Paradise Coin & Gift address, phone, website, hours of operation, and more. We moved to Paradise, California in the spring of 1980 and were immediately attracted to the natural beauty of the local canyons and rivers. Like early immigrants to California, Bill came down wih gold fever and had to experience gold mining for himself. We bought gold pans, shovels, and rock picks – then a sluice box – and finally – a 4″ gold dredge.
Encouraged by small successes in finding some small gold flakes, we found ourselves packing the heavy equipment in and out of the canyon of the West Branch of the Feather River every weekend, and in the end, we expended far more time and effort than it was worth. The dredge and mining equipment ended up taking space in our garage and Penny finally sold it all at one of her yard sales.
Just like early gold rush merchants, we learned from the experience that other gold miners were in need of someone to buy their gold and sell them mining supplies and we started doing just that. Having been an avid coin collector since he was a young boy, Bill began attending the local Paradise Flea Market buying and selling rare coins, placer gold, mining equipment and just about anything else of value.
After meeting an elderly gentleman who agreed to consign his large rare coin collection, we rented a small building in 1981 for our first part-time coin shop with gold mining supplies. In addition to running the coin shop during the day, Bill worked nights in a local grocery store stocking shelves.
After a few years we were able to rent a bigger building with an expanded coin shop and living quarters. We started carrying mining books and California history books that dealt with the California Gold Rush and soon people were asking for more California history.
In 2021 we moved our retail store, Paradise Coin & Gift, to our current location at 215 South Main Street in Waupaca, Wisconsin 54981.
Beginning in 1990, we started publishing the Dogtown Territorial Quarterly (later known as The California Territorial Quarterly for issues #51-#113), a non-revisionist California history magazine. Due to the November 2018 Paradise Camp Fire, we ceased publication due to a lack of advertisers and subscribers who were burned out by the fire.
We hope you’ll be able to visit our store on Main Street in Waupaca sometime soon—but for now—you can visit this internet website where you’ll find almost everything we sell in our store—at the same low prices and with the same friendly service.
Address: 215 South Main Street, Suite B, Waupaca, WI 54981
Phone: (715) 942-2642
Website: http://paradisecoin.com/
Email: Bill@paradisecoin.com
Hours of Operation:
Monday – Saturday 10:00am-4:00pm
