Outstanding Coin Dealers & Auction Houses
Richard A. Long, better known as Dick to his many friends and customers, is an enigma in the numismatic world. A geologist by training, it shows in his detailed catalog descriptions of coins, whose first love was and still is postage stamps, has been involved in Mexican Numismatics for over four decades. And like a fine wine, Dick just keeps getting better as he ages.
Long has had a long (pun intended) and colorful career in Mexican Numismatics and world philately (postage stamp collecting) authoring many detailed works on postage stamps, Mexican paper money, and Mexican coins. Richard is also Life Master bridge (card game) player and still competes in bridge tournaments as time allows. Somewhat a nomad, Dick has lived throughout the US; Michigan, Louisiana, Texas, Colorado and currently resides in tiny Langlois, Oregon, a real hotbed of Mexican Numismatics.
At one time you could expect to see Dick at all of the big coin shows, but as age and a respiratory problem emerged he is seen infrequently except during his annual pilgrimage to the Summer ANA Learning Conference in Colorado Springs, Colorado where he teaches a course about Mexican Numismatics each year.
While often overlooked as a great numismatic writer, this isn’t the case at all. Dick started his numismatic writing career with an extensive series of articles in World Coins about Mexican paper money during the 1970s, which is still a good reference tool for collectors of Mexican Bancos. Who can forget, if you are old enough or interested in modern Mexican coin, his first published work in book form, The Availability of 20th Century Mexican Coins, first printed in 1969?
By the late 1970s and early 1980s Dick was on a crusade to help Mexican Numismatics break out of the ‘Dark Age’ and introduced his famous Mexican Market Forecast. The only things one can criticize Long for in these early works are his unimaginative titles? I wonder if these works wouldn’t have been more successful if he had called them The Mystery and Intrigue of Mexico’s 20th Century Coins and The Coming Boom Market of Mexican Coins.
Richard’s crowning glory is Gold Coins of the Early Mexican Republic: 1823-1873 his latest work, even though some collectors, and at least one reviewer have sorely misunderstood this book. I’ve heard collectors bitch about Long’s charts plotting sales and rarity, when most don’t even understand log-rhythmic scales. Others understanding them applaud loudly, saying they are “the greatest thing since sliced bread”. One reviewer took potshots at Richard’s book in his old home, the American Numismatic Association’s The Numismatist. Finally Dick struck back with a scathing rebuttal that was long overdue.
Over the years many coin collectors and dealers alike have become literary critics. Most have never tried to pen a new authoritative work on coins, let alone Mexican coins. Therefore, these “would-be-critics” don’t and can’t know the frustrations researchers and writers contend with trying to do a “good” job. Many “old-time” and advanced collectors see any new work as meddling in the “good” life and refuse to participate. Some Mexican Specialty Coin Dealers don’t want new reference books published or current catalogs updated as it generally drives up “buy” prices they have to pay for individual coins or whole collections they are trying to buy.
It’s a classic, “Which came first; the egg or the chicken” scenario. Richard Long’s view is and always has been, “Buy The Book, before buying the coins.” And as an educator Dick has always tried to provide the book or information about Mexican coins needed by all collectors, not just a select few.
Long uses up a lot of his personal time each year just preparing for the ANA Summer Educational Seminars as he feels someone has to pass on “good” information to collectors, both new and old. Dick has a long (pun intended) history with the American Numismatic Association. First, he was on the Board of Governors and then as a paid employee having the title of Museum Director where he brought some normality in the chaos of that time. Dick understands what this organization needed and still needs to do for the coin-collecting world and he gives of his time to help, while others only yip and yap with lip service.
Yes, Richard A. Long is an educator.
Long’s latest public auction (Sale #98) is going on as I write this, so we can see he has been a busy “boy” the last four decades because unlike others, he doesn’t have a fulltime staff to produce his catalogs. For many years one could expect at least three to four mail bid sales a year from Long, plus several Fixed Price Lists; each one packed with Mexican coins and coin literature. But recently we are lucky if we see two catalogs a year.
In a recent phone conversation Dick shared with me his desire to finish up several books he has been researching for years, (both coins and stamps) before he gets too old. Long isn’t a young man any more and he sees his clock ticking away quickly, so as an educator he wants to finish his works now in process.
Many of Long’s earlier small format catalogs are rare, presently I’m still missing about 20, and are more than difficult to find. Some of his early catalogs are sparse, but as the years went along he wrote better and more complete descriptions of the coins he was selling. What is amazing is that it didn’t matter if a coin was costly, only that it had something to tell us before he told its story. While most catalogers only spend one or two lines on common coins (or for that matter even great rarities), Dick might spend four or five, if he felt his customers needed to know more about an individual coin. Richard Long is always the educator.
In year’s bygone Dick has handled many extreme rarities from all Mexican coin series, some made his catalogs, others didn’t and were handled by private treaty like all of the Mexican Specialty Coin Dealers. All Mexican coin collectors, no matter which series you collect, need a good library of Long catalogs as reference tools. While remaining in the photography dark ages, Long still uses an analog camera, his catalog photos, except for the lower denominations, are still clear and very useable when trying to trace a coin’s genealogy. Unlike many catalogers, Richard will send you clear photographs if you ask, or sometimes even the actual coins, in his sales given enough time.
Yes, Richard is from the “old” school and is a collectors coin dealer. Unhappy with a coin purchased from him? Send it back in a reasonable time and he will refund your money. Sometimes he carries this to extremes, but he believes in customer satisfaction.
One notable, and one always pored over by me at least, is the end of Richard’s catalogs where he sells books, coin auction catalogs, old maps, and documents. This is a treasure trove for advanced collectors and numismatic researchers and is probably more bother than it is worth, but Long is always the educator. I’ve bought hundreds, if not thousands, of books and catalogs from Richard A. Long: Bookseller.
But I’m sure you want to know if Richard has a few good coins from time to time? Many of the finest and rarest coins from my extensive collections have come from Langlois, Oregon. So it behooves you to make a phone call to get on Richard’s mailing list, because I’m sure he can help you too, to find that Mexican coin you have always dreamed about.
Richard can be reached by phone: (541) 348-2813 or fax: (541) 348-9918. Sorry, I don’t have a current email address. And tell him for us, you read about him in Mexican Coin Magic, on the Internet.