Greg Bennick: Pretty interesting. I like that. Now, tell me, you mentionedearlier working for a couple of times, working for Stacks Bowers. Can you tell mehow you got connected to Stacks Bowers and what that experience has been like?

RON GILLIO: Well, Stacks Bowers, I mean, what happened was, as I mentionedearlier also, I sold the Long Beach Coin Show to David Hall in 2005. At the sameperiod of time, I was doing a lot of business with Greg Roberts, who's the CEO ofStacks Bowers and who started The Spectrum Group, which is still part of StacksBowers. And I've been friends with him for 35 years, and we were doing a lot ofbusiness. And he just said to me, so you sold the Long Beach Coin Show, you gottime on your hands, why don't you become a consultant for us? And you can do whatyou do, go to Europe, buy, and sell coins, and you'll just be doing it for StacksBowers, so on and so forth. So that was 16 years ago now.It all started by he wanted to maybe get something started in the Orient. So, weplanned a trip. He hired me, I think in March, there was the Tokyo International CoinShow every May time period. So that was my first venture out. We got a table at theTokyo show and he went there with a couple of other employees and myself fromStacks Bowers and got things rolling.

Greg Bennick: Fantastic. And I'm assuming you worked and were connectedto Dave Bowers as well. I was just curious what it was like to work with Dave. I'vehad very, very little interaction with him over the years, so I'm just always curiousto ask.

RON GILLIO: Oh, yeah. Naturally, I worked with Dave before my time withStacks Bowers, but during the Stacks Bowers time, I've worked with Dave. Ofcourse, we're on two different sides of the United States, but he was veryinstrumental. Dave Bowers was very instrumental. And my second edition, this isjust before I joined Stacks Bowers, second edition of my California Fractional goldbook, get me to do that. And I think it was 2002, 2003. So, he was very helpful withthat. And there were many other things that I've done in my career, but I didn't reallywork hand in hand with him because I'm in California and he's in New Hampshire.

Greg Bennick: Now, you mentioned the Fractional gold book a couple timesand I completely would have forgotten to ask you about it. Tell us more about theFractional gold book. I think that's important as well, obviously.

RON GILLIO: Yeah, it's important. Actually, I will say that we're working on theStacks Bowers, we're working on the third edition. The person - how the secondedition happened is it was at an ANA show and Dave Bowers brings over BobLeonard and says, you got to meet Bob Leonard, he can help you do the secondedition. And Bob Leonard was instrumental in doing a lot of the work, research andgetting that second edition done. And I met Bob at the Pittsburgh ANA and he'sagreed to also spearhead doing the third edition, which Stacks Bowers will publishsometime probably next year.And how that got started is I collected California fractional gold mostly during mytime in the 60s and 70s going to San Francisco. And in San Francisco, I wouldn'tonly go to coin dealers, I'd go to bookstores, I'd go to I'd go to antique stores, I'd goto pawn stores and I'd have these, especially the pawn dealers for some reason inSan Francisco in those days would get coins, but they'd get California fractionalcoins. So, a period of time, and I was buying them for $10, $15, $18 apiece in the70s and the 80s. And so, I was very interested in the California fractional gold. AndI thought there should be a book on it. And then Paul Copenhaver sold me hiscollection of California fractional gold. And then he also told me he's going to getKenny Lee's collection of fractional gold.So, I said, So, he gave it to me. I got it on consignment. At thetime, I had Pacific Coast Auction Galleries in 1980-82. And we were going to do anauction on Kenny Lee's collection of California fractional gold. During that time,Walter Breen would come down to the store. I had a little office in the back thatWalter would work at cataloging coins. So, I hired Walter to catalog the Kenny Leecollection. And then all of a sudden, the heirs didn't want to sell the collection andone thing and another. To make a long story short, I won't go into the whole story,but I ended up buying the collection and selling the collection intact. And we said,well, what are we going to do with this manuscript that Walter's worked, you know,for a long time? Let's do a book. Well, it was actually Walter's idea. It was both ofour idea. So, we did the California fractional gold book at the time. I think it was '82or '83. And so originally it started out as going to be an auction catalog and made itinto the reference book.

Greg Bennick: Great. That's actually a great story. I love hearing that. I lovehearing that. Now, this last summer you received a pretty significant award, the PNGAward. Can you tell us a little bit about that?

RON GILLIO: Yes, it was very nice of the PNG to agree to present it. Theypresented it to me at the ANA at the Stacks Bowers table. I couldn't make the, howit happened was, is I sent an email to Tina at the PNG saying, She wrote me back and told me that we don't, thatthey don't do presentations or a banquet at the ANA anymore. They do it at theCentral States. I said, They said, I said, So, shesaid, So, then I had talked to, and she had contacted JohnFeigenbaum, the new executive director of the PNG, and he agreed. He said it'd behis pleasure to present it to me at the ANA convention in Pittsburgh, along withKevin Lipton, the other person who presented it to me, who's an old, longtime friend,coin dealer friend that I've known since he was 16 now.Of course, he's very successful and much older like I am. We all get older, but it wasexciting to get the plaque after, I mean, I still believe the PNG is a very importantorganization and will continue to be, and with John spearheading, and not that Bobdidn't do a good job, but John's got, John took over the Coin Dealer Newsletter, andhe just brought it to another level, and he'll do the same thing, in my opinion, withthe PNG. And it was just exciting to get it and have it, and Stacks Bowers was verycooperative, and I received it at the table, and I put it on display there, and they madelittle signs for me, so it was great. Yeah, it was very exciting to get it after being amember and being involved in the PNG.And how I got into the PNG is another interesting story, because I talked to HarryJones at the Pittsburgh ANA. Harry Jones, I noticed, was also got his 50-year plaque,so at the ANA, I talked to him, and he says, yeah, they just mailed it to him, and hesays, I said, I said, but also my sponsors were BobJohnson of San Francisco and Abe Kosoff, so that probably helped somewhat too,but it was good to see Harry Jones. I haven't seen him in a while. He's told me hewas 88. I couldn't believe he was 88. I told him that I hope I look like he does whenI'm 88, but he's doing good, but it was an exciting event for me, and I appreciatethem doing it there.

