Stacks return to coin firm

The Stacks are back.

Two years after Harvey G. Stack and his son Lawrence R. “Larry” Stack left the family business founded originally in 1933, they have returned.

That business, now part of Stack’s Bowers Galleries, will conduct the official American Numismatic Association World’s Fair of Money auction in August in Chicago.

Among the Stacks first duties will be to be part of a numismatic dream team assembled to catalog the ultra high-end Rarities Night Auction, according to Stack’s Bowers Galleries.

They will share the task with Q. David Bowers, Stack’s Bowers chairman emeritus and David Hall, founder of the Professional Coin Grading Service and president of Collectors Universe.

“The value of this addition of Harvey and Larry Stack to the Stack’s Bowers team is simply beyond measure,” said Greg Roberts, CEO of parent corporation Spectrum Group International, Inc.

The firm reviewed the pair’s two careers in numismatics. Harvey is the son of Morton M. Stack and nephew of Joseph B. Stack, who formed Stack’s rare coin business in 1933, where Harvey worked as a full-time staff member for 62 years, from 1947 until his retirement in 2009 as chief manager of business affairs. During those six decades, he personally conducted more auction sales than anyone in the numismatic industry.

Larry joined the family firm in 1973, having learned much of the business from his own study, dealing and family experience. He was responsible for the development of many important and noteworthy collections and brought several significant collections to Stack’s, including the John J. Ford Jr. Collection, as well as the Dallas Bank Collection, and the achievement of the highest price ever realized at auction for a rare coin, the legendary 1933 Saint-Gaudens double eagle that realized $7.59 million (the two latter sales in partnership with Sotheby’s).

As part of their cataloging effort, Bowers, Harvey Stack and Hall will provide video discussions of the rarities in the sale.

The firm says the official auctions of the World’s Fair of Money and ANA/PNG Pre-Show are scheduled for Aug. 12-20. The consignment deadline was June 20.

Stack’s Bowers Galleries may be reached by telephone at (800) 458-4646. The Web address is www.stacksbowers.com.