The American Numismatic Association has named Rick Snow its 2010 Numismatist of the Year. Snow will receive his award on August 13 during the Awards Reception at the ANA World’s Fair of Money in Boston. 

President of Eagle Eye Rare Coins in Tucson since 1992, Richard “Rick” Snow started collecting in 1972, focusing on large cents and colonial coinage. In 1977 he attended his first ANA Summer Seminar, where he took the “Counterfeit Detection” course. He sold most of his collection during the mid-1980s while drifting through Tennessee and Mississippi looking for work. 

Snow moved to Tucson to live with his sister and started to renew his collection. His knowledge of coins and ANA life membership got him a job at Allstate Coin Company in Tucson in 1986. His experiences there and interaction with other hobby professionals allowed Snow to gather the information he needed to write his first book, Flying Eagle and Indian Cents. To make time to promote the book, Snow left Allstate and became an independent coin dealer. 

As one of the few specialists in the hobby, Snow sells $2 to $3 million in cents annually. He also continues to write award-winning reference books on his favorite subjects – Flying Eagle and Indian Head cents – and writes and edits Longacre’s Ledger, the official journal of the Fly-In Club, which he co-founded. Snow is preparing to launch his new business, GreatCoins.com, an Internet auction company geared toward honest practices and consumer protection. He is a 2007 recipient of the ANA’s Glenn Smedley Memorial Award.