About Us

Dick was born in 1945 and has been collecting coins since he was 10 years old.

Dick has seen a lot of changes in the market over those 55+ years, but never lost his interest in collecting. Like most collectors he began with 20th century coins, gradually expanding into the earlier series. In the late 1970s, Dick narrowed his collecting interest to half dollars. By 1980, Dick was focusing his collecting interest solely on seated halves.

By the early 1990s Dick's collection needs and budget began to diverge and he began selling duplicates. He has been a dealer ever since. Dick's inventory grew to include all bust and seated coinage plus selected rare dates in the three cent silver series. In June 2003, Dick retired from his day job with the space program to devote full time to numismatics (both as a dealer and a devoted collector of seated halves).

Dick has been involved with research on seated half dollars since the mid-1980s and has written over a dozen articles for the Gobrecht Journal, the journal of the Liberty Seated Collectors Club. Dick also authored the Seated Half section of Kevin Flynn's book on misplaced dates.

Dick sold Dick Osburn Rare Coins in June of 2010 (to devote more time to his retirement) but still remains active in the business at select shows and behind the scene as a consultant and mentor to Brian Cushing.

BRIAN CUSHING

Brian Cushing is the Senior Numismatist at Dick Oburn Rare Coins

"Although the road traveled to numismatics was a long and winding one, I'm so very pleased to have found my way. I was most unfortunate as a child to have my first collecting interest become baseball cards before I developed an appreciation for coins. Much of my limited spending budget went towards those darned cardboard rectangles! I still have boxes and boxes in my closet should I need kindling on a cold winter night."

"On my ninth birthday a good friend of mine presented to me a hand full of buffalo nickels I suspect he pillaged from his older brother's coin jar. I was quite intrigued by the design, the majestic buffalo reverse and the Indian Chief obverse. The very next baseball card show I attended I found a local coin dealer who had brought along coin albums and boxes of circulated buffalo nickels and wheat pennies. I sat there for a few hours filling in what I could find and afford at the time. Twenty dollars later and many holes yet to be filled I had taken my first serious leap of faith in shifting my collecting interest to coins."

Brian began his numismatic career at J.J. Teaparty in Boston, MA.

"That interest waned during my college years. I found little time for anything but school, work and dating! Never quite finding eternal happiness in the work force I was approached at a family BBQ with an opportunity to work in the numismatic industry. I would start as a photographer/office assistant and go from there. That offer became a life changing event I will always appreciate. Having begun my true numismatic education at JJ Teaparty under Liz Coggan was an absolute blessing. As my abilities grew so too did my responsibilities. Photography, office jack of all trades, national wholesale sales, retail and eBay sales. Fascinated with it all, I read everything I could find to help sharpen my skills. Those long bus rides between Portsmouth, NH and Boston, MA allowed for plenty of reading. I was also very fortunate to make some wonderful contacts during my time wholesaling at the national conventions."

In 2007 I left J.J. Teaparty and began my own business. I wholesaled at the national shows and retailed on eBay and at smaller local shows in the Northeast. A few years into working on my own I was approached by a national dealer for whom I had tremendous respect (Wayne Herndon) about an opportunity to acquire a well established business. I was overjoyed to find that the selling dealer was Dick Osburn for whom I had the utmost respect. Dick had decided to transition his business as he focused on (as he like to put it) his "bucket and honey-do lists". Although my opinion may now be biased, I am (and continue to be) honored these two men brought me on as the third member of the business transition. A year later, my mentorship under Dick Osburn has been more than I could have hoped for. I'm thankful to be where I am and hope to serve you, our valued customers, as well as you have been served by Dick and Ruth Osburn.

Member of: ANA Life Member, VNA Life Member, LSCC, FUN, CSNS