Collection: About Us
Welcome to www.MorganSilverDollars.com, a Division of Barringer Capital Group, LLC & Barringer Rare Coins, Currency & Bullion.
We are a family owned and family run business. Tracy and Joe meticulously scour the country for rare coins while traveling in their 45' Motor Coach. We buy, sell and trade at some shows (very limited basis as it's too taxing). All coins are immediately shipped to our headquarters in New Smyrna Beach, Florida where our staff inventory and list our newest acquisitions on our web site. It allows us to travel safely and securely while benefiting from our travels and nationwide reach. Plus, we get to see the USA; the sole purpose in owning this motor coach.
Joe has well over 45 professional years in numismatics not counting his childhood hobby days. He started collecting around 1964 when each week his father brought home rolls of Morgan Silver Dollars from the great hoards found at the US Treasury. He remembers the shiny new Morgan's in rolls and that's where the love affair began.
Joe began dealing in the 1970's on a limited basis. By the late 70's he was at it full-time including the great numismatic run through the 1980's. Gold at $800! The Hunt Brothers silver run to almost $50 and the crash that ensued. Yes, he's his own best client and who in Numismatics isn't their own best client.
And of course, the 1980's wouldn't be complete without a red 1980 308GTS Ferrari. The fruits of Joe's labor paid off as he thought he was Magnum PI (a popular 1980's TV show staring Tom Selleck). Living life to excess in the 80's was the trend and Joe would drive to his 36' cabin cruiser on weekends. The coin biz was good.
Joe remembers one of his most memorable years was 1981 when he went to the New Orleans show and bought $65k (a huge sum in 1981, more than a Ferrari back then) in coins from well-known dealer, Dean Tavener (RIP). Dean walked Joe over to Harlan White’s (RIP) table where he spent another considerable sum. That was a great show; New Orleans not so much.
If he remembers correctly, both Harlan and Dean had nice holdings of common dates like 1897-S (yes, it was available back then), etc, etc and of course all the early “O”, "P" and "S" mints were there in rolls and rolls and rolls. Real Gemmy too! He can’t remember the others but there were a lot of Morgan’s in roll quantities (some bags too). One roll in particular stands out in his head, a gem 1885-S roll for which Joe paid, he believes $3750. They were true frosty, well struck gems. You rarely see this quality today.
Joe would also visit his friend at the time, Selby Unger (RIP): The Carson City King. Being in Brooklyn, Joe lived 15 minutes away and visited Selby on a weekly basis. Selby always had some nice CC’s but rarely was Joe able to purchase any. There were always 79-CC’s available from around a grand or so (maybe $1200 back then) in GSA UNC holders. On occasion, Joe was able to buy some CC's but he usually went for the other coins Selby wanted to get rid of. Selby was a good guy!
Years later, after an armed robbery in December 1984, Joe decided to close the store in Brooklyn and move to Florida where he resides today. He was decades ahead of his time in leaving NY. The only thing he misses is the water, food and pizza. Oh, the pizza!
After the armed robbery, Joe remained underground so-to-speak and who wouldn't when you're marched into the back room with an UZI pointed at you. Theft exceed $250k. Unfortunately, there was no insurance. There were weapons in the store but you can have 50 guns which are of no avail to you when they get the drop on you when your employee is rolling down gates closing up for the day. Complacency set in.
When Joe moved to Florida, he was introduced to well know dealer and promoter, Brian Beardsley (RIP). Joe would drive over to Naples, Florida on a weekly basis to see what goodies Brian had that week. On many occasions, he would sometimes leave with a bag or two of pristine Morgan’s. Joe remembers one particular bag of 1979-S that was totally original including DMPL’s (many people today don't know what the word 'original' really means and what they're supposed to look like, they are clueless). Joe is amused to see the term used on garbage rolls of MS60 to maybe 62 lackluster quality coins. Those are most certainly not "original". Anyway, getting back to the bag of 79-S; he purchased it for $32k in 1986. He had a hard time getting rid of them (Brian buried Joe LOL). And so, the remainders sat and sat and still sit today. The coins have since been put into rolls and 2x2’s as they’re worth something today. Joe held back the real gems, that's why he had a hard time selling them off. Imagine that.
