Veteran consultant John Kraljevich has taken on a full-time role at Stack’s Bowers Galleries as Director of Numismatic Americana. John has been recognized as one of the most influential figures in numismatics including by Coin World as among their “Most Influential People in Numismatics,” and by CoinAge magazine as one of the “Top 14 Numismatists of the Century.” As a full-time member of the Stack’s Bowers Galleries team Kraljevich will work with collector and dealer clients, catalog noteworthy consignments across a wide range of specialties, and maintain an inventory of historical American numismatic items for retail sale.
A native of Chester County, Pennsylvania, Kraljevich graduated from the University of Virginia, embarking on a career in numismatics with Bowers and Merena Galleries in 2000. Specializing in early American coins and numismatic Americana, John went on to author or co-author many award-winning auction catalogs over the years in those areas and others. Notable collections include the Lucien LaRiviere Collection (Bowers and Merena 2001), the Eliasberg World Gold Coins Collection (American Numismatic Rarities 2005), the Norweb Collection of Washingtoniana (Stack’s 2006), The D. Brent Pogue Collection (Stack’s Bowers Galleries 2015-2017), the Archangel Collection (Stack’s Bowers Galleries 2019), the John Adams Collection of Comitia Americana (Stack’s Bowers Galleries 2019) and the Sydney F. Martin Collection (Stack’s Bowers Galleries 2022 to the present). Throughout his career, Kraljevich has written more NLG award winning catalogs than any other writer in history.
In 2007 John struck out on his own establishing John Kraljevich Americana. From that time through early this year, he continued to collaborate with Stack’s Bowers Galleries where his expertise has been focused mainly on colonial and early American coins and numismatic Americana, especially medals in the Betts series. Most notable, perhaps, was John’s authorship of catalogs for the D. Brent Pogue Collection, which with total prices realized exceeding $150 million is the most valuable coin collection ever sold.
Beyond cataloging, Kraljevich has contributed to the Guide Book of United States Coins and dozens of numismatic reference books, including 100 Greatest American Medals and Tokens, and The Early Paper Money of America by Eric Newman, and other works. He has been a lecturer at numismatic and non-numismatic venues as well as sharing his expertise through interviews with prominent outlets including the Washington Post, National Public Radio, and the BBC. Past honors include multiple awards from the American Numismatic Association, including the Young Numismatist of the Year award (1993), the Heath Literary Award (2002), an Honorary Doctorate of Numismatics (2015), the Numismatist of the Year award (2016), and the Medal of Merit (2018). In 2022, Kraljevich received the Numismatic Literary Guild’s Ribbit Award for “an individual who has achieved prominence in numismatics while maintaining approachability, a sense of humor and essential modesty.” John Kraljevich can be reached by email at JK@StacksBowers.com.
