BUILDING THE LILLY COLLECTION, CONTINUED

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V20 2017 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 20, Number 5, January 29, 2017, Article 17

In a series of recent blog posts, Harvey Stack wrote about his family's role in helping form the Josiah K. Lilly Collection. Here are excerpts from the latest installments (#16-19). Monumental story (but are we done yet?) -Editor

Visiting with Mr. Lilly at Eagle's Nest and seeing his collections confirmed to me how a dedicated collector approaches his hobbies. Mr. Lilly's approach was simple: assemble the best you can, set your goals, get the knowledge you need and take advantage of the experience and expertise of others. The result is then a fine, well-built collection that can someday be passed on to family members, an institution of learning, or be sold at auction by a reputable auction house, perhaps a firm that assisted in building the collections. To me, Mr. Josiah K. Lilly was a man with a purpose, who made himself remembered in numismatics, philately, and the collecting of rare book and documents, early colonial rifles, great pieces of art and statuary, and left a legacy for the future to study and enjoy. With Mr. Eliasberg we negotiated to acquire an almost complete collection of United States gold, silver and copper, along with a wonderful group of foreign gold coins. The combination of what Mr. Eliasberg already owned and the Clapp Collection resulted in a very important collection and the Stack family was pleased to be a supplier of new and upgrade coins as well as helping to set aside the duplicates for future trading and possible sale. Louis E. Eliasberg was collecting at the right time and he was able to get a great start on his unparalleled cabinet.

Mr. Lilly commented about this: "I guess this does not happen often. It was fortunate for me that I was able to purchase the U.S. gold coin collections you found for me in 1954 and 1955.” We once again marveled at how far he was able to get with his collecting because of these advantageous acquisitions from the Anderson Dupont, Weihman and Schermerhorn collections. “I guess I was in the right place at the right time,” he said.

He then noted that he still needed two U.S gold coins to complete the collection. One was the unique 1870-S $3 gold piece (which Louis Eliasberg owned). Mr. Lilly noted: “I guess I have to wait till he either sells his collection or until he passes on. Since we are close the same age, I will try to wait." All this was said with a warm smile on Mr. Lilly's face.

He continued: “But I do have a chance on getting the 1822 half eagle. You told me there are only three examples: the one in the Smithsonian, the Eliasberg specimen, and the one in the Carter Family Collection, which is vast, but not as complete as the one you built for me!"

Mr. Lilly mentioned that members of the Stack family had approached Amon, Jr., over the past four years but he hadn't wanted to sell it. He asked us to keep trying, as he was excited to be just one coin away from a complete collection of U.S. gold.

As mentioned earlier, Amon Carter would often come by the shop whenever he was in New York. On those visits or when we would encounter him at a show, he always greeted us, smoking his favorite cigar. Often he would start the conversation with, "Hi Guys, how are you doing? Don't ask, I know you want to buy my 1822 half eagle.” He promised that when he was ready to sell he would give us first refusal, remembering all the things the Stack family had done for him over the years.

The Lilly Collection of Gold Coins of the World included 4,500 or more examples. This was a gigantic feat for any collection, and it was still growing.

But in every discussion we had, Mr. Lilly wanted to talk about completing his United States gold collection. He always said he would be patient; but his competitive collector drive to build a collection of coins nearly as complete as the Eliasberg Collection was always there. While he might not be able to acquire every U.S. gold coins, he knew that the 1822 half eagle was a possibility. He knew that three of them were known and that Stack's had a promise from Amon Carter, Jr. that we would have first refusal when he decided to sell it.

One day in the early summer 1960, Amon Carter, Jr. came into our shop and said to Ben (the first Stack to greet him that day), "Are you guys still interested in buying my 1822 half eagle?” Ben responded firmly: "Amon, you know we are!”

"Well, here it is!” He said as he reached into his lower vest pocket, took out the coin, and placed it on our counter. By this time the entire Stack family was in front of the shop. We each looked at it, examined it with a glass, and carefully returned it to the pad on the counter in front of us.

Of course we asked immediately: "Amon, how much do you want for it?" Amon, chewing on his cigar, said, " I promised you that when I decide to sell it, I would offer it to you, for your client, first.” He explained that he and his wife were doing some big renovations on their home in Dallas and his wife wanted to re-do the driveway, which was quite long and wide. He finished, “I need $50,000 for the coin. "

We all gasped! That was by far the highest price for a gold coin. We responded that the price was quite dear. But our client had wanted it since we sold him the Weihman collection of half eagles in 1955, hating the “hole” in his collection. Amon replied: "Then call him and ask him if he is willing to pay that for the coin!"

So we called Mr. Lilly, told him of the events of the day and informed him of the asking price for the coin. There was short silence on the phone, and he then confirmed that there were only three known, one in the Smithsonian and the other in “that noted Baltimore collection we have spoke about many times.” He asked us if we were really looking at it. We answered that it was right on the desk in front of us. A moment passed and then we heard him say, “I will take it! I will send a check today!" He then concluded the call thanking us and thanking Mr. Carter.

We confirmed the purchase and Amon thanked us for concluding the deal so smoothly. He got up, lit another cigar and left with his famous departing words, "Adios, mi amigos. We will do more together in the future.” He was a gentleman who kept his word. Years later, while driving from Fort Worth to the Dallas airport he had a heart attack and passed away. Within a month Stack's had a call from his family and Amon's executors, to come down to Dallas, pick up the balance of the Amon Carter Family Collection and offer it for sale at public auction. Amon had left instructions that if anything happened to him, his coin collection should be auctioned by Stack's. And that is just what happened.