Rolling In Money
by Sidney Fields
from April 24, 1964
The partnership papers for Donald E. Brigandi Co., Coin Dealers, lists Donald as an “infant,” legal language for anyone under 21.
He’s 16. He started the partnership some two years ago, taking his father in a 50-50 partner.
“I took out a mortgage,” said the father, Anthony Brigandi, “so I could invest with him. He’s the youngest coin dealer in America.”
Their New York shop is a bustling place. In one corner there’s a teletype hooked up with 35 other coin dealers from Washington, D.C., out to Ohio and up to Rhode Island.
“We exchange the latest information on coins,” said Donald, slight, dapper, confident.
A customer conferred with the father. Pop asked: “Say, Don, would you pay $170 for a roll of 1879-P silver dollars?”
“No,” Don said. “I’ll sell him a roll of 1897 P’s for $130.”
The elder Brigandi Beamed. He couldn’t be prouder of the boy’s knowledge of coins and coin people.
Biggest Deal 16G
Two months after they opened their shop the boy examined and appraised a collection from half cents to old paper bills, agreed to pay $16,000 for it.
“My biggest deal so far,” Don said, “Pop had to sign the check, though.”
It began when Don was 10 and bought a coin book in a hobby shop. He started his own collection, then set up a little trading mart in the family basement. He began roaming around the city buying from one coin dealer, selling to another. At 13 he started roaming to different coin exhibits.
“I’d write a letter to the teacher that I was sick,” Don said. “And I’d never take off more than a couple days. But the truant officer got real mad when I went to a big convention in Florida. He told my mother I’d be suspended if I didn’t hurry back. So I hurried back.”
1895 Was Year of the $
“Don.” His father demanded, “what do you want for an 1881-O uncirculated silver dollar?”
“About $5,” Don replied. He turned and explained: “The big silver dollar is the 1895. I sold one for $2000 not too long ago. Today I’d have to pay $3000 for one.”
Last February he had to decide between school and coins. “I’m here,” he said. “if I was going to be a good coin man, I’d have to hit all the coin shows in the country.”
His father finished with the customer. There was a momentary lull. “When he was 12, even younger,” the father said, “he’d ask me for $100 to buy coins. I’d say, ‘Are you nuts or something?’ But he’d talk me into giving him the $100 and he’d go to a coin show and come back with $125.”
‘Can’t Argue With Success’
Donald kept repeating such profits and his father finally concluded: “I can’t argue with success.” And gave up a nice job with a pharmaceutical company to become his son’s partner in the basement. They opened the store only last September.
Pop minds the store now when Don goes off to coin shows. He’s been to 70 of them, often as an exhibitor. He’ll have his own table at the International Coin Expostion in the Better Living Center when it opens at the World’s Fair on May 4.
For another customer his father asked: “Don, what would you pay for an uncirculated Antietam half dollar? The man wants $110 for it.”
“I’ll sell him one for $100,” Don said.
Trading at coin shows Don acquired three sets of three-cent nickels dated 1856 to 1889. The three sets are worth over $8,000 now. He got them for $7,000.
“Tell me,” Don said, “in what other business can you make so much money with so little brains?”
His father grinned. “In our first year in the basement we grossed $69,000,” he said. “That’s when I quit my job. In our second year we did $130,000. Don figures we’ll do over $200,000 in the first year in the store. I believe him.”
“Rich or poor,” Don said. “It’s nice to have money.”