The E-Sylum:  Volume 11, Number 14, April 6, 2008, Article 17

ALAN WEINBERG ON HARVEY GAMER AND HERITAGE EXONOMIA SALES

Alan V. Weinberg writes: "A significant negative development
has occurred this week in the field of exonumia. Exonumia as
a highly collectable field has been growing apace in the past
several years as more and more dealers and collectors have
been attracted to it due to the outrageous price structure
of coins and currency. The major factor in this growth (aside
from eBay) has been Heritage's sophisticated auction catalogues
and the development of their Exonumia Dept under the leadership
of Harvey Gamer who had moved from Canada to Dallas for this
position.

"All of this came to a sudden halt the middle of last week
when Heritage suddenly dismissed Gamer for what he termed
minor misunderstandings &  miscommunications. With Harvey's
dismissal, the continued existence of the Heritage Exonumia
Department is put in great jeopardy and likely cannot survive
as they have no one else capable of and knowledgeable enough
to handle this field.

"I have been in Exonumia for 40 of my 50 years collecting
and I know of no one in the hobby who is knowledgeable
enough and available to take on Gamer's responsibilities
and move to Dallas. No one. The next exonumia sale had been
scheduled for September.

"What a shame. What was Heritage thinking...or were they?
Heritage has become the 800 lb gorilla of the exonumia auction
field under Gamer's watch. Exonumia as a field will be
significantly set back."

[Time will tell how the situation develops at Heritage and
their competitors.  The genie is already out of the bottle
in terms of the popularity and price advances in exonumia,
so I expect this is a train that will continue hurtling down
the tracks regardless of engineers at the controls.  But one
person can make a huge difference at one firm.  Again, time
will tell, and consigners and collectors alike will be watching.
A number of Heritage folks are E-Sylum readers, and perhaps
they'll keep us posted on developments. -Editor]

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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