HARVEY STACK AND D. BRENT POGUE

Some 40 or so years ago a nice young man , D. Brent Pogue,(Brent ) and his father Mack Pogue visited Stack's on West 57th Street to look at coins. Brent was amazed to see so many coins, all displayed in sit down showcases, with many numismatic documents on the wall along with historical statuary about. Brent went from showcase to showcase, telling his father who accompanied him that this surely was a vast display of rare coins, in all grades.......................

After his trip about the showcases he took a chair next to his father, and took out a list of items that he would like to see to add to his collection. He was pleased that we had a goodly number of these in stock, from current issues that were made for daily commerce, to rarities that survived the test of time and were available from our stock. We had coins that came from current rolls, and rarities such as the original set of St. Gaudens Coins which included two varieties of the Ultra High Relief Double Eagles.

Having read and studied numismatics at home with whatever publications he could find, Brent had developed a full understanding about what grade and strike had to do with desirability of coins, and reviewed all we showed him and decided what he wanted to add to his collection.

Within a few months he returned to NY and visited us once again, this time with our auction catalog for that month in his hands. Whenever, we , the Stack Family met a collector who showed such interest, we put them on our mailing list to get all Auction Catalogs and Price Lists we published

Brent looked at some of the lots in the sale, asked about who catalogued the major coins in the sale, and I told him that our lead cataloguer at that time was Norman Stack, my first cousin. He asked to meet him and I took Brent to one of our back offices, in which Norman worked, who was at a Partner's Desk ,so we could face each other when working, and the room was surrounded by books on Numismatics which were part of our Reference Library. (A prize winning assemblage as proclaimed by all who visited and were allowed to use the books)

Brent and Norman entered into a deep discussion on Numismatics, and Norman tried to explain to Brent how he developed interests in all coins and had a particular interest in assembling a Type Collection of U.S. Coins. As Brent had a great fondness for the classic American issues from 1792 to 1838 in all denominations, they had a common ground to discuss. Norman showed Brent the Type Set he was developing, so he could also write a book on this method of collecting, and Brent became fascinated with what he saw and learned from Norman. I sat with both of them and enjoyed the questions and answers as well.

"Your set is wonderful, great coins, great strikes, great color, great eye appeal, and I want to do the same, maybe better . It will not be easy but I will enjoy the challenge !" Norman replied, "It will be my pleasure to help you." So we all became friends, and we developed a potential new collector to serve.

Now that plans and goals were decided on, Brent, with the help of his father Mac began searching and acquiring coins of importance and rarity from the many collections that were marketed for the past 40 years. No one collection could offer more than one or two, at best, and though some were seen which was considered outstanding, they did not meet the standards set forth by Brent. During the past 40 years, Brent was fortunate that collections built in the 1930's to 1950's were dispersed and became part of collections sold during the period he collected.

His demands were very strict, he wanted the Finest he could find, they had to be well struck, have super surfaces, no major impairments what so ever, a natural toning that survived the the tests of time with beauty and "great eye appeal" and then he would consider buying it.

Stack's surely got a major share of premium collections to sell during this building , but Brent went all over the country to look at, examine offerings as they became available at auctions of other auction companies Stack's, from collections they owned and bought also offered many additions to his collection, but the standards he set, tutored by Norman, were difficult to meet with every addition he made to his vast collection.

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