IRVINE, Calif. (July 31, 2014)— Harvey G. Stack will belatedly receive his 60-Year American Numismatic Association Membership Award at the ANA World’s Fair of Money in Chicago, Thursday, August 7 at 4 p.m. CT. The 60th anniversary ceremony was not held in 2007, so the forthcoming event will make up for lost time. All are invited to attend.
Harvey has been in professional numismatics for 67 years, a record unequalled by any dealer active today, handily eclipsing, for example, B. Max Mehl, the famous professional who was in the trade from 1900 until 1957. Today Harvey is a consultant for Stack’ Bowers Galleries, the successor to the Stack’s firm formed by Joseph and Morton Stack in 1933.
Besides being a well-known numismatist, Harvey was also an auctioneer for the firm of Stack’s from 1955, and still maintains his license. He and his family have assisted with the building of many major collections, including that of Louis E. Eliasberg, the only complete collection of U.S. coins ever assembled. He was part of the Stack family team consisting of Morton Stack, Joseph B. Stack, Benjamin Stack, Norman Stack and himself, who built the Josiah K. Lilly Collection of gold coins, consisting of 6,150 gold specimens of the world, and one of the greatest collections of United States gold coins ever assembled. Harvey was an advisor and consultant to the United States Congress when they acquired the Lilly Collection for the National Numismatic Collection in 1968.
Harvey led the fight on behalf of his firm as well as all numismatists to get the Gold Import Act of 1961 reversed in 1967, which limited and restricted many gold coins from being imported. In 1973, he was the industry’s representative to Congress regarding the Hobby Protection Act. He later served on the United States Assay Commission in 1976. He served on the Board of the Professional Numismatists Guild for over a decade and became president in 1989. During his term he fought as a leader of PNG the Federal Trade Commission who was attempting to regulate and establish controls on the numismatic industry, and won that case as well.
In 1973, Harvey was on the committee for the ANA in the establishing a new grading standard and the establishment of ANACS. He has been an active member of the American Numismatic Association and helped build a library wing at ANA Headquarters in 1976, which bore the name of the Stack’s family. He has supported many of the projects of the organization during his lengthy membership.
In 2003, he appeared before the House of Representatives Banking and Finance Committee to have a circulating commemorative bill passed. It was passed by Congress in 2005, and became the Statehood Commemorative Quarter Act that honored each of the 50 States in the order in which they joined the Union. These coins became the most collected series in America, as noted in one of the U.S. Mint press releases, which said it was responsible for 175 million new coin collectors!
During the past 67 years, Harvey has been part of the cataloging team that catalogued and sold at more than 800 sales, and was on the auction stand for most of them. There are more “name” collections attributed to the Stack family auctions than any other numismatic firm in America.
Harvey has been writing his “Remember When” series for Stack’s Bowers Galleries in recent years. This has drawn a wide audience. He has shared his experiences in numismatic events he participated in, collections he has helped form and sell, collectors he has known, and the staff members who have been a part of his firm’s success.
The only other member of the family still part of the firm joined in 1973 after finishing college —Harvey’s son, Lawrence R. Stack. He is known to all as Larry, and is an expert in U.S. coins, foreign and ancient coins. Larry has also collected several series of Roman and Greek, English, French and U.S. colonials. He is a cataloguer, dealer, and licensed auctioneer, and supports Stack’s Bowers Galleries in all its endeavors, along with Harvey to this very day.
About Stack’s Bowers Galleries
Stack’s Bowers Galleries conducts live, Internet and specialized auctions of rare U.S. and world coins and currency and ancient coins, as well as direct sales through retail and wholesale channels. The company’s 80-year legacy includes the cataloging and sale of many of the most valuable United States coin and currency collections to ever cross an auction block — The John J. Ford, Jr. Collection, The Louis E. Eliasberg, Sr. Collection, The Harry W. Bass, Jr. Collection, The Norweb Collection, The Cardinal Collection and The Battle Born Collection — to name just a few. World coin and currency collections include The Louis E. Eliasberg, Sr. Collection of World Gold Coins, The Kroisos Collection, The Alicia and Sidney Belzberg Collection, The Wa She Wong Collection, The Guia Collection, The Thos. H. Law Collection, and The Robert O. Ebert Collection.
Topping off this amazing numismatic history is the inclusion of the world record for the highest price ever realized at auction for a rare coin, the 1794 Flowing Hair Silver Dollar graded Specimen-66 (PCGS) that realized over $10 million, part of their sale of the famed Cardinal Collection. The company is headquartered in Irvine, California, with offices in New York, Wolfeboro, Hong Kong, and Paris. Stack’s Bowers Galleries is an Official Auctioneer for several important numismatic conventions, including American Numismatic Association events, the New York International Numismatic Convention, the Professional Numismatists Guild New York Invitational, the Whitman Coin & Collectibles Spring, Summer and Winter Expos, and its April and August Hong Kong Auctions.
###
