Our Staff

 
Numismatists
Stephen Album | Joseph Lang | Paul Montz | Michael Barry | Hanbing Feng | Norman D. Nicol

Office Staff
Jocelyn McCord | Kate Polacci | Katie Simmons | James Cornell | Sequoia Rahlfs

Consignment Agents / Representatives
Chao Chen (Asia) | Howard & Frances Simmons (U.K. & Europe)
 
 
NUMISMATISTS
   
Stephen Album Stephen Album - Founder | Director of Islamic Numismatics

Steve has been serving the numismatic community since 1960. In 1976 he began dealing nearly exclusively in Islamic and Indian coins. He has authored several books including the Catalogue of California Trade Tokens, Volumes I & II in 1972 and 1974 respectively. 1977 saw the release of his complete rewrite of Marsden's Numismata Orientalia Illustrata, a guide to Islamic and Oriental coins with values. In 1993 he published A Checklist of Islamic Coins, now is in its third edition, is the standard for collectors of Islamic coins. Mr. Album is currently a senior fellow at the Worcester College, Oxford, England, and in this position has authored three of the ten volumes of the Sylloge of Islamic Coins in the Ashmolean (Museum) beginning in 1999. In 2003 he was the recipient of the American Numismatic Society's Huntington Award, and is only one of three Islamists to have received this honor. He has twice been the recipient of the Samir-Shamma-prize for Islamic Numismatics, in 2000 and then in 2005. In May of 2004 the Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen in Germany honored Mr. Album with a philosophiae doctoris honoris causae, an honorary doctoral degree in philosophy. Steve is among the world's leading experts on Islamic and Indian coins.
steve@stevealbum.com

    Joseph Lang Joseph Lang - Chief Executive Officer | Director of Asian Numismatics

Joe is a member of the American Numismatic Association (ANA), as well as many other numismatic associations. He has been a full-time coin dealer in California since 1987. First based in San Diego, Joe relocated to Santa Rosa in 2001 and became a partner in the firm of Stephen Album Rare Coins, the leading firm for Islamic and Indian coins. Joe was a contributing editor to various editions of Krause publication's Standard Catalog of World Coins, German Coins, and World Paper Money for over two decades. He has also contributed to past editions of the Monetary Research Institute's Banker's Guide to Foreign Currency. He has specialized in world coins since 1989 with expertise in Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese cast cash coins and charms with an emphasis on Chinese coins of the Tang Dynasty and later. Joe serves on the International Association of Professional Numismatists (IAPN) Executive Committee where he is chairman of the Anti-Forgery Committee. He also is a member of the International Bureau for Suppression of Counterfeit Coins (IBSCC). He is an avid outdoorsman and enjoys hiking, backpacking, and cycling. As well as having a love for the outdoors, he is a percussionist and performs with two symphonic orchestras, the Sonoma County Philharmonic based in Santa Rosa, and the Bohemian Club Symphony Orchestra based in San Francisco.
joe@stevealbum.com

    Paul Montz Paul Montz - Chief Financial Officer | Director of World Numismatics

Paul joined the staff in January 2011. He attended UC Davis from 1975-80, earning bachelor's and master's degrees in Agricultural Science & Management and Agronomy, respectively. He began working in the numismatic field in the 1970's. In 1981, he founded Olde World Numismatics in Chico, CA, a business he ran for 30 years, focusing on A-Z world coins, before merging with Stephen Album Rare Coins. He has put out price lists for many years and has been a fixture at major shows since the 1980's. Paul is a life member of the American Numismatic Association and is a member of other organizations. He has been a contributing editor for the Standard Catalog of World Coins since 1998. Paul brings experience in general world coinage to the firm. He is an avid basketball player and continues to keep a hand in his family's agricultural businesses.
paul@stevealbum.com

    Michael Barry Michael Barry - Chief Operations Officer | Director of Auctions | Numismatist

