The E-Sylum:  Volume 8, Number 32, July 24, 2005, Article 28

DIMITRI LOULAKAKIS, COIN DEALER

The Financial Times of London published a story July 22
on longtime coin dealer Dimitri Loulakakis:

"A genial cigar-smoking Arsenal fan, has spent most of his
business career dealing in coins. Born in Athens, he was
influenced by uncles who were in Greek politics and was
originally destined for the diplomatic corps."

"Ten years later, at the age of 30, he was European sales
manager for one of the largest privately-owned Greek shipping
and cruise lines. The entry into coin dealing came when he got
interested in the first Churchill Crown, a commemorative coin
struck on the death of Britain#39;s wartime prime minister.

A colleague suggested he talk to a friend at Spink – who turned
out to be the legendary coin expert Howard Linecar – and,
“within a week I was a confirmed numismatist. It quickly went
beyond a hobby to become a lifelong passion.”

"A couple of years ago Chelsea Coins, his fledgling business,
was absorbed into Noble Investments (UK), currently the only
listed coin dealer in the UK stock market. Loulakakis, now in
his early 70s, remains an executive director. He is also an adviser
to and coin buyer for the Hellenic Numismatic Museum, for
which he seeks out specific items when the Ministry of Culture
budget permits.

In a lengthy career as a coin dealer there have inevitably been
high and low points. Loulakakis says that his lowest ebb came
when his car and entire stock of coins were stolen while he
was attending a coin show in 1968...

The high point was in 1971, when he was the first British dealer
to attend the Long Beach Coin Show, a long-time fixture for
American coin collectors and dealers. Having put together every
coin he could muster, he sold out within four hours, then toured
the show buying more stock, and sold out again, repeating the
trick several times before the show closed. “It made my name
in the business,” he says."

"One reason for folding his coin dealing business into the
potentially much larger operation of Noble Investments is
that he sees great potential for developing an investment
market in coins in the UK. As he notes, “the American market
is a hundred times more powerful than our own, and it has got
to that stage almost entirely as a result of investor money”.

“There is no reason why a late 19th century US one cent coin
should sell for $100,000 whereas a 1798 Dorrien Magens
shilling, of which there are probably fewer than ten in existence,
will only set you back £15,000. But that is a fact."

To read the complete article, see: Full Story

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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