Another great story was when Joe was getting mint superb pristine 1925 Peace Dollar rolls in 1985-86. Joe hooked up with a dealer (the name escapes him at the moment but he was a FACTS teletype dealer) who must have had a bag or two but would only sell Joe 1 to 2 rolls every other week. Why? Because Joe was the highest buyer at the time. This went on for about a year. The rolls started out at first for $800 a roll (which was huge money at the time) and the last ones were at $1200 per roll. Either way, they were a huge bargain. These coins were pristine and frosty like you've never seen. He would then break them out, submit them to ANACS, the only grading company at the time and they would come back 65's and an occasional 67 (MS66 did not exist). The ones that didn't make the grade would be submitted to NCI (Numismatic Certification Institute) back in the day. Anyway... we don't need to expound on that but it was good times for all.
In the late 80's, Joe got involved in Baseball cards, etc and Comic books and coins/currency took a back seat. He opened a warehouse in 1988 with 3,500 sq feet with a 1,000 sq foot loft area and 8 employees on a Saturday. The 'action' was incredible! In 1993, Joe saw the handwriting on the wall so he sold out and moved on. And, later that year the Baseball market crashed.
In the 90's Joe owned several businesses and sold them off. In late 1996 Joe stumbled upon a little known web site, AuctionWeb.com. He liked the idea and spoke with the owner and his 1st senior programmer. Their names were Pierre Omidyar and Jeff Skoll, two name's he'll never forget. Anyway..... Joe spoke with them about licensing their software but that was a no go and they helped Joe understand the programming and what was needed (at the time); language for programming, servers, hosting, etc. Jeff Skoll was very helpful and a great guy.
And so, Joe moved on, found a programmer in Florida, partnered up and developed his own software and web sites (one for stamps and one for coins). The stamp site went 'live' in March of 1997 (with huge success, huge) and the coin site just sat as he couldn't do all three things of 2 web sites and developing software. To make a long story short, his software was much more robust than that of AuctionWeb's software..... that is until Auction Web got their first round of financing in mid to late 1997. And my friends, who are we talking about? None other than eBay! They changed their name in 1997 and the rest is history.
Once again, Joe saw the handwriting on the wall (he's a great handwriting expert - LOL) and sold out to a public company called InfoSpace in late 1997 and cashed out his shares in 1999 as the market was beginning to tank and eventually collapsed. Infospace wanted to be another eBay as everyone in the late 90's wanted to be an eBay. We had the software. Right place, right time and right product. Incredible times. And so what happened to the Infospace purchase? No one knows as it just fell by the wayside after the market crashed. It was all Monopoly money back in 1996 thru 1999 with Venture Capital and the Dot Com Boom and crash. Gotta love stupid Venture Capital money and corporate money.
So, what did Joe learn about his first glimpse into the venture capital world, the stock world and corporate executives? Well, the execs don’t care how you spend money, as long as you get a receipt. That came down from the companies accounting firm (Ernst & Young and we all know how that ended). Joe was also amazed at how anything got done in the corporate world. As a founder, he would be in meetings with the execs to decide when to hold meetings. And lastly, all the execs under the CEO (this includes COO, CFO and CTO) are all butt kissers (right or wrong). Not a world he enjoyed being in.
After all the above was all said and done, Joe thinks back at all the Michael Jordan rookie cards he owned which are now worth 10-20k a piece and more, etc, etc, etc. The grading market has change the Baseball card industry. And now, he's come back to his true love, coins and currency.
Joe & Tracy (not pictured above) recently retired from their other businesses. They decided to enjoy the coin business and hobby by traveling the country in their beautiful Motor Coach meeting many of the clients and dealers they have known for years but never met.
While specializing in Morgan Dollars, we enjoy dealing in basically all of Numismatics. If you have a special want, feel free to contact us as our desire to assist you is paramount. We can help you acquire just about any item. Our nationwide contacts can achieve great success. If we don't have it, we can and are generally able to acquire just about any item.
Joe has stashed away many fine quality Morgan’s over the years which have recently been brought out from the mothballs so-to-speak. They're like his puppies and he's looking for good homes.
We also deal in bullion but only to those known to us or those who can supply impeccable references.
All coins are stored at our very secure and private offices in New Smyrna Beach and our banks.
And remember, Joe will outrightly purchase your coins/currency and even trade to make a deal. He's the 'Monty Hall' of Numismatics. Joe will do whatever it takes to make it a win, win for both parties. And remember, we can be at your location/bank in a matter of days for worthwhile holdings.
Joe's glasses aren't green but they appear green here; go figure.
Thank you & God Bless,
Joe & Tracy
Info [at] MorganSilverDollars.com
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