Mike joined the company in June of 2008. Mike's background is in archaeological theory, having completed his bachelor's degree in Anthropology & Archaeology at the University of California, Santa Cruz in 2007. Prior to attending UC Santa Cruz, Mike attended Santa Rosa Junior College, completing an AA in Anthropology as well as an AS in Natural Sciences in 2005. Mike's duties with the company include production of fixed-price and auction catalogs, managing the sales team, attending coin conventions, as well as organizing and curating our extensive inventory. He is a member of the American Numismatic Association.
mike@stevealbum.com

    Hanbing Feng Hanbing Feng - Specialist in Ancient & Islamic Numismatics | Cataloger

Bing joined the company in August of 2019. Having obtained his master's degree at the University of Hawaii and bachelor's degrees at the State University of New York, Binghamton, Bing has a background in linguistics and has written on syntax and semantics. His passion for language, history, and art led him to pursue a career in numismatics, with a particular focus on ancient and Islamic coins. Bing is also an avid baseball fan, film buff and lover of classical music.
bing@stevealbum.com

    Dr. Norman D. Nicol Dr. Norman Douglas (Doug) Nicol - Numismatist | Cataloger

Doug worked as Steve's assistant full-time from 1981 until 1999, after which he moved back to his home area of northeastern Pennsylvania where he opened his own business as a professional genealogist. For a number of years since then, Doug has helped Steve with the annual show in New York City, then from 2006, has been cataloging coins for Steve and Joe. Doug received a doctorate in Medieval Islamic History from the University of Washington (Seattle) in 1979 and during a subsequent post-doctoral stay in Egypt, co-authored a catalog of the coins and related items in the Egyptian National Library, Cairo (1982). During the years Doug worked for Steve in California, he researched and compiled his Corpus of Fatimid Coins, which was published in 2006. He has been a senior research fellow at Oxford University since 2001, having agreed to write five of the proposed ten volumes of the Sylloge of the Islamic Coins in the Ashmolean. For many years, he has contributed to the various Krause-Mishler catalogs, including two editions of The Standard Catalog of German Coins. He continues to write new content for the catalog listings of many European countries, as well as revisions of existing entries for Europe, the Islamic countries and India.
ndnicol@epix.net
OFFICE STAFF
   
Jocelyn McCord Jocelyn McCord - Accounting & Payroll

Jocelyn joined the company in 2007 and oversees our accounting department. Jocelyn is in charge of our international banking. She is also involved with incoming and outgoing payments, account inquiries, and other financial aspects of the company.
jocelyn@stevealbum.com

    Kate Polacci Kate Polacci - Shipping & Receiving

Kate joined the company in June of 2011. She is the manager for all of our outgoing and incoming shipments. She also assists with the processing of sales and with other aspects of the production of our fixed-price and auction catalogs. With her experience and expertise you can be assured that your purchases will be packaged carefully and will arrive safely. Please feel free to contact her with any concerns or questions about your shipments.
kate@stevealbum.com

    Katie Simmons Katie Simmons - Accounting

Katie joined the company in December of 2020. She attended Sonoma State University and graduated with a bachelor's in Business Administration with a concentration in Accounting in 2004. She is helping expand our accounting department by handling our incoming and outgoing payments, account inquiries and various administrative tasks. Katie often answers the phone and is happy to help with any questions or concerns you might have about your account.
katie@stevealbum.com

    James Cornell James Cornell - Photography

James joined the company in August 2021. He has studied photography for the past six years and has obtained his Associates of Arts, Applied Photography Certificate, and a Photoshop Certificate from Santa Rosa Junior College. Through his studies, he found a love for product photography and portraiture. He also attended the ArtQuest Photography Program at Santa Rosa High School.
james@stevealbum.com

    Sequoia Rahlfs Sequoia Rahlfs - Auction Production Assistant

Sequoia joined the company in March 2023. She helps with all aspects of auction production including assembling, sorting, labeling, and shipping. She also assists with other organizational tasks.
sequoia@stevealbum.com
CONSIGNMENT AGENTS / REPRESENTATIVES

Chao Chen
Asia
chen@stevealbum.com
                    
Don Erickson
U.S. East Coast
don@stevealbum.com
                    
Howard & Frances Simmons
U.K. & Europe
simmons@stevealbum.com