About the Authors
Neil S. Berman:
Neil S. Berman has been an expert numismatist and profes-sional rare coin dealer since 1968. Coming back to the United States fromIsrael at the end of 1967, he apprenticed to the world-renowned Dutch numis-matist and coin auctioneer Hans M. F. Schulman. He incorporated as Neil S.Berman, Inc., in 1968. In 1974, Neil became an associate of Metropolitan RareCoin Company of New York. For the next several years, he represented Arthurand Donald Kagin of Des Moines, Iowa, then the largest coin dealer in theMidwest, as a purchasing agent. Later he represented Superior Galleriesunder the Goldbergs, also as a purchasing agent. In 1979, Neil, with hisbrother Jed, founded First Federal Coin Company, the first East Coast coincompany to sell rare coins into IRA, Keogh, and pension plans. From 1983until 1990, he was the purchasing agent for Asset Services, Inc., the largestcoin company serving the financial community. Neil donated his large collec-tion of German and Swiss silver minor coins to the American NumismaticSociety (ANS) in 1989. In 1997, he received the American NumismaticAssociation (ANA) Service Award from ANA President David Ganz. In 2005and 2006, he was associated again with Superior Galleries of Beverly Hills,this time under the ownership of numismatist Silvano DiGenova.Neil catalogued the U.S. gold in the 1977 Kagin’s ANA Coin Auction Sale, thefirst New York coin auction sale in 1981 of Spink and Sons, England’s oldestand largest coin dealer, and a coin auction sale by Superior Rare CoinGalleries of Beverly Hills in 2006.Neil has been published in
Barron’s,Trusts & Estates,The National Law Journal,The Financial Planner,Pensions World,
and
Executive Jeweler.
In 1987,he wrote, with Hans Schulman,
The Investor’s Guide to United States Coins,
which sold 40,000 copies and received a Numismatic Literary Guild award forBest Investment Book. In 2007, he wrote the second edition of the book withSilvano DiGenova. Neil has just completed a book on rare coin auctions.Neil has done coin appraisals for the U.S. Postal Service, the U.S. InternalRevenue Service, the New York State Internal Revenue Service, the FederalDeposit Insurance Corporation, the Securities and Exchange Commission,American Express Company, Bank Leumi Trust Company, Chase ManhattanBank, European American Bank, Morgan Guaranty Trust Company, FranklinMint, and Seaman’s Bank for Savings, among others.Neil has appeared and testified as an expert witness before the U.S. House ofRepresentatives House Banking Committee and the Subcommittee onConsumer Affairs and Coins on H.R. 6058 and H.R. 6158. He has also testifiedin open court as an expert witness for the U.S. Postal Service.He has, in the past, been a contributor to the
Guide Book of United StatesCoins,
by R. S. Yeoman, and John W. Dannreuther’s masterpiece
Early U.S.Gold Coin Varieties.
Neil is married to Susan Kerner Berman, a successful Realtor in northernWestchester County. They have two children, a dog, and a cat. He serves as a