COINAGE ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS HERITAGE WEB PLATFORM

The booming coin market of the 1970s set the two as heated yet friendly rivals, whose businesses expanded from shops and shows to auctions. Halperin bought a mainframe computer in 1975 and started an auction firm later that year. Ivy followed suit on both, and his first auction in 1976 drew $650,000 (roughly $2.8 million in today’s dollars). “That’s a number we have surpassed over 100 times with single lots since then time,” Ivy said. “By 1979, we [Steve Ivy Rare Company] were the U.S.’s second-largest coin company with 150 employees … but Jim [New England Rare Coin Galleries] was No. 1.”

When the metals market crashed in the early 1980s, Ivy called Halperin with a proposition: Nothing could stop them if they combined the two companies and their individual talents. When the duo founded Heritage Galleries in 1982, competitors predicted the partnership would be lucky to last three years. Jim brought his best friend (and employee since 1975), Marc Emory, to Dallas with him to set up Heritage’s gold import business in Europe. Soon thereafter, Steve and Jim hired operations wizard Paul Minshull and coin expert Greg Rohan to help move the business forward. All five are still at Heritage. Marc, Greg, and Paul are now each part owners of the business, along with Todd Imhof, Cris Bierrenbach, Ryan Carroll, and Steve’s son, Chris Ivy.

“Our auction department was still behind several numismatic auction firms,” Ivy said. “Then, around 1995, everything changed. There was this new thing called ‘the internet.’”

The potential captivated Halperin, in particular: a connected world was tailor-made for the auction business. “Not only could Heritage reach clients around the world,” Halperin said, “but we could even the playing field for all buyers and sellers by making private information public.”

Between 1995 and 1999, the partners funneled resources to develop what would become HA.com. Heritage was the first auctioneer to combine traditional floor bidding with active internet bidding. The innovation catapulted the auction portion of the business to number one in that space, in commanding more than 50 percent of the market. “It was perhaps Jim’s best idea to build the website to make the entire auction process as transparent as reasonably possible,” Ivy said. “We listed all past lots and prices, which turned HA.com into the most-used resource in coins.”

To read the complete article, see:
Secrets of the Number One Online Coin Company (http://coinagemag.com/secrets-of-the-number-one-online-coin-company/)

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