ANACS Reps

Paul DeFelice, a graduate of Bentley University in Waltham, MA, has been called “The Face of ANACS”. He can often be found at coin shows across the country or as a guest-speaker at many of the coin clubs in Colorado.

DeFelice, who joined the coin industry in 2005, claims he has never bought or sold a coin. When asked how he can successfully complete his duties as the lead ANACS representative without having a coin collection he boasts, “I love numismatics: the history, the beauty, the challenge. I just don’t have that collector’s gene. Lucky for me, I get to enjoy my customers’ coins every day and I appreciate each coin entrusted to ANACS.”

Paul and his family live in Littleton, CO. In his spare time, Paul is an avid runner and enjoys the Colorado outdoors.

Bill Arnold is well-known in numismatic circles in across southern Wyoming. A former locomotive engineer for the Union Pacific Railroad, Bill also partnered running a coin shop and is currently the Bourse Chairman for the Cheyenne Coin Expo.

Bill credits his grandfather for introducing him to coin collecting. He caught the numismatic bug, as an adult, in the mid-1990s and focuses primarily on world coins. In 2014, Bill joined the team at ANACS and travels to shows across the Rocky Mountain Region from Albuquerque, NM to Cheyenne, WY to Salt Lake City, UT.

Jim Bigby started as an ANACS Regional Representative, in 2011, based out of central Missouri. Having moved north of Dallas, TX, Jim, with his wife and show partner Jerri, now cover coin shows in Texas and Oklahoma.

When not answering your questions at shows, Jim & Jerri are award-winning BBQ competition participants. Want their recipe? Good luck – it’s a safely guarded family secret.

After graduating from Governors State University in Chicago, IL, Elledge cut her teeth in business managing restaurants all over the south side of Chicago and surrounding suburbs. Her successful 10 plus years in the food service industry have translated well into serving you at Chicagoland coin shows.

Heather started with ANACS since 2010 and, after taking a three-year hiatus, rejoined the team in 2019. She also works as a fulltime fitness instructor for a Fortune 500 company. In her free time, Elledge enjoys reading, spending time with her family and running marathons!

Dennis, a central Illinois native, was introduced to numismatics around the age of 12, when his father and his paternal grandfather gave him a Whitman folder for Lincoln cents, and invited him to search the family “penny jar” and look for coins to “fill the holes” in the album.

Coin collecting took a back seat to academic pursuits until about 1986, when Dennis made a lunchtime foray to a local coin store in Portland, OR. Thus, began his renewed numismatic journey which led ultimately to collecting early U.S. copper coins. Dennis joined EAC (Early American Copper club) in 1992, and attended his first EAC annual convention at Fredericksburg, MD in 2001. He completed a date-set of business strike half-cents and sold that collection at auction in 2015. His current focus is on collecting nice examples of 1796 large cents by Sheldon variety.

Dennis, who now lives in Orange County, CA, joined the ANACS team in early 2017, and he now represents ANACS at coin shows in southern California and southern Nevada.

Geoff Fults started collecting coins in 1962 when he was tricked by his barber into exchanging a collectable coin for a haircut. The mistake was one he swore to never repeat. He realized that with knowledge came power and that the more he knew about coins, the more likely he would end up on the better end of the deal.

A navy vet, Fults also served as a Special Education teacher for 40 years. He married in 1986 at the age of 39 and now has four grown children.

Today, Fults carries the ANACS banner at coin shows throughout the Mid-Atlantic states including the Whitman Expo in Baltimore, MD.

Jim Gerstung’s started his collection as an infant. Gifted eight coins by a friendly coin dealer at a roadside restaurant in Virginia, the coins became the base of his collection and he still owns them today! If you ask Jim what he collects now, he’ll probably tell you “Diversity equals coin collecting”. Jim just likes what he likes.

Joining the ANACS team in 2015, Jim lives near Buffalo, NY, he covers the Great Lakes Region and can be found at coin shows primarily in western New York and western Pennsylvania. Jim is a “people person” and enjoys the interesting folks he meets at shows even more than the coins they submit to ANACS. In addition to coin collecting, Jim enjoys bullseye competitions and woodworking.

Quent Hansen, the ANACS Great Plains representative since 2011, is the current President of the Nebraska Numismatic Association. It’s hard to tell what Hansen loves more: his friends in numismatics or his coins! One thing is for sure, he is great at handling both.

Quent started collecting at the age of 11, his lifelong focus Indian cents. He once even sold a complete Indian set to help pay for his first house. Today, Quent continues his quest for the perfect Indian set and can be found at the ANACS booth at coin shows along I80 from Nebraska to Iowa.

The owner of Gray Ghost Auctions & Appraisals, Paul Joseph is a licensed auctioneer and a Town Selectman in Dudley, MA. Joseph specializes in large cents & bust half dollars and is present at many of New England’s best coin shows.

Paul has been with ANACS in 2008, and is our most tenured representative, but before that, he spent 31 years as collage administrator and dean. He is a proud member of two athletic halls of fame and is known for having a “green thumb”.

Joseph lives with his wife and 82 varieties of perennial flowers in central Massachusetts.

Christian Merlo joined ANACS in 2013 as the Texas representative. An eBay seller, he began collecting coins in 1977 at the age of 8 and now specializes in VAMs and 20th Century U.S. coin varieties. He is also a past president of the Capital City Coin club in Austin.

When he’s not representing ANACS, Christian is a Senior Implementation Engineer for Q2 Software. With his programming and technology background, Christian has assisted ANACS with several projects, including developing the population report, cert verification, and this current website.

An avid marksman, Christian enjoys skeet and target shooting. He also enjoys coin photography, driving fast cars, collecting Bulova Accutron wristwatches, and is a live music fan. He lives in Austin with his wife and their 3 cats.

Jim Neely, owner of Fuquay Coins, caught the collecting bug in 1957 – by collecting RECORDS! But that soon turned to coins when his grandmother gave him a silver dollar. Going through the coins he earned on his paper route helped grow his appreciation.

In 1966, he joined the Raleigh Coin Club and by 1977 he was working fulltime in numismatics; opening his first shop in 1979. As an active member and officer of many coin clubs and organizations throughout the Southeast, Neely is dedicated to “expanding the hobby and helping as many young people start collecting as possible.”

Joining the ANACS team in 2020, a year without coin shows, Jim covers North Carolina and parts of the Southeast. His experience and commitment to the hobby is an asset to ANACS and his customers.

Cindi Snow-Ray has been the ANACS west coast representative since 2012. A long-time coin show attendee, she is well known with dollar collectors and VAM enthusiasts. Snow-Ray comes from a sales and service background and excels at providing submitters with a great ANACS experience.

Now focusing on Central California & the Pacific Northwest, Snow-Ray tends to the ANACS booth at coin shows big and small, from Sacramento to Seattle. But while the extend of her region is vast, she is up to the task. If you ask her, she’ll tell you Hawaii and Mexico would be welcome additions.

Cindi lives with her family in beautiful central California.