GERRY FORTIN INTERVIEW, PART FIVE

Greg Bennick's latest interview for the Newman Numismatic Portal is with Liberty Seated dime expert Gerry Fortin. Here's the fifth and final part, where Fortin talks about his decision to sell his collection, his blog, and GFRC Auctions. Be sure to check out Gerry's upcoming auction of his world class Seated dime collection at www.seateddimevarieties.com. -Garrett

GREG BENNICK: Because people wouldn't know that necessarily. So, what was it that made you decide ultimately to sell your collection after working on it for so long?

GERRY FORTIN: I tell everybody that the short answer: it was time. Now, what does that mean? Since 2014, I've been selling all my other dimes that were used for the die variety analysis, and I've raised a substantial amount of capital. Well, that capital was going back into my high-end collection. And somehow, I was able, through contacts and through picking spots, I was able to buy some upgrades from the period when Eugene Gardner sold his collection and passed away. So that was 2014. And then we had D.L. Hansen, who kicked in more recently. So, there was a short period in there where I was able to do some more upgrading.

The Tom Bender sale that was held, I think, two years ago, there were some spots in my collection that were weak where I had not allocated monies because they were secondary from an investment perspective. I spent quite a bit of money upgrading that piece of the collection at the Bender sale. And in the past year, essentially, I've liquidated, essentially, all of the dimes through my business. So, my funding source for the collection had dried up.

At the same time, upgrades became ever-increasingly expensive. If you could find them and you could find the right coin, you're talking $15,000 to $40,000 for an upgrade. It's quite hard. And I was not going to take money out of the stock market and other investments to continue this process. I'm not one that's driven by having my pedigree name on a label and being number one on a registry set. That doesn't float my boat. I looked at this as a substantial investment, and I said, it's time. I'm at the point now with GFRC, I started up an auction module a couple of years ago. And who else better to sell the set than me? The gentleman that put it together, I can write my own catalog, do my own photography, market my own collection, and no one will cherry pick me. I know this series quite well.

GREG BENNICK: That's exactly right. You're the proverbial man, as it were, when it comes to Liberty Seated Dimes.

GERRY FORTIN: Right, right. So, you know, it was just that period of my life is coming to an end. And now the monies that are going to be generated are going to be for the next stage of my life. I'm going to move on and do some other things.

GREG BENNICK: I can't wait to find out what that is. That'll be our next interview someday. (both laugh).

So where do you get the inspiration to write your blog every day? There's lots of blogs in the world. There's lots of bloggers. There's lots of people who post on the internet. You post blog posts every single day on your website. It's astounding the amount of content that you put out. Where does that inspiration and motivation come from? It's pretty remarkable.

GERRY FORTIN: You got to remember, I come out of the semiconductor industry. The semiconductor industry: very, very intense. You just can't believe how challenging, how mentally challenging that industry is. You have to deal with all the day-to-day operational issues. At the same time, you have to be looking two steps ahead as the technology changes. So, you're working at one level. And then in six to nine months, you've got a new technology platform coming that you have to learn while you're working all the operational issues on the current platform.

So, I'm a very structured person. And every day when I went into the office, I would sit down and make a list of seven things or ten things I had to get done, or, these are all the hot buttons I have to focus on. Now, when you're running marketing and sales, and you have to keep a Chinese factory full of orders, and you're dealing internationally, there's a lot of stuff going on.

GERRY FORTIN: So, my mind was just trained. When I started the coin business, I said, "All right, I'm a little guy. How do I make a big splash? How do I compete with much larger entities than me?" And I said, "Well, let's think back in history of what impressed me. And Q. David Bowers used to write The Rare Coin Review.

GERRY FORTIN: It was a phenomenal marketing tool. He had it. And then I'm sure you remember the original JJ Teaparty over in Boston, right?

