HARVEY STACK'S NUMISMATIC FAMILY, PART 5

My uncle, Joseph B. Stack, had two sons, Benjamin and Norman. They were my first cousins and like me they were constant visitors to our store on 6th Avenue. In age Benjamin was the oldest, although he was less than two years older than Norman who was 19 days younger than me. We kidded with Norman, calling him the Young Stack.

Typically, as Ben was the oldest, he thought he should be the one in charge and dole out the assignments that we were given. These tasks included sweeping the floors, washing the front window, polishing the glass on the showcase, taking out the trash, and so on. Ben did only the important jobs while Norman and I were given the less popular jobs.

A major event that I remember from the early 1940s was the acquisition of the George Clapp Collection. Clapp was from Washington, DC and had one of the nation's most complete collections of United States coins, with many of the coins in outstanding condition. Mr. Clapp bought Proof coins directly from the Mint each year, 1880 to 1915, so they were of the highest quality.

During this time period, my father and uncle were working with a collector from Baltimore, Louis E. Eliasberg. We suggested to Mr. Eliasberg that he consider buying the Clapp Collection intact, as it would be a great help in achieving his goal: owning one each of every United States coin. The deal was made and the Clapp Collection coins became part of the incredible collection of Louis E. Eliasberg, staying with him for decades. The Eliasberg Collection remained intact and was not sold until the 1980s and 1990s, after that gentleman's death.

This deal was a truly major numismatic event. Nothing like this had ever happened before. And since the Eliasberg Collection has been dispersed to new collectors it will likely never happen again.

As youngsters we were lucky to be around when this happened. One day when we were there doing chores we were all introduced to Mr. Eliasberg. Later visitors often asked us what it was like to be around for such a historical event and we were always happy to tell about meeting this fine collector and witnessing such a monumental transaction.

Louis E. Eliasberg was but one of the great collectors of the 1940s that my cousins and I met, and sometimes helped out in one way or another. Some other famous numismatists included John Jay Pittman, Martin Kortjohn (of ANA fame), and numerous collectors whose names and collections would become very important as the hobby expanded in the middle of the 20th century.

Unfortunately, during the 1940s World War II had broken out, and a number of our friends and colleagues entered the Armed Services. Included in this group were John J. Ford, Jr. (a young and promising numismatist), Cornelius Vermeule (a great student of the classics who later was curator of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts), Henry Grunthal, (later the curator of the American Numismatic Society) and others who are legendary in the halls of numismatics. Ben, Norman and I were still in school and had education deferments.

To staff the store we still had specialists like James C Risk (until he became the United States naval attaché to Russia), Hans Holzer (who was deferred because of health), and Edward May who was too old to serve. However, there was a need for more professional staff. In order to be as useful as possible, it was important for Ben, Norman and I to gain as much knowledge as we could. So we spent virtually all of our spare time and school vacations helping out in the shop. We were lucky to have this opportunity, as during this time period we learned a lot about numismatics from our parents as well as from the collectors who came to the store and shared their great knowledge with us.

To read the complete article, see:
Growing up in a Numismatic Family Part 5 (http://www.stacksbowers.com/News/Pages/Blogs.aspx?ArticleID=2746)

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
HARVEY STACK'S NUMISMATIC FAMILY, PART 4 (http://www.coinbooks.org/v20/esylum_v20n45a25.html)

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