Christopher Cipoletti Bounces Back!

Steven Contursi of Rare Coin Wholesalers has hired former ANA Executive Director Christopher Cipoletti to head up a new retail sales division of Contursi's business called Rare Coin Consultants of America. Rare Coin Wholesalers had more than $100 million worth of rare coin sales in the past two years, with over 90% of it being wholesale business, according to the press release announcing the new division. Contursi says that the new division will focus on "new markets and customers who are private collectors, or people looking for alternative investment opportunities."

Cipoletti was released from his contract as Executive Director of the American Numismatic Association (ANA) last fall after the association elected a new board of directors that were bent on clearing the slate and restoring the ANA to more traditional and conservative values. Cipoletti was an aggressive leader during his nearly five years at the helm of the ANA, undertaking ambitious multi-million dollar museum projects, and engaging the association in lengthy lawsuits that many members felt were unnecessary. Few doubted Cipoletti's charisma and leadership abilities; his goals just weren't in line with the direction the new ANA board of directors felt the organization should go.

Contursi is a generous philanthropist in the numismatic community. I was one of more than a thousand collectors to take advantage of Contursi's matching ANA membership offer, where people joined the ANA and paid the first year's dues, and Contursi paid their second year's dues to help promote new memberships for the ANA. He was also the first major patron of the ANA's bi-coastal museum initiative, where numismatic museums would be built on both the East and West coasts of the U.S., pledging $1,000,000 to get the programs off the ground. After Cipoletti's departure, the ANA amicably released Contursi from this pledge since the new board didn't plan to continue the museum projects.

Although Cipoletti's departure from the ANA didn't come as much of surprise after all the in-fighting and public debate that preceded the election of the ANA board of directors that let Cipoletti go, I think many people will be surprised to see him bounce back into the numismatic community so quickly. Cipoletti wasn't a coin collector before taking the ANA position and I guess people just assumed he'd fade away back into the legal field from which he originally emerged. For my part, I think Contursi has made a brilliant choice of President for his new division. I don't know Cipoletti well, but from what I've observed of him, he seems to be a bold leader, willing to take calculated gambles to win big, and isn't about to let adversity get in his way. He's the perfect man for Contursi's new company, and it will be interesting to see how the rest of this unfolds!

How do you feel about this latest news regarding Christopher Cipoletti? Are you irritated to see him back around the coin community, or are you happy he's found a place where people can appreciate his skills? Share your views via the "comments" link below.

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Photo courtesy of Rare Coin Consultants of America.