quality coin for a particular grade. Located in the Los Angeles Valley our founder Barry Stuppler has spent his career dedicated to protecting investors/collectors in this industry. He is not only well-known and respected by dealers in the industry, but high-end investors as well. With Mr. Stuppler’s 50+ years of experience in the numismatic industry he has founded, ran, and worked with almost every major organization in the Coin industry. Just to scratch the surface these organizations include, but are not limited to:

Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS) – Original/Authorized Dealer. Founded in 1986, PCGS is the first major grading service that came to be recognized worldwide and grades approximately half of all coins certified today. Barry Stuppler was one of the original founding members and market-makers of PCGS and is currently an authorized dealer. In order to insure PQ that all coins are graded fairly, Mr. Stuppler no longer holds any ownership stake in PCGS.
Numismatic Guaranty Corporation (NGC) – Authorized Dealer Founded in 1987 by former PCGS Graders NGC is the second major grading service to enter the industry and encapsulate coins. NGC also has a market share of almost 50% showing NGC is among the top 2 grading services in the industry. Our founder Barry Stuppler is also an Authorized Dealer of NGC as well.
American Numismatic Organization (ANA) – Past President/Vice President/Governor The largest numismatic organization in the World the ANA is comprised of over 30,000 Collectors and Dealers. Mr. Stuppler served for 9 years as a Governor, Vice President, and President of this noble organization where his primary specialty was Consumer Protection.
Professional Numismatic Guild (PNG) Board Member – A voted-in organization comprised of about 300 members worldwide of the most well respected and well known Coin Dealers. Mr. Stuppler served for 10 years as a board member, Vice President, and President. This organization works very closely with eBay as well to protect customers buying Gold and Silver.
California Coin and Bullion Merchant Association (CCBMA) – Founder and President CCBMA is the only California Coin & Precious Metal Dealer Organization that works with elected and appointed government officials to inform them of the benefits of rare coin and precious metal ownership. As a member service CCBMA also provides statewide theft and recovery reporting for any stolen coins. Mr. Stuppler is proud to not only be the founder but also the current President of the CCBMA.
Industry Council for Tangible Assests (ICTA) – Co-Founder and Board Member ICTA serves as the national trade association for all dealers, collectors, and investors. With Mr. Stuppler’s experience this organization assists the entire precious metals industry in many national issues.
Gold and Silver Political Action Committee (PAC) – Founder and current president for over 10 years. Barry works with lobbyist and legislators to protect rare coin and precious metal dealers and collectors.
Anti-Counterfeit Education Foundation (ACEF) – One of the original founders and current Vice President – ACEF works for collectors and dealer to stop the sale of counterfeit coins and bullion.
Accredited Precious Metal Dealers (APMD) – A division of the PNG, and helps provide creditable precious metal dealers for bullion buyers. Barry was a founder and past president.

John Dannreuther

Chief Grader

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 100 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 the coin weeklies.

After graduating college in 1970, Mr. 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. He 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 there until he relocated to Fullerton, California in the fall of 2017. In 2020, he moved to North Hollywood, California where JDRC is currently located.
In 1985, Mr. Dannreuther was one of the founders of the Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS) in Newport Beach, California. He worked for ten years as a grader for PCGS and continues as a consultant. He also was instrumental in forming the trading arm of PCGS, called the American Numismatic Exchange or ANE. Although no longer in business, this was the first electronic trading platform for “slabbed” coins and pioneered “sight unseen” and “sight seen” bidding. He helped create the Coin Universe 3000 and was the first pricing editor of the Coin Universe Prices.
Mr. Dannreuther is a member of most numismatic organizations, including the American Numismatic Association, American Numismatic Society (one of 225 elected Fellows), Professional Numismatists Guild, Numismatic Literary Guild, The Rittenhouse Society, The National Coin & Bullion Association, Florida United Numismatists, Central States Numismatic Society, and numerous other collector groups. He has served on the board of directors for PCGS and the PNG.
In addition to numerous articles, Mr. Dannreuther wrote most of the text for the award winning 1997 Random House publication, The Official Guide to Coin Grading and Counterfeit Detection. A second edition of this work appeared in 2004. He received the Numismatic Literary Guild’s 1997 “Book of the Year” award, as well as their “Best U.S. Coin Book” award for this work. The Professional Numismatist Guild also presented the author their Robert Freidberg award for the grading book. In 2007, the second full-length work by Mr. Dannreuther, Early U.S. Gold Coin Varieties, also won the Numismatic Literary Guild’s “Best U.S. Coin Book.”
In 2015, Mr. Dannreuther was elected to the PCGS CoinFacts Coin Dealer Hall of Fame. The American Numismatic Association named Mr. Dannreuther “Numismatist of the Year in 2007.” In 2008, the Professional Numismatist Guild’s “Lifetime Achievement” award was presented to Mr. Dannreuther. The National Silver Dollar Roundtable presented Mr. Dannreuther with its “Lifetime Achievement” award in 2011.
The first volume issued of his four-volume encyclopedia of United States proof coinage, United States Proof Coins, Volume IV:GOLD received the Numismatic Literary Guild’s 2018 “Book of the Year” and “Best U.S. Coin Book” awards. In 2022, he was awarded “The Clemy,” which is awarded annually by the NLG, the highest honor bestowed by the guild – the equivalent of their lifetime achievement award. His second volume in the four-volume proof encyclopedia, United States Proof Coins, Volume II:NICKEL, was award the Numismatic Literary Guild’s 2023 “Best U.S. Coin Book” award.
Currently, Mr. Dannreuther is working on the third volume of his proof encyclopedia covering United States silver proof coinage of the era 1792 to 1922. Mr. Dannreuther continues as a consultant to the Professional Coin Grading service, as well as partnering in 2023 with Barry Stuppler in the stickering service, PQ Approved.