Greg Bennick: I'm really glad for that, and I'm glad that they didn't just mail itto you, because your experience was very different than if you had just opened yourfront door and there was an award resting on your doorstep, so I'm really glad thatyou got to experience the full experience.

RON GILLIO: Yeah, so am I. Thank you very much, Greg.

Greg Bennick: Absolutely, absolutely. So, you know, I had mentioned, just,you know, obviously we've mentioned quite a bit throughout your career and yourhistory, and I just wanted to ask just one more question that just came to mind, whichwas, do you have favorite coins that you've handled throughout the course of yourcareer? Any specific coins that come to mind that were just wow coins for you, Imean, you got to handle something historic and important, or a wow coin, justsomething you always, you know, coveted, or wanted, or liked, or just simplyenjoyed when it came across your desk. Are there any coins that come to mind thatyou've handled over the years that you find memorable?

RON GILLIO: Well, yes. My favorite coin, is coins struck at the San FranciscoMint. I just had a love for San Francisco Mint coins all my career, and back in the80s, I wanted to own an 1894 S-Dime. So, the coin dealer I was dealing with inOakland, Gary Young, who was Leo Young's son, had his father, Leo Young's 1894S-Dime. I tried to buy it from him, and I couldn't buy it from him, and it ended upin an auction, one of the Fossby auctions in the 80s, and I bought that 1894 S-Dime,you know, because it had such a fantastic history, and especially owning the one thatLeo Young, because I knew Leo very well, and we did a lot of business, and I ownedit. I owned it for two or three years, and couldn't afford to keep it, and then I sold it,but that was one of the coins. And then recently, I sold a 1913 nickel, which I alwayswanted to handle for a customer, and I didn't buy it and sell it. I just was anintermediary, but I got to handle it. So, I've handled a lot of rare coins. I've handledthe several 1794 dollars uncirculated condition, and just various coins over the years,but I think my favorite coin was the 1894 S-Dime.

Greg Bennick: That's wonderful. I like hearing that. That's fantastic. Thanksfor sharing that. Well, those are the questions that I had for you. Is there anythingthat I missed? Is there anything we didn't cover from your history? You know, I wantto make sure that we cover anything that you want to share. Is there anything thatwe didn't cover today that people would like to hear about?

RON GILLIO: I think we covered pretty much everything that we talked about,and we covered every aspect of my career. There's a lot of little, you know, morestories that are interesting, but I think that the basics and the most important thingswe've covered. I mean, like I said, I had a lot of interesting experiences with a lot ofthe old-time dealers, and we've shared those together, and I think that's really prettymuch about it.

Greg Bennick: Good. Well, I'm glad. And for those watching, as Ron and Icontinue to talk and see one another at coin shows, if more stories come up, we candefinitely do a part two anytime. That's very easy to do, especially now that mylaptop is working again. We can definitely do a part two anytime, but if people areinterested in seeing more of the interviews and the series of interviewsthat I'm doing,you can search my name. And of course, there's an interview page on the NewmanNumismatic Portal, so you can find out more about the interviews and learn moreabout other people from the coin hobby there. And if you have ideas about otherpeople, you'd like me to interview, feel free to email me anytime,minterrors@gmail.com. I'd be happy to consider that. And Ron, thank you so muchfor your time today. It's been amazing talking to you. I really appreciate it.

RON GILLIO: It's been an amazing time for me, and going through some of myhistory, it brings back great memories. I'm glad to share them and help people enjoythem, and it's easy to get a hold of me if somebody has some questions of me. Justlook up and you'll find me, and I'll be glad to talk to you. But it was fundoing this, and thanks very much.

Greg Bennick: Thank you.

About the Interviewer
Greg Bennick (www.gregbennick.com) is a keynote speaker and long time coin collector with a focus on major mint error coins. Have ideas for other interviewees? Contact him anytime on the web or via instagram @minterrors.

To watch the complete video, see:
Ron Gillio Interview(https://archive.org/details/rongilliointerviewvideo)

To read the complete transcript, see:
Ron Gillio Interview (Transcript)(https://archive.org/details/gilliointerviewtranscript2)

To read the earlier E-Sylum articles, see:
RON GILLIO INTERVIEW, PART ONE(https://www.coinbooks.org/v26/esylum_v26n41a11.html)
RON GILLIO INTERVIEW, PART TWO(https://www.coinbooks.org/v26/esylum_v26n42a17.html)
RON GILLIO INTERVIEW, PART THREE(https://www.coinbooks.org/v26/esylum_v26n43a18.html)
RON GILLIO INTERVIEW, PART FOUR(https://www.coinbooks.org/v26/esylum_v26n44a14.html)