GERRY FORTIN: Well, you know, Liz was the principal, but some others. There was a woman named Gail. Gail and Liz worked together. Gail would send out the price list by email. When she sent out the price list, she lived in Massachusetts, and she always had this beautiful introduction about her garden or the weather, something real folksy. I love reading that. So that stuck with me. Like, all right, I'm going to put together a blog that's like a combination between something folksy, personal, but hardcore coins. That's how the blog was designed. Then I said, I'm going to do it every day because in the semi business, I would do it every day. You know, I would sit down and organize my day.

The blog becomes essentially a diary. That's all it is. It's a personal diary of my life with the folksy stuff. I publish a lot about my John Deere tractor, my twenty-three acres, and the park I'm building in the summer...and then I add the coin piece. I market all the new consigned coins or the coins I buy. People come by, and my readership is like 500, 600 people a day.

GREG BENNICK: That's great. I love the connection to Rare Coin Review. In the other room, I have a nearing complete set, not quite yet, of Rare Coin Review. And I always loved reading those, and American Numismatic Rarities catalogs and all that. There was always a feeling, and you get this from reading your blog as well, of the person behind the coins, not just the coins. And, you know, people say we do business with people we like. We do business with people we know, and reading your blog has that feeling. It's like, "Oh! I see where this guy's coming from." I got that feeling all the time with Dave Bowers and Rare Coin Review.

GREG BENNICK: That's great. Well, is there anything that we didn't cover today that you'd like to make sure that we talk about for the next few minutes before we close?

GERRY FORTIN: Oh, wow. So, the front line, so I call it "the front-line set." I think Len Augsburger gave it that name...I'm now in the process of marketing and selling that collection. It's a substantial undertaking. My subsidiary GFRC Online Auctions. I typically sold probably the largest collection I sold was $300,000, maybe $400,000. So, now I am selling two collections, my personal collection, and the personal collection of my top client at the same time. So, I've got $2.5 million of the finest Seated Dimes and the finest Seated Halves that I'm now marketing and selling in the first half of 2025. So, again, it's intense, you know, it doesn't stop.

GREG BENNICK: So, where can people find out about these sales if we're able to get this out, and I hope to in the next little while or so. Where can people find out about these sales, or if after the fact, where can they learn about what was sold and maybe learn more about Seated Dimes as a result of what was sold?

GERRY FORTIN: And it's a complete platform. So, you have the original, I call it "web book," that discusses all the Seated Dime Varieties in a fashion similar to Overton. There's an open registry module. Then they have the GFRC sales module. You have a sales archive. So, every coin I've sold since 2014 is available in a sales archive. Pictures, descriptions, prices, the whole bit. So, the complete history of my business over ten, eleven years. And then we have the auction module. So, you go to my website, and then there's just a gray link bar on top, which is like auction and, die varieties and consignments if you want to consign coins, and so on and so forth. You just click on that, and it'll take you into the different subsections of the platform. One of them is the auction module. So, today, those two sets are now listed. Full catalog, pictures, descriptions, reserves. And come January 19th, the first session opens, and bidding will be available.

GREG BENNICK: Fantastic. Well, I hope that viewers go and check out these listings. I'm so excited that I had a chance to talk to you today, Gerry. I really appreciate your time. This has been great. And just thank you very much for being with me today for a few minutes.

GERRY FORTIN: Well, thank you for coordinating this and the chat. I thoroughly enjoyed it, too.

GREG BENNICK: I'm so glad. So, if anybody is interested in seeing other interviews, I've done a full series with prominent numismatists that's available on the Newman Numismatic Portal. And it's also available through the E-Sylum in a print version. So, if you're interested in seeing more, just search those formats, those locations, and you'll certainly find more interviews. Until next time, I'm Greg Bennick, here with Gerry Fortin today. Thanks for being here, everybody, and thank you once again, Gerry.

About the Interviewer
Greg Bennick (www.gregbennick.com) is a keynote speaker and long time coin collector with a focus on major mint error coins and US counterstamps. He is on the board of both CONECA and TAMS and enjoys having in-depth conversations with prominent numismatists from all areas of the hobby. Have ideas for other interviewees? Contact him anytime on the web or via instagram @minterrors.