NGC Chairman Mark Salzberg Wins a Top ANA Award

Mark Salzberg, chairman of Numismatic Guaranty Corporation (NGC), Numismatic Conservation Services (NCS) and Paper Money Guaranty (PMG), has won one of the most prestigious annual awards in US coin collecting.

Mark Salzberg, chairman of Numismatic Guaranty Corporation (NGC), Numismatic Conservation Services (NCS) and Paper Money Guaranty (PMG).

Salzberg has been named 2019 Harry J. Forman Dealer of the Year by the American Numismatic Association (ANA), the 125-year-old nonprofit organization dedicated to educating and encouraging people to study and collect coins, paper money and related items. Salzberg is to receive the award Aug. 15 at the Chicago World’s Fair of Money in Rosemont, Illinois, during the ANA’s Member and Awards Celebration.

The Forman award, named for a Philadelphia coin dealer, author and ANA Life Member who died in 2008, honors a professional numismatist who shows uncommon dedication to strengthening the hobby and the ANA and who displays exemplary ethical standards.

Salzberg is a lifelong numismatist whose third-party authentication, grading and encapsulation services have made the hobby significantly safer and more accessible. While Salzberg has been a professional numismatist for nearly 40 years, he has not been a dealer since he joined NGC in 1988. NGC prohibits its employees from buying and selling coins commercially to help ensure impartiality.

“I am honored to receive this award from an organization that has done so much for the hobby for so many years,” Salzberg said. “The ANA, NGC and PMG share many common objectives for the hobby, including education, safety, transparency and growth.”  

Born in Flemington, New Jersey, Salzberg became interested in collecting at age 7, when he was given a 1903 Indian Head cent. His father gave him a book on how to collect coins, and his mother took him to coin club meetings and garage sales that advertised coins for sale.

He was making money buying and selling coins by the time he was 11, selling corn from his family’s farm on the side of the road to support his purchases. He joined NGC as a grading finalizer soon after it was founded in 1987, became president in 1991 and CEO in 1998. He became chairman in 2002.

Salzberg has been an instructor at the ANA Summer Seminar and avidly supports other ANA educational programs. He received an ANA Presidential Award in 1998 and was named the ANA’s Numismatist of the Year in 2006.

NGC, NCS and PMG are independent members of the Certified Collectibles Group (CCG), of which Salzberg is also chairman. The CCG companies also include Certified Guaranty Company (CGC), the world’s largest third-party grading service for comic books, magazines, concert posters and related collectibles; Classic Collectible Services (CCS), an expert pressing and restoration service for comic books; Authenticated Stamp Guaranty (ASG), a third-party grading service for postage stamps; and Collectibles Authentication Guaranty (CAG), which preserves the authenticity and provenance of collectibles, memorabilia and estate items.

CCG is headquartered in a 60,000-square-foot, purpose-built facility in Sarasota, Florida. It also has offices in Munich, Shanghai, Hong Kong, China and London.