I found Liberty Dollar online sometime in 2003. I read everything I could find about it and searched to see if it was a scam. I could not find anything negative about it. Not long after, I was attending a meeting with folks researching the legitimacy of the personal income tax. One of the attendees had some Liberty Dollar certificates that he wanted to use to pay me for something or another. I knew what they were because of my research and I told him I didn't have a problem with Liberty Dollars, but I would prefer the actual silver specie. He said I have those too, and produced one, which I accepted. I thought it was stunning, so I went home and ordred an Associate Kit. When the kit came, I was completely sold on Liberty Dollar. It was not long after that I applied to be an RCO (Regional Currency Office) for the Liberty Dollar in my area of Michigan.
I was interviewed on the phone by Bernard von Nothaus and accepted into the organizaion as an RCO in October of 2003. I ordered my first brick of 1000 one ounce silver libertys in November of 2003. During the next couple of years I ordered at least a few of every specie produced by the organization. It didn't take me long to realize that at some point, folks would begin to collect these beautiful numismatic pieces. I put together my own collection in 2004, which at the time consisted of only ten one ounce silver varieties (that were known at the time), the one ounce $500 gold piece and the 2003 aniversary set that included the five ounce, 1/2 ounce and 1/20th ounce pieces. I was unable to locate the 2000 type II one ounce silver piece, so Bernard supplied me with three of them at a very reasonable price, and I informed him that those pieces brought my three sets up to date and they were now complete.
It was that same year (2004) when Bernard von Nothaus was touring this area of the country and he stopped by my home in Cass County, Michigan to show me his own personal collection of Silver Liberty dollars, which at the time consisted of only 10 pieces. He also told me that I was the first person that had ever expressed an interest in collecting Liberty Dollars. It was at that point that I started putting away extra pieces for the future collector market that I envisioned.
I began attending Liberty Dollar Universities (LDU) beginning with the third one, which was held in Berryville, Arkansas in January, 2004. Wayne Hicks was the primary speaker and teacher because of his success in establishing Liberty Dollar in his area. You can read about him in Bernard's book, The Libert Dollar Solution to the Federal Reserve. I was told that the first LDU had also been held in Berryville but that there were only three or four attendees. LDU 4 was held in Evansville, Indiana at the grand opening of the Liberty Dollar Fulfillment Center there. There were a number of notable speakers there, including presidential hopeful Michael Badnarik and author of the book The Creature from Jekyll Island, G. Edward Griffin. The primary teacher was an RCO from Kansas named John Franklin. John was very knowledgeable and did a super job of preparing for the two day class with a notebook full of material and study plan for each attendee. He did a great job with his presentation the first day. The next day when we came in John apologized and told us that he and Bernard had had a serious disagreement and that he was so distraught that he could not continue the class. I don't remember how it came about or who suggested it, but it was stated that we needed someone who was capable to fill in for John that day or it was over. That person turned out to be me. With Bernard present and with his permission, I ad-libbed my way through the material John had left to cover. Bernard must have thought I did a pretty good job because I was the teacher at the next LDU 5 which was held in Elkhart, Indiana. Here is a list of the LDUs I personally attended. I made it to nine of the fourteen that were done. The only ones who attended more were Bernard himself, who attended them all, of course, and possibly North Carolina RCO Kevin Innes.
LDU 3 Berryville, Arkansas January 15 - 17, 2004
LDU 4 Evansville, Indiana September 28 - 30, 2004
LDU 5 Elkhart, Indiana March 16 - 18, 2005
LDU 6 Houston, Texas June 29 - July 3, 2005
LDU 9 Alexandria, Virginia April 18 - 21, 2006
LDU 10 Columbus, Mississippi August, 2006
LDU 11 Skokie, Illinois October 25 - 28, 2006
LDU 13 Evansville, Indiana April 11 - 14, 2007
LDU 14 Flint, Michigan July 25 - 28, 2007
By the time the FBI and Secret Service raided Liberty Dollar and confiscated millions of dollars worth of Silver and Gold that belonged to innocent people, I had amassed a considerable amount of many varieties that had been minted up until that time (November 2007). After the raid, the value of certain Liberty Dollar pieces skyrocketed on ebay. The Ron Paul silver and copper medallions in particular went crazy, and all varieties went up. I knew it was time to capitalize on my foresight. I created the Liberty Dollar Encyclopedia in 2010 as a free online reference in order to familiarize folks with what had been made so they would know what to collect. It worked beyond my wildest dreams. I had people who found my site calling me with rare pieces they wanted to sell. I always gave them more than they expected, but always left room to make a profit, plus the pieces I had put away over the years began moving out quite nicely.
I praise God for the foresight to recognize Liberty Dollar as something special and to get involved and especially for the foresight to put away pieces for collectors. That foresight enabled me to pay off my mortgage significantly sooner than would have otherwise been possible. Prices continue to rise as more and more collectors discover the Liberty Dollar. The 2006 state series (SMI - State Monetary Initiative) has become especially popular and I have sold all but one of the original 20 sets I put together. As we move into the future, I foresee prices on all LD (Liberty Dollars) continuing to rise. Some of the state pieces, the ones with the lowest mintages, are already becoming very difficult to find (read - almost impossible)
My website was mentioned in Coin World Magazine twice in articles written by Paul Gilkes. The first was April 18, 2011. The second was March 10, 2014 (my name is on the cover). That article was written when I broke the news (given to me by David Mauldin) that ANACS had begun certifying Liberty Dollars. Some of my photos (which are still here) were featured in the 4th and 5th editions of World Coins.
In late August of 2007 I decided to take a huge financial gamble and personally sponsor all 25 of the remaining states that had not had an RCO step forward to sponsor their state for the SMI (State Monetary Initiative). I spoke to Bernard about it and he agreed with my plan to do two states at a time once a month until they were all done. Dies were $500 each at that time, so I was looking at a considerable outlay just in die costs, not to mention the required purchase of 500 one ounce pieces of each state once the dies were made. Before the first two dies could be ordered, the raid happened and put an end to that plan.
I still have on hand any piece you see on this site with a smiley face near the description. Many of them I have only one or two pieces, so don't miss your chance to get one while you can. I still have some of the most valuable and rare pieces because the average collector simply cannot afford them. In particular, I have a couple of Ron Paul platinum pieces, valued at over $5000 each, and a couple of the matched serial number SMI sets (with matching number extras, such as the Euro (rare in its own right), Chambersburg, Gillies, California Bear, Chiropractic and TXDD). Be sure to let me know if you are interested in any of these rare items while they are still available.
Best to your collecting efforts,
Ron Goodger