Ever since childhood, with few distractions, numismatics has been my greatest passion.

      By the time I graduated from high school, coins had been a nearly full-time pursuit for over a decade. With an abundant debt owed to family support and the friendship of hobby luminaries, I achieved a rare mastery of early American numismatics and allied specialties at a young age. A life dedicated to the pursuit of my hobby and favorite field of academic inquiry seemed within reach.

      I graduated from Mr. Jefferson's University, the University of Virginia, in 1999 with a B.A. in History, focusing on early America. My favorite job during college was working as a historical interpreter at Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's home, where I was able to teach and share my enthusiasm for American history and historical objects.

www.monticello.org: the online home of Thomas Jefferson

      After a brief flirtation with another career (as a radio broadcaster), I became a full-time professional numismatist in 2000 under the employ of Q. David Bowers, to whom I had looked up since childhood. A rapid succession of numismatic learning experiences followed, from Harry Bass's collection of gold eagles to the cream of the treasure of the S.S. Central America, though none were as engrossing as the collection of early American and Indian Peace medals belonging to Lucien LaRiviere. That cabinet became the first collection of American medals to break the $1,000,000 mark at public auction.

The 1756 Kittanning Destroyed medal, Betts-400, was the first medal struck in America. This one from the LaRiviere Collection is now in the collection of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. When it sold in 2001, it set a record for any colonial-era American medal ever sold at auction.

      In seven years as a full-time cataloguer and researcher, I was given a rare opportunity to see some of the finest collections in existence, both for study and to present at public auction. Among those for which I served as lead cataloguer were the Share Collection of pattern dollars, the Eliasberg Collection of world gold coins, the Cardinal Collection of early dollars, the Gentleman's Collection of early gold coins, the New York Connoisseur's Collection, and the Norweb Collection of Washingtoniana. Individual star coins, from the Parmelee 1793 Strawberry Leaf cent to the Gem Specimen 1852 Moffat $10, broke records following my chance to study and describe them, though thousands of less noteworthy coins gave me a chance to hone my craft and sharpen my eye.

      I've contributed to more than a dozen books, including A Guide Book of United States Coins, written regular columns on early American coins for Numismatist and Coin World, and won recognition from both the American Numismatic Association and Numismatic Literary Guild on multiple occasions for articles and catalogues. My role as an instructor at every ANA Summer Seminar since 2000 has been a highlight of my career. Election to the exclusive Rittenhouse Society as its youngest member remains my favorite laurel.

David Rittenhouse was the first Director of the U.S. Mint. A polymath and Revolutionary, he was the inspiration for a small group of numismatic researchers founded in 1960 by Q. David Bowers, Eric Newman, Ken Bressett, Dick Johnson, Walter Breen, Ken Rendell, and George Fuld. Today it persists as a small elected society of leading numismatic scholars.

      In the wake of major news stories such as the sale of the $10,000,000 Eliasberg Collection of world gold coins and the recovery of the long-missing DuPont 1866 No Motto dollar, I found myself quoted by just about every news outlet around, from CNN to the BBC, from the New York Times to the Daily Local News, which is the little newspaper my dad reads back in Pennsylvania. Whether it's one-on-one with a young numismatist or on-record with a news reporter, I relish the chance to share my enthusiasm for numismatics as both a hobby and an academic pursuit.

      John Kraljevich Americana and Numismatics was founded in August 2007. In some ways it seems a culmination, but in others it seems to be a small beginning with a two-decade backstory.