Remember When: The James A. Stack Collection, Part 1

By Harvey G. Stack, Senior Numismatic Consultant

In March of 1975 Stack's had the pleasure of offering for sale the outstanding collection of United States quarters and half dollars formed by James A. Stack as part of his noteworthy collection of United States coins.

Of course, the question we were always asked was if James A. Stack was part of the Stack family. He wasn't; it was pure coincidence.  Nevertheless the friendship between the Stack family and James Stack was certainly close, and many were amazed that such a relationship could exist between a collector and dealers.

This friendship started as Jim came to appreciate the way the Stack brothers treated clients. In the nearly four decades they dealt together it became almost as if he was family to Joseph and Morton. James A. Stack was a widower at an early age, and had taken up residence at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York, which was just a short walk from Stack's, then located on 46th Street. This made it easy for him to stop in, visit, and see "what's new?"

As was evident in his collection of quarters and half dollars he was willing to search the country to acquire many of the rarities. He appointed Stack's as his agent and together we found many of the rarest and choicest specimens. As he was building his collection in the late l940s into the l950s, he had the wonderful and unusual chance to purchase many of his outstanding specimens from "old timer" collections. During that era, many of these collections were coming on the market, either by private sale or via auction, due to the passing of the name collectors of an earlier era.

James A. Stack was able to acquire specimens from the noteworthy Neil, Atwater, Dunham, Hall and Col. Green collections, all of which were sold in the 1940s. He participated in all Stack's auction sales and also purchased rarities that the firm acquired privately during that period. With the vast selection of material offered on the market during this period he had many "finest knowns" and great rarities to buy from.

James A Stack was not only a person who assembled sets of dates and mints, going for completeness, but he also understood die states and varieties.  From the day he started he knew that there was more to the hobby of coin collecting than being familiar with price trends when and if they were published. His collection of coins proved his love of collecting and his appreciation of the beauty of coins.

Next week I will reminisce about the wonderful quarters and half dollars that we sold from the collection of this remarkable connoisseur.