The PCGS CoinFacts Coin Dealer Hall of Fame has inducted three more past and current distinguished professional numismatists. The new members are Edgar H. Adams, Steve Ivy and James F. Ruddy.
The 2014 induction ceremony was part of the PCGS Set Registry luncheon conducted during the American Numismatic Association World’s Fair of Money in the Rosemont, Ill., on Aug. 8.
“The Hall of Fame was created in 2010 to recognize outstanding dealers, past and present, who have made the most significant contributions to numismatics and who have handled great coins and great collections,” said Ron Guth, President of PCGS CoinFacts, a division of Collectors Universe, Inc.
Edgar Adams (1868 - 1940): Adams is familiar to most numismatists for his landmark reference books, United States Pattern, Trial and Experimental Pieces, co-authored with William H. Woodin, and Adams’ Private Gold Coinages of California, 1849-1855: Its History and Its Issues. He also served as an editor of The Numismatist, published monthly by the American Numismatic Association.
Steve Ivy (1949 - present): At the age of 14 in 1964, Ivy began advertising rare coins for sale in national publications. Six years later, at the age of 20, he opened a rare coin dealership in downtown Dallas. Since 1982 he has been co-chairman of Heritage Auctions along with 2013 Hall of Fame inductee James Halperin. Heritage now is the largest collectibles auctioneer in the world and overall the world’s third-largest auction company. A marketplace leader, Ivy has served as president of the Professional Numismatists Guild (PNG) and as chairman of the Industry Council For Tangible Assets (ICTA).
James F. Ruddy (1933 - present): Ruddy entered the rare coin business in 1953 under the name Triple Cities Coin Exchange in Johnson City, New York. In 1958, he and 2010 Hall of Fame inductee Q. David Bowers became partners in Empire Coin Company, and in 1971 formed Bowers and Ruddy Galleries in Los Angeles. He retired from the coin business in 1977.
“The motto of our Hall of Fame is a quote by Sir Isaac Newton: ‘If I have seen farther it is by standing on the shoulders of giants,’ and we believe that is certainly true in our hobby and profession,” said David Hall, president of Collectors Universe and a PCGS co-founder.
New inductees are determined by a vote of the 29-member PCGS CoinFacts Board of Experts and all living members of the PCGS CoinFacts Hall of Fame.
Additional biographical information about the 2014 and earlier Hall of Fame inductees is available online at www.pcgs.com/pcgscoinfacts/CoinDealerHOF.html
