Those who know more about the ins and outs of the coin biz can correct any errors here, or can highlight anything I missed. Bowers and Merena has not been owned by Q. David Bowers for a couple of years now. They are not the firm they used to be. They were bought by Collectors Universe in 1999, joining PCGS and a couple of other firms under the same corporate umbrella. (Ray Merena had already retired from active coin-guying.) A couple of years later -- a couple of years ago, this being mid-2005 -- Q. David Bowers came in to work one morning to find his desk locked and to find himself out of a job. After the shock wore off a bit, Dave founded a new firm, American Numismatic Rarities. ANR is in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, where the old firm was. The new Bowers and Merena moved to the West Coast. American Numismatic Rarities hired many of the old hands from the old firm and the new company brought in new people. The new Bowers and Merena is still a fine firm. Their president used to be an officer at Superior Galleries, if I have that right. Their cataloguers, sales people, buyers, etc. all came from within the hobby -- where else do you find numismatists, but in numismatics, right? So, basically, it was musical chairs, as always. The fact remains that "Bowers and Merena" is just the name of the company.
Yep--I like them...they sent me a $5 AGE!...that was sent to ANACS and came back MS68. I did have a problem...they also sent me a free $25 gift Certificate that I could use in their store...then they took their store down....after I called and called I wrote the President a note and with the certificate sent him my order with my reason why I couldn't get through...if I get the book I ordered GREAT...if not I'm not going to lose anything...it was free anyway! Speedy
